I
The Journey
From behind someone else's chair, to my own.
1999
It started with touch, not shears
I came into beauty and wellness through massage therapy school. Those early years taught me the truth I've built everything on since: luxury isn't the service you provide, it's how you make people feel. That lesson carried me straight into cosmetology.
The
2000s
2000s
Behind the chair, learning from everyone
A North Carolina cosmetology license and years behind someone else's chair, studying under many of the industry's top educators in cutting, color, blonding, curls, and extensions. I never believed there was only one “right” way to do hair. And I was quietly learning the kind of owner I did and didn't want to become.
The
early years
early years
I started small
A rented booth, three chairs, and one assistant, building the team up from there. I'd worked in places that didn't always feel healthy or supportive, and I knew I wanted to create something different.
2013
My own space, still someone else's building
I moved into a strip-mall space of my own on West Catawba Avenue. I still had a landlord, and somewhere in those years I realized I didn't want to answer to one. I wanted to own the building my life's work lived in.
2016
I bought the bungalow and made it my own
The name Sanctuary came from an antique church pew I found while shopping for the salon, but it has always meant more than that: a space where every guest and every team member feels safe, valued, cared for, and inspired to become the best version of themselves.
Since
then
then
Building a team, not just a client list
I grew from operator to owner to leader. Developing stylists, protecting the culture, and building Sanctuary into a clean-color and healing-haircare salon with a holistic head spa and light-up salt walls.
Today
The highest-rated salon in town, and a national honoree
4.9★ across roughly 690 reviews, a Salon Today 200 recognition, and a community that drives past a dozen salons to sit in our chairs. Still learning. Still behind the chair.
