Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Carpenito and Alex Williams.
Jackie and Alex, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Jackie: Opening a salon and/or spa is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little girl. I was always attracted to makeup and fashion, and I really considered hair, beauty and makeup my hobby. I would help my friends get ready for their proms, their dates and dances, and I liked making them feel pretty and confident about their appearance. It was genuinely satisfying. I have been a makeup artist for some time now and I still love the reaction I receive from my clients when they look in the mirror. I think I was destined to have a career in the beauty business. I did spend four years at Boston University’s School of Communications and received a degree in Public Relations, and I recently became a licensed esthetician. I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted a career in making people look the way they want to look. Being in business with my sister at Axle Color Studio has made that dream come true.
Alex: I’ve always had really thick, difficult, curly blonde hair and I would go to different salons to try figure out what to do with it, and I realized pretty quickly that a lot of stylists were intent on making me look the way they would envision me instead of how I envisioned me. I think most people can relate to a bad salon experience where the cut is not what you wanted or the color is too dark or too light. That changed one day when I discovered a Master Stylist, everything clicked, and I finally had a really creative and talented person that I could completely trust with my hair. I believed that a lot of people probably had my experience. I started thinking about opening my own salon, a salon that would employ only the most creative and talented stylists available. My first hire was my own proven Master Stylist, and I dragged my sister with me because she was a wizard when it came to makeup and style. Axle was born and we have been beautifying the North Shore since.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the unavoidable inherent problems in our salon is the schedule. Someone will call us requesting a 10AM Saturday appointment with a master stylist, but that master stylist might be booked at that time for the next 6 months. We want to make sure that clients know we’re really trying to accommodate their schedules the best we can.
Another issue we sometimes run into is a client’s expectation. You can’t walk in with Kim Kardashian black hair and walk out two hours later as a platinum blonde. It’s a process (if you don’t want your hair to break off)! All good things take a little time.
As sisters and best friends, we always have to be careful when we have time off that we don’t end up discussing business the entire time, because then that completely defines our relationship. We are not only business partners, we are sisters.
Please tell us about Axle Color Studio.
Axle Color Studio is an award-winning salon dedicated to providing the latest, most innovative and classic concepts in hair color, cutting and makeup. When it comes to hair and makeup, we excel. Our balayage, creative and traditional coloring and cutting techniques, wedding hair and makeup and editorial styling, are unsurpassed.
We are completely concerned with our clients’ total experience. From the moment a client enters our salon until the time their experience has ended, we expect our clients to have relaxed, received all of the services they were promised, all while in a soothing, professional, nurturing and calming environment. We routinely have clients say, ‘I don’t want to leave!’, or went they enter, ‘I’ve been looking forward to this for three weeks’. And, of course, we love it when they check out and can’t stop gushing about their hair or their makeup and how fabulous they look.
As a company, we’re proud of our loyal customers. Our hard work and attention to detail seems to have paid off in customer loyalty, though, of course, we are the most proud of our stylists, who have been carefully selected and are the nicest, warmest, most talented, creative people you could find. We have the most amazing team, and that truly sets us apart. That is what makes the difference. And education is key! We send our stylists to the best academies, from London to LA, to take advanced education courses to ensure we’re always ahead of the rest.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I guess my sister and I were destined to be in business together. We had several as little girls growing up, from our lemonade stand that we called Miss Lemons, to our little store we would set up in our driveway, waiting for someone to stop and buy a bag of pretzels.
Contact Info:
- Address: 203 Main Street,
North Reading, MA 01864 - Website: www.axlecolorstudio.com
- Phone: 978-664-2800
- Email: info@axlecolorstudio.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/axlecolorstudio
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/axlecolorstudio
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/axle-color-studio-north-reading-3
Image Credit:
Zev Fisher Photography
Sweet Lady Jane Photography
Dawn Kingston Photography
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