As you step off of North High Street in Columbus, Ohio, and enter Phia Salon you can immediately see the intentionality behind Phia Salon and their team. The first thing we noticed about the salon space is the number of textures they incorporated into a seamless, beautiful space. Their shelves display Davines products as they proudly carry the full line. Annah, the Phia Artistic Director, explained that Phia, and the rest of the Phia Concept Salons had been eyeing Davines for some time. As they learned more about Davines’ passion for environmental consciousness and their B Corp status they suspected it was the perfect line for them, but it wasn’t until they saw the extraordinary results of the Century of Light blonding line that they made the jump. Their salon also holds a clever ‘best of the rest’ shelf where they showcase key products from other lines that they find exceptional. Products from Amika, Color Wow, and Lanza (among others) have found a home on this shelf.

Creating a safe and inclusive space for both stylists and clients is important to the Phia team. When chatting with Elizabeth Bella, founder and CEO, she shared that while inclusiveness has always been something she has been very passionate about, learning what is important to each community has taken a good deal of conscious focus. The team or its members have had classes, education or seminars in intersectionality, sexuality, gender identity, and pronoun preference just to name a few. Most of these are big departures for this leader from a small town in Northwest Ohio. “I did not cross paths with a single openly gay person until I went to college” The CEO shared. Just sorting out the difference between sexual preference and sexual identity was a challenge at first. ““I didn’t really understand what transgender meant until a staff member explained to me that I was ‘cisgender’” she shared “Somehow, understanding that I am ‘cis’ and someone else might be ‘trans’ removed all the cultural fog that contained all these thoughts and judgments I didn’t even know I had! We’ve come a long way since then!"

It is evident that her team is not only appreciative of Elizabeth’s efforts but shares in her passion for the most inclusive environment possible. Here are some tips that they shared about ensuring that your salon is a safe and positive environment:

1. Keep messaging to clients gender-neutral. This includes appointment reminders and email marketing. Seeking out a Point of Sale Software that supports gender-neutral messaging will be an important step in implementing this.

2. Offer hair cut prices based on length instead of gender (short, medium and long vs. male or female haircuts). At Phia, they even distinguish between soft short (typically feminine short cuts) and hard short (typically masculine short cuts)

3. If you are ever feeling unsure about how to address someone, stick to gender-neutral terms or offer your pronouns first.

5. Create opportunities for your employees to be vulnerable and check-in with each other. Phia does this by pre-shift check-ins. We were lucky enough to experience one during our time there, read on to learn more about the Phia culture.

Every salon owner strives to create a good salon culture. Phia’s goal is excellence and they seem to be succeeding! One stylist even described the salon as a place: “I can be a human”, a

testament to their incredible Intentionality. ‘Team’ is the best word to describe Phia’s Culture, and we were fortunate enough to experience this team mentality first-hand. One way this was extremely evident was as we walked through the doors, camera in hand, ready to take photos of their ]\stunning space. The owner was up on a windowsill straightening a photo, the team was straightening their stations, and the artistic director was updating the branded posters. Every member was excited to make their space look tip-top, and no one was above rolling up their sleeves.

Another way we were able to experience Phia’s teamwork was by attending their pre-shift meeting which included aspects of any personal needs, plans for clients' hair, reminding one another of important updates, and planning for any issues that may come up such as support with an overbooking or a client with a particular hair challenge. and support of all kinds. These meetings allow the stylists to support each other and learn and grow in the industry together. If you are looking for more ways to connect with your team, this would be a great place to start!

The final element that stands out in the way they bring in a team mentality is the referral program they use for all first and second-time clients. As each new client checks out, their stylist will offer the names of a few other stylists as they re-book. The way this works for their team is by saying something along the lines of “I would love to get your next appointment scheduled and would love the opportunity to do your hair again, but you mentioned that you love the look of balayage, Sarah is a balayage specialist so if think you may want that next time, I would be happy to look at her schedule for you! While this system may seem unconventional at first, this really captures each stylists’ specialties, giving their clients the best well-rounded experience. It also promotes the idea that your entire team truly is the best of the best, so the client knows if they do need to switch up stylists someday, due to price or availability, they know they are in great hands.