Hello there Informed Beauty!
2 weeks ago, Jake from SW Journal (our fabulous MPLS neighborhood paper) contacted me for a upcoming feature proposed for a years "check in" on new local businesses and entrepreneurs.
With a whirl wind of the great launch party, training staff, and addressing customer service innitiative, I found today clients reaching out/emailing, and sharing the HIGHLIGHTED INTERVIEW in the SW JOURNAL PAPER ON PAGE A19.
Well, here we go! THANK YOU for your patranoge and joining the Kasia Team as we strive in everything we have to provide YOU with customer service, fast learned- learning curves, and every-growig passion i what we love to do....for YOU!
I look foward to servicing YOU, learning, growing..and bring about our message and differientiation of services along side other fellow risk takers!
Venturing out on their own ....
YEAR ONE
Uniting inner health with outer beauty is the goal of Kasia Organic Salon, a venture entrepreneur Kassie Kuehl launched in February at 50th & Bryant. Kuehl’s salon uses natural and botanically based products and a holistic approach to beauty that is unusual in the salon world. In fact, she claims her business is among only a handful of organic salons throughout the nation. “What we’re about is building the hair up and building the skin up so it’s healthy and reflecting its natural capabilities rather than covering things up,” she said. Kuehl, who was trained at Aveda Institute in Minneapolis, has a long list of titles beyond salon owner: certified personal trainer, yoga and pilates instructor, functional medicine student, certified health coach and living foods educator.
Health is paramount for Kuehl, who experienced firsthand the adverse affects of traditional beauty products while renting chair at an Uptown salon. “I was getting sick from the affects of ammonia I worked in,” she said. “That caused me to leave the industry and start doing the research to start creating a better environment for me and my clients.” word for pure, offers hair cutting, ammonia-free hair coloring, hair masks and treatments, skin care, custom organic facials with live food (such as strawberries with essential oils), waxing and massage.
Kuehl has spent years researching natural and organic products and also sells her own line, which includes non-toxic deodorant, sunscreen, moisturizing cream and fair-trade teas. Her salon’s products are a bit more expensive than at a traditional salon, but Kuehl said there’s a reason for that. “Other products have incredibly cheap ingredients,” she said. Those ingredients, she contends, can contribute to a variety of immunity diseases, infertility issues and even cancer. Kuehl said launching her first business was a challenge and required a bank loan and an additional loan from the city. She’s and organic skin specialist and a massage therapist on her payroll. Days before opening, a huge fire consumed five businesses across the street, devastating the node she chose largely because of its thriving restaurants and boutiques. After the incident, she turned her open house into a community gathering to support the affected business owners.
It’s risky being a startup, she said, but she’s confident in her abilities and those of her staff. “I and my girls know that we have a very unique niche here and I am a destination business,” she said.
Service: Organic salon
opened: February 2010
location: 822 W. 50th St.
phone: 386-4044
website: kasiaorganicsalon.com