Meet Eboni Barry | Salon Owner/ Serial Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eboni Barry and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eboni, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Becoming a mother for the second time around I knew that I needed more flexibility and freedom. After careful consideration I decided to do hair out of my home. Still working two other jobs at the time, I soon let the others go when I seen the income that I generated from hairstyling. After years of doing this as a “hustle” It was time to get serious and get my paperwork in order to thoroughly legitimize my business. I then moved to a Suite where I continued to do hair and expanded my clientele base. When I realized that I could not physically keep this occupation forever, my body was changing and I was seeing doctors more frequently I then decided that I wanted to expand my business from working independent to creating a space where I can bring in assistants to help carry my load and also offer other professionals a position to build a career for themselves. That is when I began my search for a larger space to open a Beauty Salon. After months of searching I landed a commercial space, created a buildout and opened my doors.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Expanding my business into a Beauty Salon, the sole purpose was to create a space for professionals to come join me to work in an environment that they would have full support, clientele, mentorship, and training to becoming their best in the beauty industry. Luxurious Stylez is a company for growth. As the owner here I identify the needs of each employee and client and I implement a plan to create a resolution. The Beauty industry was dying out. Stylist with little to no availability voluntarily and involuntarily, unprofessionalism, theft, cancellations you name it. My goal here is to eliminate those issues and create an environment where everyone is comfortable and confident that they’re getting great service at the time that they scheduled. I train women here on how to run the business in my absence, how to properly style the hair, and how to interact with the customers. As the owner I provide resources for my stylist to break common barriers that prevents them from performing at their very best. I support my stylist who wants to go back to school or who got discouraged from taking their State Test, I make sure we study together so that these things get done. Here at my company, we also cater to seniors and provide hair services to children and adults in need, volunteering at many free community events and hosting them as well at the salon. In 2023 Luxurious Stylez was nominated in the top 3 of Cincinnati’s Best Hair Salons, where my company was placed with businesses that has been around for decades, I was definitley proud of that. Getting to where I ‘am today was not the easiest but it definitely was not hard, I set out to accomplish everything that I put my mind to by eliminating the distractions first so that I can solely focus on what mattered most. I move at my own pace to avoid burn out. Being aware of how important self-care is plays a major part in my success. I take a lot of time for myself in the midst of wearing many hats from home to business. The lessons that I have learned from being in this business world is to pay attention and know when to take a break.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When I have friends visit I always ask them what their mood is. Most of them are “go with the flow” gals. We’ll first grab some good food at a local restaurant, maybe grab a cocktail or two then heads back to the house for some rest since its their first day in. I love to cook so we’ll wake up that next morning to me serving breakfast before we head out for Shopping at the Premium outlet mall and pick up some nice things. Later that evening we can visit a local bar to shoot a couple of games of pool or we may book a trip to Paint with a Twist and have some girl time. Relaxation is a must in my life so we can go get us a facial, back massage or to get our nails done. I wish we had a beach here in Cincinnati because that’s where we’d hang out the day before departure.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
During the entire transition from being an employee to becoming an entrepreneur to someone’s boss, my Husband Aaron and my oldest daughter Serenity has made sure that the time that I had to spend away from home that I never had to worry about coming home after an extremely long day to unfinished things, the Love and time that I spend with my 3 children and my Husband is enough to keep me happy and balanced. For 7 years of being an entrepreneur I’ve came up with my own ideas, plans, execution strategies. etc .. I spent hours and hours getting little to no sleep researching relevant information about the business and everything surrounding and made really good progress. When I expanded and signed my lease to my very first beauty salon, a few months later I was introduced to a young man by the name of Devoe Sherman. I initially reached out to Devoe with questions about grant information and investment accounts, I was interested in diversifying my income to set myself up for long term financial success.

Devoe became a good friend and a huge support for me, all of my business questions and needs being one phone call away.

Website: https://luxurious-stylez-llc.square.site

Instagram: 1luxuriousstylez

Facebook: facebook.com/luxuriousstylez20

Other: Luxurious Stylez Beauty Salon 11544 Springfield Pike Springdale ohio, 45246