How the Beauty Businesses of Montebello Will Survive

Due to the pandemic COVID-19, the President declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020. Presently, hundreds of thousands of people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus. Most of the country has been mandated to stay at home and practice social distancing. Countless people have been laid off and are uncertain of their futures.

All of the businesses that are featured in this article have been forced to close because they are considered “non-essential.” While restaurants have had the opportunity to remain operational for takeout, beauty businesses cannot translate their personal services onto a virtual space. But these beauty business owners--Lino Campos from The Cream Shop, Thuy Nguyen from Pretty Nail Lounge, Matthew Acosta from AOE Barbershop, and Anna Soto from Hair Philosophy--have shown their resilience and grit to get to this point. 

If anyone can survive, we believe they can. They embody two qualities that are crucial to weathering these abnormal and unstable times: they all bring forth what it means to have humanity and grit. Humanity is defined by characteristics which only humans have: sympathy, kindness, and mercy. Having grit is to be courageous, conscientious, and resilient. The inspirational stories of these beauty business owners illustrate how to utilize these qualities to prevail during times like this and how to positively contribute to communities.


The Cream Shop
Owner: Lino Campos

Lino Campos is the owner of The Cream Shop. He has persevered through difficult times and used his success to give back. Campos has three kids with his wife. He has been cutting hair for 20 years.

Campos got his start in the beauty industry because his wife inspired him to get into the field to make some extra money. What started off as a part-time job turned into a path for Campos to get in touch with his community.  

“I always love to see people in my community moving up and opening businesses so I would go and congratulate them and they would ask if I could work at their shop,” says Campos.

He cut hair at shops all around the East Los Angeles area. This experience, along with his exceptional networking skills, reconnected him with friends in the public relations industry.

“I got into public relations because of my old friends. Everyone branched out and it made it easier for all of us to move in the industry and make money.”

Campos prospered in this new career, working with large multimedia corporations like Warner Brothers and Verizon, until the 2007 recession when he was laid off from his job.

“I did fall into a depression because I wasn’t able to provide. From renting a four-bedroom house, we ended up moving into a little room in someone else's home,” Campos recalls.

He was applying everywhere in the public relations industry but was unsuccessful because no one had the budget to hire. It was at this lowest point that Campos prayed for an answer and remembered that he was a licensed barber. He worked fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, cutting hair just to get his family back on their feet.

When he finally found some sense of financial stability, he decided that he wanted to be his own boss and took a chance by investing in a barbershop. Campos persisted through losing nearly everything and risked what he had earned back to open The Cream Shop.

His community is what made him fall in love with barbering so when The Cream Shop became a lucrative business, he knew he wanted to give back. The Cream Shop sponsors the Montebello Baseball Association as well as little leagues. Campos is currently in the process of creating an apprenticeship program to train and certify the next generation of barbers. He wants to give people the power and resources to acquire a job in this industry.

The Cream Shop has held many events working with non-profits like Inner City Struggle, raising money for homeless youth in East Los Angeles. The Cream Shop has provided hair cutting services for the Comunidad Cesar Chavez family shelter and underprivileged students. Campos plans on passing down the shop to his son, Joshua, who has helped manage the Montebello location. Campos uses every opportunity he can to show his humanity and give back to his community.

The Cream Shop is located at 1416 W. Olympic Blvd. in Montebello, CA 90640, (323) 721-2248, Facebook: @thecreamshopla, Instagram: @thecreamshop.


Pretty Nail Lounge
Owner: Thuy Nguyen

Thuy Nguyen owns Pretty Nail Lounge and illustrates what it means to be conscientious--not only in her business, but as a human being.

Nguyen opened Pretty Nail Lounge in April of 2019. Since then, Nguyen has shown grit through managing her business while going to school and taking care of her family.

At the age of 23, she has acquired licenses to be an aesthetician, manicurist, and eyelash extension professional. Nguyen has accumulated experience in the beauty industry for over seven years.

On top of owning Pretty Nail Lounge, Nguyen is also working on her accounting degree at Cal State Fullerton. Before the “Safer-At-Home” mandate, she would trek back and forth between the shop and school all week. Going to school and owning a business proved to be really difficult. 

"It was rough in the beginning because I didn’t know if I could do this along with school," Nguyen recalls.  "We acquired the shop in March and May was finals and I was really stressed out, but I said if I could make it through this, I could make it through anything.”

She lost a lot of sleep juggling paperwork and renovations for the shop along with maintaining her studies, but she pushed through. For Nguyen, resilience seems to be as much about her positive mindset as it does about persistence.

“Even if it’s a rough day, we beat it. There’s always tomorrow. There’s always better times.”

Her positive attitude is what strengthens her work ethic and business. Nguyen strives to give her clients excellent personable service. Her drive to succeed is rooted in her devotion to her family. She takes great pride in the beauty industry because her family has been a part of the industry since she was a kid.

Nguyen sees her shop as more than a place to serve the people of her community--she sees it as an opportunity to help her family. Her mother is also her mentor and helps her manage Pretty Nail Lounge while she is at school.

“My mom had her own nail salon back then and I would help her but now she’s getting to an age where she’s done her dues and wants to relax a little,” she explains.

Nguyen is happy that her mom can rest but still be active in the beauty industry through the shop. Nguyen also helps take care of her young cousins.

“They’re twin girls and they’re quite little. They don’t have a mother figure around them. As they grow up, I’m helping take care of them so they do look up to me.”

One of her goals is to provide these girls with a safe environment and to show them what it means to work hard to be successful.

“I want to build this business so that in the future if they need to rely on somebody, they do have me.”

Nguyen has taken the initiative to be that role model her cousins need because she cares deeply about others. She believes in helping the next generation just as generations before have helped her.

Pretty Nail Lounge is located at 500 W. Whittier Blvd., Ste. A in Montebello, (323) 888-1168, Facebook/Instagram: @pretty.nail.lounge



AOE Barbershop
Owner: Matthew Acosta

Matthew Acosta is the proud owner of AOE Barbershop. At 25 years old, he has developed a laser-focused mindset to be successful. He started cutting hair at the young age of 15 years old and since then, dreamt of opening his own barbershop. That vision would become his driving force.
 
“I knew I wanted to open my business by the time I was 21. I wanted it, so that was my main focus. I would buy things little by little to get prepared knowing that I’m going to do this,” Acosta recalls.
 
At 21 years old, Acosta opened AOE Barbershop, he had to keep grinding and stay focused. While other 21-year-olds were indulging in the pleasure of youth, Acosta fought to stay focused and undistracted from his goals.
 
“It gets difficult but it's a matter of being focused and knowing work is still work," Acosta says. "I’m not the boss, my clients are the boss.” There were many events missed and lines that had to be drawn to maintain his focus and dedication to the business.

Today, at the age of 25, he has overcome many failures throughout his journey with AOE Barbershop. He believes that, “things break you to mold you.” Acosta took his failures and turned them into lessons. This mentality is what he applies to all aspects of life.

“Life hits you," Acosta explains. It's how you prepare for it, how you handle it, and how you accept it that will determine your future.” These words ring true now more than ever. He models what it means to determine one’s own success through grit.

Acosta fell in love with cutting hair because of the power it has to make people feel better about themselves.

“When you give someone a good haircut, they feel like a million bucks. It changes their whole mood and it’s self-care at the end of the day,” he says.

Acosta loves seeing his client’s demeanor transform after getting a haircut. He also sees his business as a way to help those around him that are struggling.

“Barbering is life-changing. You’re not sitting at a desk and you get to meet all types of people. It’s not for everyone but for those who enjoy it, it can be a really good career.”

Acosta has taught friends and family that are struggling financially how to cut hair so they can make a living for themselves. He has also given back to the community through hosting events that offered free haircuts and given away merchandise. For Acosta, AOE Barbershop is an opportunity to help others and to contribute to his community.

AOE Barbershop is located at 1008 W. Beverly Blvd. in Montebello, (323) 314-1442, Facebook: @Aoe.barbershop, Instagram: @aoe_barbershop


Hair Philosophy
Owner: Anna Soto

Anna Soto is the proud owner of Hair Philosophy. She has persisted through decades of the beauty industry’s evolution. She has expanded her business to help her clients, employees, and the ecology of this planet.

Soto opened Hair Philosophy after the recession in 2010 and experienced the financial impact that came with it. She lost money on products that went bad and struggled to keep regular clientele and pricing.

Despite the strife with her shop, she made sure to keep her own children away from the salon because of how demanding it was.

“To be in this industry, you are always the last to arrive at parties or too tired to go," Soto says. 

She doesn’t know what a Saturday morning is like with her family because it's the busiest time for salons. She knows what it means to have sore muscles from working long hours in the physically demanding job of being a hairdresser. She didn’t want her kids to be subjected to working like that.

Yet, through all the hardships, she believes that her shop provides medicine for the soul. Soto realized that she loved making people feel better not just through doing hair, but by being someone that will listen to their problems.

In 2015, Soto's daughter Alex joined her in co-owning Hair Philosophy. Although Alex co-owned the salon for only four years, Soto feels “Alex has made some remarkable changes. The salon is more structured not just for our clients but for our employees. We offer payroll, we have social security working for us.”

Unlike most salons that rent out chairs to independent workers, Hair Philosophy strives to give their employees these employment benefits. Soto also educates her employees on the importance of social security.

“Young hairdressers don’t have the discipline to put that money away and by the time you’re my age, you’re kicking yourself in the butt.”  Anna believes that it’s important to mentor her staff and teach them skills not only in the salon, but in life.

After elevating the conditions of what their salon can do for its employees, Anna’s daughter, Alex, convinced her that they can do more. Alex believed in a better, cleaner world and that they need to be part of the solution and not the problem. She convinced Anna to join Green Circle Salons, a company dedicated to recovering and re-purposing salon waste.

“We have to pay out of pocket to be a part of it but eighty percent of our waste is recycled," Anna explains . "It’s a lot of work on our behalf but it gets done.”

Hair Philosophy takes extra time to sort and recycle things like hair, metal, foils, and even bleach. The hair is recycled to make nets that are used in the ocean to collect oil spills as well as beds for dogs in shelters. Anna believes that although she may need to spend more time and money, it’s worth it to help the planet.

In 2019, Alex chose to focus on being an aesthetician and went from being a co-owner to an employee. But the changes Alex and Anna made to revolutionize the salon remain to this day.  Hair Philosophy’s mission statement is: “Together, everyone achieves more.” This mission statement, along with how Anna runs her business, is what it means to have humanity.
 
Hair Philosophy is located at 501 W. Whittier Blvd. in Montebello, (323) 726-9511, Facebook: @hairphilosophyLA, Instagram: @hairphilosophy_la

These beauty business owners have shown what it takes to overcome such difficult times through resilience, positive thinking, and understanding how to learn from their failures. Not only do they care about their community, but their clients as well. Businesses like these will survive through this pandemic and continue to succeed after.