The pandemic challenged the business acumen and leadership skills of most salon, spa and barbershop owners, and Soleil Salon and Spa’s Luisa G. Garcia was no different. Unfortunately though for Garcia, the pandemic turned out to be a practice test for the final exam that faced her in 2023 when a backed-up sewer issue destroyed 90 percent of her salon in Windham, New Hampshire. 

How Garcia creatively tapped into resources not only led to her making the SALON TODAY 200 this year, it made her a hands-down winner for the coveted Courage in Leadership award, which she received at the recent SALON TODAY 200 Celebratory Dinner in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Garcia shared her harrowing experience with listeners on a recent PhorestFM podcast that pulled back the curtain on the SALON TODAY 200 process and what it means to owners to be named, as well as shared two stories of success from the 2025 SALON TODAY 200

Facing the Sh**storm

“It was February 15^th, and I was having a meeting when one of my front desk (team members) came in and said we had water leaking from under one of the doors,” Garcia told PhorestFM’s Alex Bélisle-Springer on the podcast. “I thought maybe it was a water heater tank, but in reality it was our septic system, and the sewage had backed up into the salon. We tried to control it as much as we could with towels and sheets from the spa, but then we realized when somebody else from the other units adjacent to our salon would flush the toilet, we couldn’t control it. At that point, I just sat down, and let it flow.”

The resulting flood damaged 90% of the salon, and finding a reliable contractor to make the repairs was a challenge. But, it was a heart-to-heart conversation with her bookkeeper later that Spring that tempted Garcia to consider closing her doors for good. “She pulled me in because she knows how important my goals and reading my P&L are to me, and she said, ‘Luisa, we got to talk…it’s about the numbers, you’re down 69% (over last year),” Garcia says.

Not only did Garcia need to plan her rebuild and manage the construction, but she critically needed to shift the focus of her team to their goals while disconnecting them from the chaos going on around them. 

Gamification to the Rescue

A loyal coaching client of Qnity and a technology partner of Phorest Salon Software, Garcia tapped into resources already at her fingertips. She combined Qnity’s 13-week Growth Goal-Setting System with Phorest’s My Performance App and launched The Unicorn Challenge. Each week, she set clear goals for service sales, retail sales and guest count for each team member. The team could access their progress toward their individual goals in real-time through the app, and when they reached them, a unicorn avatar would reward them within the app. The more Unicorns a team member collected, the better their chance of winning a grand prize at the end of the 13 weeks.

Not only did the Unicorn Challenge make work exciting again for the team by fostering a healthy competitive spirit, the gamified contest helped them refocus on what mattered—delivering excellent service and driving results.

“The team was so invested, they would text me screenshots of their progress if I missed awarding a Unicorn,” Garcia wrote in her SALON TODAY 200 application. “When they narrowly missed a goal, they still would receive a medal in the app, reinforcing the idea that every effort counted. If they even remotely made an effort to hit their goal, a ‘Cat-asthropy’ avatar of a sad cat would appear, and that became of topic of conversation and motivation. One of my team members even texted me, saying, ‘I don’t care about the pay, I want to see the Unicorn every week!’”

“Louisa is an ideal client, I’m not going to lie,” says Veronica Ballard, premium relationship manager for Phorest. “She has so much competency with the software, there’s very little that I have to do other than showing her a couple of insider tricks. I rarely see another account adopt the features in such a sophisticated and committed way. It’s very admirable, but it also speaks to Luisa’s leadership. She says, ‘This is what we’re doing and this is why I believe it’s going to succeed, let’s go!’”

The Unicorn initiative was more than just a game—it brought a renewed sense of motivation, teamwork and celebration during difficult times, Garcia says. “The energy it generated had a direct and significant impact on our bottom line. I reminded myself daily that I needed to A.C.C.E. (Appreciate, Care, Challenge and Encourage) the team, especially through the darkest moments.”

Maintaining Guest Engagement

Throughout this challenging time, maintaining open communication with guests was equally important to Garcia. With services disrupted, the salon tapped into Phorest’s marketing suite to send regular updates to the guests, informing them of progress in the salon’s construction and keeping them aware of the services the team could still perform and any promotions during downtime. Garcia believes this communication helped ensure that clients remained loyal and engaged. 

Unicorn Wins

Although Soleil Salon and Spa didn’t reach their goal of matching the previous year’s sales by the end of 2023, they finished only 10% down, and Garcia considers that a huge win considering all the challenges the business was facing. In addition, 2023 became a year of growth for many of the salon’s team members, putting the entire team in a good position for growth the following years. 

The Unicorn Challenge was such a source of inspiration, the team has asked for more gaming challenges in the future. “These tools remain central to our strategy as we rebuild and expand, helping us stay focused, engaged and connected,” Garcia says.