After more than two years apart, the SALON TODAY 200 gathered at a special award ceremony and celebratory dinner in Nashville as part of the 2022 Data-Driven Salon Summit. The owners, managers and team members representing 96 of the SALON TODAY 200 were on hand to collect their award certificates.

As part of the evening’s activities, more than a few tears were shed when the heroic tales of six honorees were shared through a special award program:

The Courage in Leadership Award was presented to Terry McKee, the owner of Nuovo Salon Group by Debra Neill Baker of Neill Corporation and Serious Business. After years of strategic leadership of his salons, McKee faced a challenging medical diagnosis last summer. He, in turn, found his partners and coworkers supporting him as they confidently navigated the rebuilding process.  

The Creativity in Customer Service Award was presented to Sheri Hancock of Fine Bella Salon by Phorest Salon Software’s Siobhan McCaffrey. In addition to implementing a loyalty program that encouraged client frequency and spend, Hancock launched a client-facing app that connected to an on-line store and personally assembled and delivered gift boxes to VIP customers.

The Strengthening Team Culture Award was presented to Cindy Reynolds of Mermaid Hair Extensions by Easihair Pro’s Lance Courtney. After a devastating walkout shortly after reopening, Reynolds slowly rebuilt her team and strengthened her culture with strategies, such as Zoom huddles; work anniversary celebrations; trainings, events and parties; offering two weeks of vacation pay and one paid philanthropic holiday and closing one Saturday a month and early on every other Saturday.

The Philanthropic Outreach Award was presented to Jana and Frank Westerbeke of Gadabout Salon Spas by Shannon Fanshawe of Kerastase. In addition to donating their time, talent and money to a long list of charities, the Westerbekes donate to more than 200 charitable auctions and about 3,500 inches of hair to Locks of Love each year. Recently, they worked with their vendor partners to create gift packages for volunteers at state-run vaccine centers.

TheInnovation in Business Award was presented to Gayle Fulbright of Headlines the Salon by CLICS’ Charles Brown. Through a series of small innovations, including offering team members signing bonuses to return after California’s long closures; giving new homes to displaced stylists and clients from salons that had closed; and implementing technology improvements like CLICS and Vish, Headlines witnessed its highest grossing month in March 2022, only to break it again in April 2022.

The Modernization in Education Award was presented to Pam and Tony of Gordon Salons by Stacey Soble of SALON TODAY. After reading Measure What Matters, the Gordons designed a competition among their five locations where team members received points for desired behaviors, such as prebooking, upselling, retail sales and Instagram posting. As a result ,the whole company achieved impressive growth.