Heather Morrow
Cover Story: Fresh Style and Green Living
Fresh Style & Green Living
written by cindy mcdermott | photographs by heather morrow | makeup by paige elfrey
At Stem, the owners say it’s their job to make people beautiful.
“As a kid, I did everyone else’s hair and makeup. I just always knew that I wanted to be a stylist,” offered co-owner Suzanne Phelps from Liberty, Missouri. “Frankly, this is a business that is something you want to do; it’s not something you just go out and do. But it’s such a great career because you can have a family and adjust your schedule around your family life.”
Her partner, Angela Janssen, echoed her comments. “For me, it was a natural career path. The salon business allows you to be creative and at the same time business oriented. I like to conquer things and to move to the next level,” noted the salon owner from Kansas City, Missouri. “That’s why we opened Stem, a full-service hair and body salon, to take our love of the salon environment and offer more to our clients and our staff.”
Stem, in Merriam Town Center, offers an enticing lineup of beauty enhancements and feel-good treats. Reviewing the menu of services conjures up a one-stop shop for looking your best: hair, nails, makeup, waxing and massage. It was about five years ago when the pair decided to open this facility, which would allow them to grow their love of enhancing the looks and styles of women and men. Now, more than 2,000 clients visit their salon every month.
Working Like Complementary Colors
What makes their working relationship so unique is that they are so different. Angela, thoughtful and focused, and her partner Suzanne, loving and generous, complement each other with their own strengths. This grouping of positive skill sets solidifies their business foundation. Angela is known for her precision cuts; Suzanne is the resident expert in color. Together, they make the perfect combination.
“I’m more of an introvert, but I’m very focused, determined and relentless. I like to think of myself as the visionary, the driving force of the salon and a risk taker,” described Angela. “Suzanne is more of an extrovert and very intuitive. She’s the connector, offering support to everyone around her. She possesses a gift for customer service and helps define the experience that guests have at the salon.”
Not only do they possess key salon attributes, making them experts in their fields; the pair offers more than 44 years of combined experience. They have worked together for more than 17 years, becoming business partners in 2005. After five years in their Shawnee, Kansas, location, they focused on a new venture, opening Stem’s doors in 2011.
An Inspiring Environment
“The meaning of Stem is to come from and to grow. The day we opened Stem we had eight staff members, including us. Today we have 27 and we continue to grow,” noted Angela. “We poured our energy into creating a positive environment that we wanted to be in and made sure that carried over to our guests as well.”
“We are exceptionally service oriented, which ensures we deliver a good experience for the customer,” noted Suzanne. “The environment is friendly and warm; our customers walk out feeling relaxed and satisfied with our service.”
While client satisfaction is paramount, Suzanne and Angela are also passionate about Stem as a teaching salon. They accomplish this by spending hours mentoring and coaching their stylists. To maintain connectivity, the staff meets every week as a team to learn and grow. They understand the importance of individual instruction and feedback, and one-on-one time with each stylist allows Suzanne and Angela to grow the next generation of service providers.
“We have an associate program that gives new stylists on-the-job training, providing them all the tools and resources necessary to be successful,” noted Angela. “Our goal is to create the next level of Stem’s success by training new stylists in all aspects of hair design. We’re dedicated to passing along knowledge to every employee through continuing education such as classes, product information and certifications.”
“We are committed to education for our staff. We plan out education for the year to ensure we are always current on trends, products and the business. All stylists have a personal goal of attaining and maintaining national Redken certification,” noted Suzanne. “We want our stylists to feel comfortable and to be a part of our family-like foundation. We have a very high expectation for classes in our salon so our stylists are always learning and growing, and that’s absolutely critical in this industry. You have to be fresh and new.”
Their encouragement with their staff and a positive customer experience have paid off immensely for Angela and Suzanne. In their first year of operation, Stem won first runner up for Salon of the Year in Salon Today magazine, a national publication for salon professionals. In 2014, Stem made Salon Today magazine’s Top 200 Salons in the United States.
Joining the Green Circle
While beauty and style are key productions from this salon, this is an industry that also generates a lot of waste. From empty containers and excess products that are discarded to mounds of hair clippings, salons can send huge amounts of waste to the landfill. But not Stem. Angela and Suzanne recognize the importance of lessening the salon’s impact on the environment.
“Stem is the only salon in the KC metro that is a Green Circle Salon. We’re partnering with a company to recycle all our waste: hair, color, foil, cardboard, plastic and more,” enthused Angela. “At Stem, we believe you’re responsible for your environmental footprint and need to do anything you can do to respect the environment. It’s a lot of work, but it’s our duty.”
“Clients can bring in their old styling tools such as hair dryers and curling irons, and we’ll recycle them,” stated Suzanne. “We’ll segregate the waste at the salon and then ship it to a recycler in Chicago. Angela is a champion of the environment, so she started investigating, contacted this company and now we’re a Green Circle Salon.”
Priority Attention for Guests
Whether it’s protecting the environment or running a successful business, this yin and yang team of salon professionals has built an amazing opportunity for customers and staff. They agree that the guest experience is the most important element in success. From the moment clients walk in the door to when they leave with a fresh new look, they are enveloped by Stem’s warm and welcoming environment. While the feeling of Stem is easy and relaxed, this pair of entrepreneurs has worked hard to build its stellar reputation.
“We’re hard-working women who know how to get things done and can conquer what they want to do. It’s important for us to be role models and empower other women to achieve what they want,” stated Angela. “I’ll be in this business for another ten years, and then it will be time to have others take our place. Even though I won’t be behind the chair, Stem will still be here because we’ve built a solid foundation that will take this business into another generation.”
“Angela and I rolled up our sleeves and put our blood, sweat and tears into this salon. There are many salons in this community, but we’re set apart because we have a strong team. We’ve poured our hearts into helping people become as successful as they want,” revealed Suzanne. “You won’t find a team in Kansas City that matches the feel and the energy that you find when you walk into Stem. Angela and I have done a very good job in creating that environment, and we want you to come in and experience it.” HLM
