Today we’d like to introduce you to Kali Rambo.
Hi Kali, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I guess you could say the Beauty Business is in my blood, and that’s how I officially got started. My grandmother was a hairstylist and owned her own salon in West Texas. I fondly remember sitting in her salon chairs with my sisters and cousins, spinning around, pretending to get our hair done. We would sit under the old school dryers and sometimes my mother would actually wash our hair at the shampoo bowl and give us all haircuts at the stations. We loved playing in my grandmother’s salon! Nanny, as we called her, was a beautiful, loving woman who was all about the color red. She did her hair red, wore red lipstick and painted her nails red… which is probably why I ended up a redhead myself.
However, it wasn’t until I was gifted a facial from my mother for my 12th birthday that I fell in love with Aesthetics, aka SkinCare. Prior to that, I would attend my mother’s facial appointments and sit beside the bed, so intrigued with every step of the facial. Her aesthetician, Marisa Hernandez, an incredibly talented and knowledgeable skincare expert in Austin would explain to me all the reasons behind each step; and she would even breakdown the proper, safe way to perform extractions. Everything was so scientific, so detailed, and so transformative. That’s when I got hooked.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I read a saying one time that stuck with me – “some roads are not as smooth as others, but they take you to places you will never forget.” This has certainly been the case with my journey to where I am today. While I would love to say that the experience has been fun, adventurous, and joyous; in reality, it’s been very tough with a LOT of struggles along the way. I had an extremely challenging upbringing, suffered a brain injury before starting college which changed the course of my life/career, experienced physical and mental abuse in a long-term relationship, had my identity stolen, joined and left a spiritual cult, “started over” and went back to school at age 30, had commercial lease applications rejected by male landlords because my business partner and I were women, denied funding/grants/loans to open our business, been robbed at least seven times, was held up at gunpoint in broad daylight, experienced a late-term miscarriage, faced a global pandemic, and most recently a record breaking snowstorm.
The journey to finding my passion, my business partner, and opening our salon has been bumpy and unforgettable, to say the least. However, the crazy part to me is that these experiences I’ve gone through, pale in comparison to what so many others face on a daily basis. I can only hope and assume that these obstacles are put in our way to grow our determination, strength, and resiliency so that we can face the challenges of pursuing our passions and owning our own businesses with grace and fearlessness.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Jessica Chapman and I built Love + Roots out of a need to find and offer a space where all belong, just as we are, with the safety and acceptance to express ourselves freely. We LOVE love, and we love to give it abundantly to our clients and our team. We are a salon company with a passion for our craft and caring for our clients; and we feel that our purpose in this business is to help encourage that in others while also creating opportunities for each of us to grow an income that allows us to thrive. We have collected a team of remarkable stylists + aestheticians, each with a unique ability to bring out your very best look. Located in Austin’s stylish, diverse, eclectic, and artistic East Side, our beauty salon is the perfect oasis of relaxation and restoration — for your hair, skin, lashes, and spirit alike. Hair + Skin have no gender, and so neither does our service offerings. From Short Length Haircuts + Curly Cuts to Highlights + Balayage, Express Facials + Green Peels to Deluxe DermaSweeps + Fibroblast, Lash Lifts + Lash Extensions to Brow Shapings + Laminations, and all the Permanent Makeup Treatments our salon company offers every beauty enhancement your little (or BIG!) heart desires!
The beauty industry is ever changing – and very quickly – which is one reason why education is so important to us. We strive to provide continuous monthly education in the form of hands-on training, peer to peer support, and virtual or in-person classes. It’s not just about staying up with the current trends, but also about performing the best quality service(s) we can. This also means providing stylists + aestheticians who are happy, healthy, and balanced. One way we support these qualities is by offering flexible schedules to our staff, as well as, a positive work-life balance. We encourage regular team connections, open communication, coaching for all team members + owners, and personal development. A strong team makes for a strong company.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I can’t say that I’ve learned one overreaching lesson along the way. More so I’ve learned that the entire journey is a lesson, and it doesn’t stop once you reach the destination you had in mind. Life, the journey, keeps showing you where you can grow, where you need more clarity, where you need to give more love. If you listen and adjust, you’ll grow even more and experience a depth inside yourself that is impossible to describe in words. That depth is priceless; and it makes all the struggles and challenges along the way, worth every penny. However, you must find a team of people who can support you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, etc. In this industry we often give so much of ourselves to others that we overlook our own needs and desires, and we become depleted. So it is important to surround yourself with people who will be honest with you and speak truthfully, and most importantly, LOVE you when you’ve lost sight of yourself. Those people, that team of supporters, are crucial in your ability to keep moving forward, and reminding you of why you’re on this journey.
Contact Info:
- Email: receptionist@loveandrootsatx.com
- Website: www.loveandrootsatx.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/loveandrootssalon
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/loveandrootsatx
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/love-roots-austin-2
Image Credits
Daniel Nguyen, fotohouse studio
