Owning and operating Amenities is an every day joy for me.  It was never in my plan to own a day spa, but I love it.

I was a single mom raising four children.  I cleaned houses for a living and as the soul provider of a large family I pushed myself as far as my body would take us.  I cleaned four houses a day, five days a week, and was able to buy a home and a new car.  My goal was to put my kids in a better neighborhood and to own my own home.

I met a wonderful man who fell in love with me and my children.  Mark and I married after dating for 2 years.  Mark is a contractor and when we married I backed down to cleaning 2 houses a day and it seemed like I was on vacation.  I enjoyed having more free time, but wanted to do more for our future.

My friend owned a tanning, hair and nails salon and it was struggling.  She asked if I would come in as a partner.  She said, “with your personality we could make the business a success.”  I asked Mark what he thought and he said, “no partnership, but if they will sell it to you, go for it”.  He is my biggest fan and knew I could make it work.  I was scared to death!  I knew nothing about the beauty industry.  NOTHING!!!    I love a challenge though and we worked out a sale price and I jumped in.   I had no extra money for a cushion so I kept cleaning two houses every morning and went in the shop and ran it until 9pm.  Within one month we were slammed with business.  I had to hire some help and I was able to stop cleaning houses for good.  From toilets to world of beauty.  I did enjoy cleaning houses as it was helping people.  My passion is to help individuals in some way or another.  I loved knowing that I was helping people by having their homes sparkling clean when they came home from a long day working.  They could come home and relax.  I was able to continue making people feel good in the beauty business.  From just a warm, friendly welcome to tanning, or make up, hair or nails.

After two years in business and bulging at the seams, I wanted more.  I have always believed that I could do anything I set my mind to.  Amenities was not for sale, but I mentioned it to a few people that worked there that I would love to own it.  One year later, the owner called me and we worked out a deal.  I do believe in the power of positive thinking.  What you put out there will come into fruition.  This goes both ways though.  If you put out bad, it will come back to you as well.  What you give, you get.  Usually ten fold.

Again, I knew nothing about the day spa industry.  It was a lot different from the tanning business.  I was up for the challenge.  Like I said, I love a challenge.

The growth was stellar. Amenities grew at the rate of 400 percent the first year. In one year I took over the building that was behind us to expand.  Now with the expansion my business would face the inside of Fig Garden Village.   We now have double the size and it is even more inviting and beautiful.  I love being in Fig Garden Village.  Our guests are so wonderful and we appreciate them so much.

I support many local organizations, donating approximately 20,000 per year.  I believe it is my responsibility as a successful business owner to give back to our community.  In addition to local organizations I chose one organization to give more to.  I chose a faith based organization called Samaritan Women.  This organization works with incarcerated women, helping them to be contributors to society.  The prison is a revolving door for many as this is the only way of life these women know.  Samaritan Women was created to help educate, and create a new way of life for these women.  I am proud to support them and we thank all of our guests who offer donations and help the cause as well.  Aside from raising dollars for this organization, we cut and style their hair, giving them a fresh look which stimulates a better self image going forward into their new way of life.  When the women graduate from the program, we give them a day of pampering to congratulate them.

Amenities is an Aveda Lifestyle Spa and Salon.

I was asked by Aveda Corporation to continue the growth of our business by adding a second location.  After careful consideration I accepted the opportunity to build our second location.  I started the process of a small business loan.  I had adversity in every direction.  I wondered if it were the right move.  I had already made the decision that I would do it so I continued pursuing every avenue.  When a door was closed, I found a window and kept on going.  It took a year before we could start construction and even then, we had challenge after challenge.  We opened our doors at the River Park Amenities Aveda Spa and Salon, October 2007.

I am a very driven individual who is never satisfied with just doing ok.  I will always create growth in my businesses.  I am always educating myself and my staff to become better at what we do.

I am not alone in the way I run my business,  I have a very devoted staff that have become my extended family.  I do not believe you can have a successful business without the right team.  I expect a lot and my team exceeds all my expectations.  Between both locations I currently staff forty devoted individuals.  I believe in my staff more than they believe in themselves.  Each one of them brings an individual value to the business.  My team supports me in all I challenge them with.  When I hire, I need to see their passion for people.  I can teach technical skills, but I cannot teach someone how to have a heart and passion for people.  I am proud to say I have a less than one percent turn over rate.  When someone leaves, I wish them great success.  In the 5 years of owning Amenities, 95 percent of the staff who have left, have returned and are better employees than they were the first time they worked for me.  I believe in treating each staff member like I would like to be treated.

My team and I could not do it without our wonderful clientele.  We are in business because of each person who comes to enjoy our services.  Our sole goal is the comfort and well being of each individual who enters Amenities. Our guests are not another number or dollar sign, they are guests in our home and we enjoy meeting their needs.

We offer every guest who enters a stress relieving treatment.  Your choice of a neck and shoulder treatment, an exfoliating hand treatment followed by a hand massage, an intimate aroma journey that stimulates a better sense of  balance, or a make up touch up.

We enjoy not only making our clients look beautiful, but feel beautiful.  This selfless quest to bring out the beauty in our guests through genuine care differs from beauty industry norms.  We are proud of our differences.

Amenities believes in the Aveda  mission  to care for the world we live in from the products they make to the ways they give back to society. Aveda strives to set the example for environmental leadership and responsibility, not just in the world of beauty, but around the world as well.  Connecting beauty with well being with plant based products that address our individual needs as well as respecting our health and respecting the health of our environment.  I urge anyone who does not know about Aveda or Amenities to go to Aveda.com and amenitiesspa.com for more info.

I personally work at each location.  I enjoy getting to know each guest on a personal level.  Please come visit and experience the Aveda difference at Amenities.