Spring 2018 marks a celebratory milestone for the Sola Salon Studios community—it’s now 10,000 owners strong in more than 400 locations across North America! The milestone was announced at the recent Sola Sessions event in Jupiter, Fla., where more than 250 Sola professionals were in attendance.

The celebration of this milestone included Sola Culture Ambassador, first-ever SOLA business owner and Paul Mitchell educator Kim Bennett Horvath. “The choice I made to be part of Sola 14 years ago provided me the best opportunity for the rest of my career,” noted Kim.

During the event, a stunned Katie Oakes from Savannah, Ga. was called on stage as she was officially the 10,000^th salon owner.

“After I left my last job, I showed up at Sola with my mother, signed a lease and never looked back,” commented Katie. “It’s been the best thing and my community has been great. Sola gave me the freedom to be my own boss and the space to be myself.”

Nodding to Sola’s legacy of creating a community of like-minded, independent, creative owners, Kim added “During my 14 years, it’s been amazing to hear and share thousands of different stories. Ten thousand owners, each connected through Sola, is something I could not have imagined at the start. Congratulations to all of the Sola 10,000!”

By removing the majority of risk and overhead costs of running a traditional salon, Sola empowers artists who are ready to take full creative and business control of their careers—allowing them to do what they do best in highly-designed, supportive, yet private, workspaces. With state-of-the-art tools including technology like SolaGenius and Sola Pro apps, Sola helps support each business and provides valuable education/product information on demand.

The Sola Tribe: Shared Industry Culture

For pros dreaming of their own business yet worrying about losing the camaraderie of having colleagues a sink away, that fear is quickly dissipated through Sola’s attention to creating engaging owners within each locale.

Stylist Alex Sylvester, a 2018 Faces of Sola honoree observes, “It opened my eyes to see this huge community that I really had no idea about coming into it. There are many inspiring owners here working to make their careers and brands noticeable. It’s so much fun because like-minded people ready to make something of themselves surround you every day.”

“I decided to move to Sola because I wanted to surround myself with a community of people with similar ideas and goals,” noted nail artist Julie Nguyen. “Being here allows me to stay on top of my performance and learn so many new things.”

Minneapolis stylist Mahogany Plautz summed it up saying, “The community at SOLA is very supportive of each other. We interact, communicate and share ideas (and clients) often. If I get someone who comes in and asks me to do something not in my wheelhouse, there are other professionals just steps away I can refer them to. Ours is a big circle of support and inspiration. We celebrate each other.”