TONIandGUY Opens New Academy in San Jose!

Dalena Hoang knows quite a bit about being an entrepreneur. Her family owned restaurants and casinos throughout her childhood, and she and her siblings worked in the family businesses from the time they were small. So it wasn’t surprising that after earning her psychology degree and working as a corporate trainer for the Bank of America Corporation for 10 years, she found herself yearning for the autonomy and creativity of owning her own business. Beauty and fashion have long been her passions, so left her job and opened a John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center in her hometown of San Jose. In just one year, Dalena paid off all of her loans for the modeling school, which is now acknowledged as one of the most successful locations in the franchise. And for the last 10 years, she’s had another dream—to expand her beauty and fashion business with the addition of a high-end hairdressing academy. It was a dream that was difficult to bring to life…until, thanks to behindthechair.com, she discovered TONI&GUY!

For more information, visit www.toniguy.edu/franchising or www.toniguyfranchise.com/hair-salon/next-steps.

“I love making people happy and beautiful and I love teaching,” Dalena explains. “So I always knew that I would open a hairdressing academy. But it had to be the right one. I searched and searched for ten years, but I never found the right fit. But when I came across TONI&GUY on BTC, I knew I had found the perfect marriage.”

Dalena’s list for a perfect business marriage is specific and detailed. Her partner must be fresh and contemporary, ethical, family-oriented, knowledgeable, experienced and hands-on.  TONI&GUY, she says, checks all the boxes, and more. “Their culture spoke to me,” she explained. “Our modeling school is committed to truly helping our students grow and be successful. We believe in quality. My whole family, including my fiancé Francis Chau, works in the business. With the TONI&GUY family, I found the same culture and chemistry.  We see our modeling school as the ‘Harvard’ of schools, and [company founder] Bruno [Mascolo] feels the same way about the TONI&GUY academies.”

On a recent “Discovery Day” at the TONI&GUY Academy in Costa Mesa, CA, Dalena and Francis toured the facility and met with TONI&GUY family members—including President Debbie Webster, Bruno Mascolo, Creative Director Zak Mascolo and Fashion Director Caroline Mascolo.They also got a preview, in the form of a three-dimensional rendering, of the 8,000 square foot space in San Jose that will be built to accommodate 125 students.  Dalena says that the lease is signed, the financing is in place and they’re now working on obtaining accreditation, beginning construction and immersing themselves in the TONI&GUY operational systems.

“This is such an exciting new adventure!” Dalena says. “We’re thrilled at the opportunity to create new jobs in our community and to help students realize their dreams. We want to make a name for the brand in our area and be role models. We will work hard—we know how to do that! And it’s such a blessing that we found TONI&GUY—we feel that our values are completely parallel!”

For more information, visit www.toniguy.edu/franchising or www.toniguyfranchise.com/hair-salon/next-steps.