Tricia Rivas has been a hairdresser for nearly 30 years now, but for this small business owner and mentor, non-profit founder, wife, mother and even curvy model search winner, it’s never been just about the hair.
“That’s my motto because as a small business owner, you’re put on a platform to support the community that supports you and we truly live and breathe that,” she says. “It’s created so many opportunities for me individually and for my team.”
Tricia comes from a long line of hairdressers. Her aunts and uncle owned hair salons—in fact, one is close to 80 and another in her 70s and still doing hair. Tricia was inspired by them after becoming a young mom at the age of 16 and talking to her school counselor, who steered her in the direction of nursing.
While she explored nursing for 6 months at her local community college, she ultimately went back to what’s in her blood: hair. Tricia rented a chair at a salon for years as a solopreneur and then nearly 15 years ago opened her own high-end brick and mortar, Trixies Salon and Spa. Six years later, she opened her second location.
During this time, Tricia’s team grew from three to 21. She also established two partnerships with local retirement communities to provide high-end salon services to the seniors who live there. All this propelled Trixies Salon and Spa to the $1-million mark—a level very few in the industry, let alone just 3 percent of all women business owners, reach.
“I am in the people industry so when I talk about that, it’s truly having a love and passion for people—my employees and my community,” Tricia shares. “When you have that dedication, you naturally manifest what you want in life and who you are attracting, including both employees and guests. The organic growth I’ve had has come from that mindset.”
Still, like every small business owner, Tricia has faced challenges. The salon industry statistically has high rates of burnout and employee turnover, so they’ve had to really stay focused on the culture they created to stay on course. They know who they are, who they are serving and their long-term goal.
Also, COVID was extremely challenging for the industry and they are still recouping, as a lot of salon and small business owners are. “Having to change your personality and lift up people in times of turmoil because of COVID and then during this political environment isn’t easy,” she says, “but we do this daily.”
Tricia is committed to lifting up her community members in other ways as well. She councils other small business owners through her local Small Business Development Center (SBDC), helping them with everything from business plans and marketing to human capital issues.
Tricia also founded a non-profit where she cuts hair for terminally ill cancer patients. She had won a local entrepreneurial award and when she went up to accept it, the director of a hospice organization was in the audience. She asked Tricia if she had ever thought about helping with respite care. “I had this horrible fear of death, but she asked me to pray and think about it and I did,” she says.
At first, Tricia sat with hospice patients while their loved ones ran errands or went to dinner. One day, a hospice patient needed a haircut and the rest is history. She founded her non-profit and began cutting hair once a week at the nearby cancer center. “We were put on this earth to take care of one another,” she shares. “I’m so lucky to be a hairdresser and take care of people in this way.”
Tricia is also married with two sons and a daughter, so work/life balance can get tricky. The key, she says, is having a strong leadership team, including a CEO, in place who knows their roles and responsibilities. Additionally, Tricia’s not afraid to ask for help.
“I was talking to a small business owner the other day who was thinking about throwing in the towel and asked how I keep going,” Tricia shares. “I told her this is not a solo job. My village, my mentors and especially my family—I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”
NAWBO is part of her village as well. She discovered it when she was at a place in her career where she wanted to be around seasoned women entrepreneurs. She served as co-president of NAWBO Iowa during COVID in 2020.
“It truly is a sisterhood,” she describes. “I love their honesty about what it takes to be a woman business owner and the challenges that come with that if you are a mom and if you have a partner. For the women in our chapter, there’s no veil whatsoever. What you see is what you get and the connections they have to others in the community are just astonishing.”
Modeling Body Positivity
As a mom of three, Tricia wants all her children to love their bodies at whatever stage they are in. That’s why when the opportunity came up to honor and model body positivity for her 15-year-old daughter by entering a local boutique’s curvy model search, she jumped at it.
Out of nearly 80 entrants, Tricia was part of the Top 12 and then Top 6, and then when it was put out for public vote, she was chosen as the winner. “I was just very lucky to win,” she says. “I wanted to show my daughter that no matter your color or size, to be proud of your body as a woman. It’s so empowering to feel comfortable in your own skin.”
Read more about it in this local newspaper article.