All Grown Up

Happy New Year, everyone! I am so excited to be taking over Bravo once again!

Jungle Red was a mess. It was dirty and unorganized. The staff was unruly, and Suzanne had abdicated her authority by letting her daughter, Kari, run her business. The biggest problem -- Kari was there to help her mother, not because she was following her personal passion. Suzanne was refusing to grow up and take charge of her business and her life.

I have seen lots of dirt and staff not pulling their weight, but I have never seen a bin of bras or a wardrobe of clothes in a salon. It was astounding to me, and I knew I had a lot to fix in the salon and with Suzanne.

This salon had more than just the normal run of the mill issues. When I started talking to everyone, it became evident that the roles were reversed and Suzanne acted more like the daughter and Kari more like the mother. I understand a strong mother/daughter relationship, but this codependency wasn't helping either one of them or the business. It became clear to me that Kari hadn't really told her mum how she felt, and I realized that I needed to help open up the lines of communication between the two of them. Given Suzanne's age and the fact that she seemed to be OK with not being a grown up, I wasn't sure if I could get through to her.

I liked Suzanne and Kari, and I knew that to truly help Jungle Red I had to get Suzanne to step up, grow up, and let go. The first step was for her to actually run the salon and tell her staff what she expected, because that was normally Kari's job. Step 2 was for Suzanne to get her living situation together, and I very much wanted to help her with this. Step 3 was to empower Kari and have Suzanne realize that her daughter has her own dreams and passions, and that it was time for Suzanne to let her go pursue them.

I could not have asked for a better outcome for this salon. I am so happy and proud of all of them. They truly committed and got rid of the dead weight.