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Flatiron salon owner blooms

By Farnoosh Torabi | Special to amNewYork

October 2, 2006

Kattia Solano built her salon business by working for styling icons Frederic Fekkai and Jon Barrett, and taking business courses. (amNewYork photo/ Lane Johnson / October 1, 2006)

Butterfly Studio at 149 Fifth Ave. is the metamorphosis of its owner Kattia Solano, who went from a schoolgirl dreaming of becoming a beauty stylist to one of New York's most acclaimed salon mavens.

Beauty care runs in Solano's family, dating back to her grandfather who was a barber in Costa Rica.

The 36-year-old first caught the hair and make-up bug at the age of 12 while tagging alongside her aunt to styling classes at Wilford Academy in Brooklyn.

"You have to find good mentors who want to teach you and who want you to be better," said Solano, who, following beauty school, spent years working for styling icons Frederic Fekkai and John Barrett.

Solano also took marketing and business courses, attended motivational speaker sessions, real estate events, and read as many hair, beauty and styling books she could all in preparation for opening her own salon.

Butterfly's cocoon phase was from 2001 to 2003, when Solano and four employees worked out of a loft space in a rundown building on East 30th Street. Financially, she had a $69,000 loan from the Small Business Administration. But the location, she said, was "not desirable."

"The clients were afraid to get in the elevator," she remembered.

The studio lasted just a couple years there before moving farther downtown to Butterfly's current location in the Flatiron District. Here, the business has finally managed to spread its wings, operating on another $500,000 loan from the SBA.

There are now 30 employees working out of a 4,000-square-foot space -- twice the size of her old studio. There are separate quarters for full-service treatments, from hair and makeup to waxing and massage. Tall orange cabanas serve as changing rooms and a small pond runs along one side, filled with foot-long koi fish.

There's also a clear attitude of professionalism and business savvy that decks the salon, from the attentiveness of Butterfly's staff to the sleek displays of skin care and beauty products, including L'Oreal, Kerastase and Malin + Goetz.

Solano's checklist before hiring her employees, or "artists" as she calls them, includes making sure they have a passion for what they do, a love for New York, desire to grow as a professional and have positive energy and kindness.

"The minute I see a diva, I cut that person out right away. If you have one bad egg, that's it," she said. In the past five years, only four employees didn't last.

Overall, sales have been climbing a steady 15% nearly each month. The next step is opening another Butterfly Studio, this time in Palm Beach, Fla., with her younger sister, who is also in the beauty business.

"We¹ve never had the opportunity to work together," Solano said. "Finally, it's becoming a family dream."

Farnoosh Torabi is a video correspondent for thestreet.com. Email her at amSmallBusiness@gmail.com.