MASTER STYLISTS

Melissa Soon
(Manhattan West & Brooklyn)
Melissa is the founder and owner of Soon Beauty Lab and has been working and living in NYC for 15 years. After exploring her field on arrival in the city, she soon realized that being in the salon was what really inspired and made her happy. Bringing fashion and art to people through their hair was and is what Melissa loves to do. Creating the Salons two in Manhattan and now a third in Brooklyn with her friend and new partner Ryan has been an outlet where she has been able to combine so many of her interests. Creating a inspiring comfortable space, mentoring and teaching new hairstylists and of course doing great hair. Melissa is often times heard telling her staff; still after so many years in the business; she still loves what she does. Her work is creative, technically executed, and above all else totally wearable. She strives to give you not just a haircut you will like but one that you, (and others), will notice is amazing for you. Having a busy full life with two kids, pets, friends and her career keeps Melissa happy and motivated.

Ryan Hoch
(Manhattan West & Brooklyn)
Ryan has 17 years of experience as a stylist, is Co-Owner of our Brooklyn location and also the General Manager of Soon Beauty Lab. He enjoys all aspects of the trade but particularly likes creating naturally beautiful hairstyles that feature expert color work and extensions. (Ryan is also a Great Lengths certified stylist.) He finds that his inspiration for styling comes from pop culture and runway shows, which he expertly interprets into flowing, dreamy hair. In his free time, Ryan is oftentimes found exercising or playing with his three Terriers Bob, Stan & Floyd.

Ellen
(Manhattan West)
A friend of one of our senior stylists, Ellen was originally a client of the salon. Her ability to be supportive and yet a leader came through from the beginning. Trained here at Soon Beauty Lab, in the real world as a pre-school teacher and mother to her sons Lucas and Jackson, her capacity to listen and be creative are immense. Her work is both thoughtful and inspired.

Kumi
(Manhattan West)
Kumi began her career in Tokyo almost two decades ago and has been in New York as a stylist for over 10 years. She particularly enjoys creating short hairstyles for everyone and personalizing them with color. Kumi’s steadfast clientele can tell you her cutting is impeccable and her color sense is always on point. She’ll also be happy to tell you about her two beloved kitties while you’re getting your new look.

Nicole
(Manhattan West)
Nicole is a truly multitalented stylist and makeup artist at Soon. Her aesthetic leans towards modern and fresh new looks for her client, personalizing a style that suits their personality alone. In addition to her cut and color work, Nicole is particularly adept at creating updos for special events. When she isn’t in the salon, Nicole pursues her love for travel, is an accomplished dancer and is fascinated with math.

Gabriel
(Manhattan West)
Gabriel finds his inspiration for hair to come from art, architecture and music which he translates into wearable asymmetric cuts and color. He is an intuitive listener and uses that ability to translate a new style for his clients that make them feel spectacular when they leave the salon. Outside of the salon, Gabriel is finding his bliss through visiting museums, riding his bike, world travel and blogging.

Erika
(Manhattan West & Brooklyn)
Erika moved to New York where she finds most of her inspiration to come from its streets and culture. She is an expert at creating client-centric looks with color and cut, personalizing each hairstyle to their personality. When clients aren’t seeing her at our Brooklyn or Flatiron location for their new image, Erika can be spotted in her Williamsburg neighborhood hanging out with her dog, Betsy.

Sara June
(Brooklyn)
Sara has been doing hair for 11 years and although she is a recent addition to the masses of Brooklyn, she will readily admit that she is the happiest she has ever been. Coming from Utah, she spent the first 8 years in the business mastering straight, sleek hairstyles. Now after working a year on the UWS and a year in Carroll Gardens, she is a go-to for managing natural curls and straight styles and can give you amazing tips on styling and caring for your hair’s texture. She loves to be creative with cuts and has quite the pixie-cut following, but is also a lover of long locks and anything in between. She has mastered many coloring techniques and is currently in love with natural ombre color as well as bold coppers and blondes. Sara loves a challenge and is never one to turn down a fun idea, whether it’s a fun 20′s style bob or a 60′s Mad Men do. Sara might be seen biking in BK, reading on roofs, running in parks or eating Hagen daaz ice-cream.

 

SENIOR STYLISTS

Connie
(Manhattan West & Brooklyn)
Connie finds a great deal of her inspiration for hairstyling comes from runway shows and pop culture as well as her loyal clientele. She enjoys watching her bold hair color and sculptured cuts collaborate together to transform her clients look piece by piece into a uniquely wearable hairstyle. When she’s not in the salon as a stylist or part of our management team she’s exploring the city on a new adventure or enjoying cooking.

Annie
(Manhattan West)
Annie, one of our most personable stylists, managers, and color educators hails from the great state of Ohio. She enjoys cutting and color equally, and her clientele will assure you that her hairstyles are wearable and work with their natural hair texture. Annie’s color sensibility focuses on natural, beautifully feminine looks, which symbiotically work with her expert cuts. Along with color, she enjoys a good clean classic mens cut. In her free time she enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with her mini schnauzer Archibald.

Shannon
(Manhattan East)
Shannon’s aesthetic for hair comes from the soft, romantic, naturally stunning styles of the 1960’s and 1970’s as well as the playful vibrancy of New Orleans, where she once lived. She has a balanced love of cut and color, which her loyal clientele readily attest to. When Shannon isn’t in the salon, she’s voraciously traveling the world (or reading about where she would like to travel next), playing with her pet rats or whipping up something delicious in the kitchen.

Patrice
(Manhattan East)
Patrice is a talented artist who enjoys working with an array of hair types. She specializes in precise cuts, rich color placement, and runway-ready blowouts. Patrice is an avid spin cyclist and can often be found volunteering her time at charity events, where she donates hair and makeup services. She is a native New Yorker and after 15 years in Hilton Head Island, she is happy to return home. On top of all of this, Patrice is also the Den Mother & Manager of our East Village location.

Kristy
(Manhattan East)
Kristy is one of our most soft spoken stylists, but she’s brimming with enthusiasm for her trade and it shows – she travels in from upstate New York to Soon daily! She really enjoys cutting hair, especially to create a great men’s cut that works with the clients natural texture for an effortlessly well kept look. In addition to her skills as a stylist, Kristy also is a makeup artist and is happy to create new looks for special occasions. When she isn’t in the salon, Kristy is oftentimes found reading, catching up on Parks and Rec or taking dance classes.

Jenna
(Manhattan East & Manhattan West)
Jenna is one of most visible stylists at Soon. When she’s not working it in the salon, she’s an editorial stylist that has been featured in Nylon, Vice and numerous online magazines. Jenna truly loves forecasting the latest trends in beauty and fashion (Her inspiration blog is jennaperry.tumblr.com) and thinks keeping her clients’ hair in a sexy, wearable, classically updated style is they key to success. She is also a self described hip hop nerd and considers herself more of a cuddle muffin than a party animal.

Nanci
(Manhattan West & Manhattan East)
Nanci grew up in California and moved to New York to pursue her career in hair. She really enjoys all aspects of her trade yet favors long layered haircuts combined with natural, luscious color the most. She gets her inspiration for hair from current fashion trends as well as working with her clients’ natural texture and temperament. In her free time, Nanci is working on her artwork and has started taking piano lessons.

Sara-Marie
(Manhattan West)
Sarah has been doing hair for over 8 years in Seattle. She found that it was time to make the move she’s been wanting to do for years so she moved to NYC 8 months ago. Outside of the salon sarah loves doing photo shoots and fashion shows. Though she loves the high fashion world, she loves taking those big looks and turning them into every day looks for her clients. Though not an everyday occurrence, she loves doing up-dos, styling, extensions and brazilian keratin treatments.

Drew
(Manhattan East & Manhattan West)
Drew is a transplant from Greensboro, NC where he spent 6 years mastering his craft while traveling the country learning and teaching advanced education for John Paul Mitchell Systems as a National Color Educator. Though not limited to just color, his passion as a stylist is connecting with his guest while formulating the perfect hair color to fit their lifestyle, skin tone, and commitment level. Now with 10+ years of dedication to the beauty industry, Drew is ready to “take the bull by the horns” and truly refine and celebrate hair! In his free time, it’s likely to find Drew checking out a new cocktail bar, working on fitness, or looking for someone he can make laugh!

Nora
(Manhattan East & Manhattan West)
Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Nora’s focus as a hair designer is to find the most flattering style based on face shape, texture and styling. By breaking down the positives and negatives of past experiences, this hair trauma counselor maintains a delicate balance between keeping people within their comfort zone and consistently suggesting new ideas to slowly “baby step” into making changes. In her two years as a Kevin Murphy educator she found that teaching, mentoring and learning from other stylists was a real passion. Nora specializes in blonding, geometric precision haircuts, product prescription and all forms of styling. When not behind the chair or on location at a shoot, Nora can be found watching science documentaries or at a live comedy show.

Katie
(Manhattan East)
(Bio Coming Soon)

 

FULL & EXPERIENCED STYLISTS

Vanessa
(Manhattan West)
Vanessa’s background as an Aveda Institute trained stylist has definitely taken her places! She began her career in South Beach and has been personalizing her clients looks at Soon for almost six years. Vanessa’s aesthetic is of feminine looks of the early 1970’s but with a modern edge. She loves personalizing her client’s cut and color to them uniquely and focuses on beautiful styling and blowouts. When Vanessa isn’t in the salon, you can usually find her DJ’ing and she’s a lover of all music.

Brittany
(Manhattan West)
Brittany is a southerner inspired by the city she lives in. She has discovered that her training at the Aveda Institute has taken her far in her career, but Soon Beauty lab has taken her further than she had imagined as a stylist. Hardworking and dedicated to her craft, Brittany loves creative cut and color work and she finds the salon to be the perfect outlet for her passion. She also has a great love for music, the arts and fashion, which she explores in her free time.

Bruna
(Manhattan West & Brooklyn)
Bruna is a New Yorker right down to her roots! Brazilian born and Manhattan raised, Bruna brings her vivacity and talent every day to Soon. She enjoys every aspect of her profession, but she’s also especially partial to bouncy, sexy blowouts. When Bruna isn’t crafting her clients a new look, she’s oftentimes playing with her cats, Zelda and Vinicius or pouring over the latest issue of Popular Science.

Meg
(Brooklyn)
Meg discovered her passion for hair while working as an editorial makeup artist. She sought training at Sassoon, and later polished her skills in-house at Soon. Meg loves precise, glamorous haircuts, and creating blondes. She hails from South Carolina, and brings her Southern manners and easy smile to work every day. She loves to talk recipes and restaurants with her clients.

John
(Brooklyn)
John was raised in south Florida and moved to the big apple on a whim. With a few years of professional experience John has picked up many techniques from being a forth generation hair dresser and spending many years in the back of the family salon, mixed with four years of sculpture and painting classes, John expresses himself using his avant-garde mixed with precision style cutting methods and love of color to create the perfect look for his clients. If you think John is familiar, you may have seen him touring with his former heart throb boy-band “Teen Heat”.

Lisa
(Manhattan West & Manhattan East)
Lisa comes to us from Ohio by way of California. Her background in the visual arts enables her to approach things with a sense of creativity and innovation. Lisa especially enjoys working with clients to enable them discover their own style. She is known for her precision in cutting and welcomes the chance to explore new possibilities with all of her clients in cutting and in color.

Joyce
(Manhattan West)
Joyce’s transition into hairstyling came after her first career in the Fashion Industry, when she decided to find a career that was more creative and allowed her to personalize looks for her clients. Her passion for hair flourished at the Aveda Institute and at Vidal Sassoon in-house training where she combined her love for art and design with the love of connecting with people. Joyce’s vision is to create a balance of classic and modern styling, playing with textures for an effortless versatile look focusing on form and the client’s intrinsic beauty. In her spare time, Joyce enjoys photography, live music and has a thing for dance reality shows.

Jessie
(Manhattan West)
Jessie’s passion for hairstyling lies in natural, wearable cut and color for each individual client. Her style is effortless, easy, and classic, perfect for the client that wants to look fantastic without working too hard. When not at Soon, Jessie is a Wella Color Expert, educating other salons about the color line. She is just as fascinated by the “how” of hair color as she is by the beautiful, multi-dimensional results.

Rebecca
(Manhattan East & Brooklyn)
Rebecca is the portrait of duality at Soon. She loves eye popping, asymetrical styles and color (with a nod to vintage) as well as classically beautiful bridal looks in hair and makeup. Rebecca merges both of her passions for hair and makeup seamlessly in the shop, creating looks that are unique as her clientele. She’s also determined- in her free time she enjoys makeup artistry for weddings and editorial work, which she pursues with equal voracity. In the few moments that she has to spare, you may catch her playing guitar somewhere as well.

Nikki
(Manhattan West & Brooklyn)
As far back as she can remember, Nikki has been styling her friends’ hair and doing their makeup. Hailing from SC, Nikki loves charming her clients’ intrinsic beauty by using tailored color and cuts. Her inspiration comes from New York City streets and watching how her fellow fashion-conscious New Yorkers interpret runway styles into real life applications. Nikki also loves creating updo’s and doing makeup for special occasions. When she’s not transforming her clients into the most beautiful versions of themselves, she can be found hunting down vintage clothing, good coffee and books.
 

JUNIOR STYLISTS

Lauren
(Manhattan East)
While in Lauren’s chair, you’re in for dinner & a show! You’ll have a few laughs & before you know it, you’re leaving feeling fabulous. Her well-humored nature aside, Lauren has a background in Fine Arts & uses her knowledge of design, composition, & color in her work. Her style is best described as vintage-contemporary, classic structure with modern definition. Lauren’s passion & dedication for her craft will always ensure whoever is in her chair comes out looking their best! While not at work, Lauren can be found working on a current art project, walking her Pit Bull Oscar, or at the movies.

Esther
(Manhattan East & Manhattan West)
Esther is passionate about hair & inspired by the latest trends. Seeking to bring style, color & vitality to her clients, Esther enhances her clients own natural beauty to bring out their inner confidence. In her spare time Esther is busy gardening, painting, cooking fun new recipes. This born New Yorker is not one to sit still & has goals of learning new languages and traveling.

Christian
(Brooklyn)
(Bio Coming Soon)

Carli
(Manhattan West)
(Bio Coming Soon)