One of New Canaan’s hottest salons has a new owner.
Gianna Parente has been with the salon formerly known as “Divaz,” now Dashing Diva Beauty, since she was 17.
Taking over the business’s lease in August, after the previous owner decided not to renew, the native New Yorker formed a connection to New Canaan through her years of working here.
“Truthfully, I feel like I grew up here,” Parente told the New Canaanite. “I’ve been here since I was very young, and when my boss was not going to re-sign, I kind of was like, oh my god, I can’t see us all not being together, I can’t see our clients leaving. I just can’t see us not being here, so that’s why I really wanted to bring in more services, build the place up, cater more to everybody. This was like a dream of mine to incorporate both, and I never thought I’d be an owner, but I’m very grateful.”
If it weren’t for her big sister Amanda, a senior stylist at Dashing Diva Beauty, Parente likely wouldn’t have taken over the salon, she said.
“She’s been working here longer than anybody,” Parente said. “I started in this field because she wanted to go to hair school, so I wanted to go to hair school, and then I kind of got thrown into this. I honestly didn’t even want to work when I was in high school, and they needed help, so I came into this, I started working, and I never left. The only time I left was when I went back to school for skin care and then I ended up coming back.”
Parente had several reasons for sticking with the salon for so long, but ultimately stayed due to her passion for the job.
“I just love making people feel good about themselves,” Parente said. “We’re almost like a family here, especially with our clients, our staff, So just, even when our previous boss was gone, it was just such a good feeling that it was crazy here but they still came in and you get to learn so much about them over the years, they become family. You learn about their personal life, it’s so much like that and making them feel good.”
While Dashing Diva Beauty was purely a hair salon in the past, Parente hopes to expand the business by bringing in more services.
“I’m also an aesthetician and a cosmetologist, so I had a whole vision on bringing in more skin care,” Parente said. “I’m bringing in hydrafacial, brows, lashes, I renovated. I’m just trying to bring it back to life. I want to cater more to weddings, and just have more girls in here. Hair is our bread and butter, highlights, blowouts, haircuts, so that’s why I’m trying to incorporate more skincare, and more of what I do.”
Despite the stress of becoming a new business owner, Parente said she’s happy with her decision.
“I feel great, I love this community, I think everybody’s so great,” Parente said. “Being a new business owner, it’s been so hard, but everybody made it so comfortable for me, this is such a learning experience and very new to me. Going from an employee to an owner, it’s definitely very, very different, really stressful, but the whole community has been so supportive. And like I said, they’ve made it just a lot easier, and they made me really comfortable.”
Dashing Diva Beauty (203-966-3337) will host a Grand Opening party at 4 p.m. on Nov. 2 to welcome members of the community, featuring champagne and snacks. Located at 111 Cherry St., the salon is open by appointment Sunday and Monday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.