By Laura McAlister
Journal Editor
When Dona Bullock decided to get back into the salon business, the award-winning hairstylist wanted an intimate spot where her clients would feel at home.
Now, nearly a year after Joelle Salon opened, she and her daughters have accomplished just that.
Dona, with her daughters Mandie Joelle Powell and Danielle Powell Wilson, opened Joelle Salon on Old Rocky Ridge Road in March 2011. To celebrate its one-year anniversary, the salon is hosting an event May 8 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. In addition to a ribbon cutting with the Hoover Chamber of Commerce, the event also will include wine, cheese and music.
Dona said Joelle sort of combines the old and the new.
The decor includes family antiques with lots of modern accents. She said the antiques come from her, while her youngest daughter Mandie, a stylist at the salon and also its namesake, brought in the more contemporary pieces.
Mandie has also brought in a younger generation of clients, while Dona’s reputation has attracted her former ones to the new salon.
Dona has been in the hairstyling business in Birmingham for some 25 years.
“My girls were kind of raised in a salon,” Dona said. “I was a single parent and put them through Briarwood (Christian School).”
She owned Salon Elite on U.S. 31 in Hoover but decided after her daughters went to college to close the salon and work independently.
Dona developed a love for hairstyling while she was still in college. She jokes that her first haircut was done on the 12th floor of Tutwiler Hall at the University of Alabama, where she was a student.
While at Alabama, Dona had the opportunity to work with coach Paul “Bear” Bryant as an athletic hostess. She said he taught her to be competitive and to follow her dreams.
After graduating from the university, Dona did just that. She joined The Master’s Salon in Huntsville and began competition styling. In 1982, she won a gold medal in the National Hairdresser and Cosmetology Association World Championship Hairdressing Team for the U.S.
“It’s kind of like the Olympics,” she said of the event. “It’s every four years. We competed in preliminaries in Chicago and New York.
“Then we went to the World Championship in Paris. The coolest thing was to walk in front of our flag knowing we represented the United States.”
After a few years of competitions, Dona turned her direction back towards clients and developed the love and passion that she now shares with her daughters.
“I just love to see people smile in the mirror and feel good,” she said. “It’s my passion. I never get bored of that. I always want people to be the best they can be.”
Mandie and Danielle did follow their mother into the salon business, but they took different paths. Both attended Auburn University. Danielle graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies specializing in child life. She has two children and is the chief financial officer of Joelle.
Dona said Mandie was always artistic, and styling came naturally to her. After graduating from Auburn, she graduated at the top of her class from Paul Mitchell.
Mandie’s natural talent is what convinced Dona to open Joelle.
“She was in New York with L’Oreal,” Dona said. “They were priming her to be a L’Oreal educator. They said they thought she was salon owner material.”
Dona said Mandie certainly has been ever since they opened the doors. Her daughter sometimes works more than 60 hours a week, Dona said, and Mandie’s clients never leave until she believes she’s made them look their best.
Mandie does a lot of work with fashion shows and shoots in the area for publications like B-Metro and Birmingham magazine. She and Dona also were the stylists for Miss Alabama Courtney Porter at the Miss America Pageant.
Dona said she and her daughters are quick to give back to the community, making donations to Children’s Hospital, Kids One Transport, breast and ovarian cancer awareness and other worthy causes.
Dona said they are looking forward to many more years at their Old Rocky Ridge Road location next door to the Clothes Tree by Deborah. In addition to individual appointments, they are looking forward to hosting more private parties at the salon for cuts and styling for wedding parties and more, she said.
For more information, visit joellesalon.com or call 639-1455.
