ENDPAPERS Tune In to the SALON TODAY 200 Watch Party! Scan for Expanded ST200 profi les in the online story! i Salon owners’ heroic business tales from the pandemic take center stage, and the 2021 honorees are announced. In years past, SALON TODAY celebrated the SALON TODAY 200 honorees at a cocktail party reception hosted by Serious Business in New Orleans. But this year, the pandemic and the resulting shift in timing for application deadlines and the an-nouncement of honorees had us designing a virtual celebration. On February 21, SALON TODAY held a Watch Party, with an hour-long online celebration that shared personal heroic stories from salon owners, named the 2021 honorees for the fi rst time and gave our audience a fi rst look at the iconic cover. Sponsored by Great Lengths , Phorest , Michele Pelafas , Aveda , Kerastase and The Neill Corporation , the video which is available on demand (see QR code on this page) is a wealth of inspira-tion for owners and their team members as they rebuild their businesses in 2021. Consider showing it at your next team meeting. The event included the following salon stories: • Blo’s Bryan Nunes debuts as the Hairy Fairy, when he and his team distribute hair color kits in return for donations to a local cause. • Raven Row’s Raven Camacho remembers a heart-warming tale of how the team bonded to help the salon, then discuss-es the salon’s new approach to pricing that’s more equitable for clients and the service providers. • Allure Designs Salon’s Shelly Malizola demonstrates how she kept the team employed during the shutdown and how that led her to start a new business, Beauty Cloud . • Cloud 9 Salon and Spa’s Kim Cloud and her team create and text videos during the shutdown to keep clients engaged, entertained and educated. • Atelier Studio’s Karie Bennett launches a GoFundMe account when the salon is closed, and over the course of six days, she drives 500 miles in her electric car to personally deliver a little joy to 48 team members. • After inquiring of her community how the salon could help, MC Salon + Spa’s Marcy Cona organizes donations of prod-ucts to front-line health care workers at three local hospitals. • Studio Wish Salon’s Rowena Yeager challenges her team members to share a fun meme of what they are doing while SALONTODAY.COM SPRING 2021 An employee posts about Karie Bennett surprising team members at their homes during the shutdown. sheltering at home, and clients vote on their favorite. • Habitude’s Inez Gray institutes a Priority Booking promo-tion, that generates funds while the salon was closed. • Morgan Keeton, guest care manager at The Studio Aveda Sa-lon and Studio R3, and Owner Lisa Cochran invited outside experts into their salon to review new safety protocols prior to reopening. • Karen Allen Salon’s Van Khanh Nguyen adds an express color service for hesitant clients, restructures her pricing and hosts online sessions that help her team. • Bella Style Salon’s Jen Baudier challenges her team with a big goal after reopening and when their enthusiasm surpris-es her, she adopts a new profi t-sharing program. • Owner Larry Kane organizes a session with a mental health and wellness expert to help the team as they struggled with fear and stress upon reopening. 48