Starting out as a beautician in her own home salon, the past eight years have seen Amanda Roth’s business acumen grow exponentially with the continued expansion of not one, but two, hair and beauty salons – Remy Hair & Beauty and Ebony Empire, with the latter recently experiencing its latest facelift.
Tell us about your business.
I became a qualified beautician in 2004, opening a home salon the following year and then expanding by renting out space to a hairdresser, before venturing on to doing hair dressing (mostly hair extensions) myself. In 2009, I opened my first commercial salon, Remy Hair & Beauty, doubling the space in 2017 when I expanded into the tenancy next door, hiring and training more stylists. I opened my second salon, Ebony Empire in 2018, which was twice the size again with 13 stations, a beauty room, barbers, cocktail bar and its own shampoo room, with full body, lay down massage chairs – making it Townsville’s largest high-end hair and beauty salon.
What has been the most challenging aspect of being a business owner?
The most challenging aspect of being a business owner would be the ever-rising costs of business. It is extremely important to me to pay my team their worth, keep our prices competitive and give our guests the absolute best in products and services.
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I have a portrait of Edward Scissorhands on my arm to symbolize the creativity and passion of my industry!
What is the best piece of career/business advice you ever received?
It is hard to pinpoint any one piece of advice, as I have received so many great tips from my very supportive father, who was also in business, as well as inspiring leaders in the industry. I take parts of great advice, but at the end of the day I’ve always followed my gut.
Going forward, what is next on the cards for your business/career?
I have recently launched our first expansion of Ebony Empire, taking over the shop adjacent to our existing store at Domain Central. It is complete with 22 stations, beauty room, makeup and brow bars, an extra shampoo room, barbers, a second cocktail bar and we also offer takeaway cold drip coffee.
We are offering room for private functions such as hens’ nights, kids’ pamper parties and ladies in business meetings, and the space will also be utilised for the Townsville Training Hub for guest artists in our industry from all over the world. We will also be running our Training Academy for our wholesale hair extension brand, Remy Hair Extensions from this site.
Images supplied – Ebony Empire new expansion
