Beauty Bar Owner Shares Journey: 'You Only Get One Shot At Life'

NORTH FORK, NY — Allison Rappa, of Jamesport, has been busy, renovating her Southold business, The Beauty Bar — born in 2013, the shop represents the realization of a lifetime of dreams.

She opened up to share the story of her journey and what growing her business, expanding to locations in Southampton and Smithtown, has meant — and how it felt to renovate her very first business, the place where she found the wings to fly.

"This was the most emotional renovation I’ve done," Rappa, 39, said. "This is the first Beauty Bar I ever opened. I still don’t know how I did it and was able to grow my business the way I have over the past decade."

Rappa said she went from doing friends' hair and makeup out of her kitchen, to doing hair and makeup out of their kitchens, doing weddings all day and bartending all night, setting up a lash room in her house, then quickly outgrowing herself and opening her first salon, in the middle of December, in Southold, right in the center of wine country, in 2013.

"I had no idea how on earth I’d even pay the rent, nor what beauty services I was even going to offer, exactly. It was a rough time in my life, I suffered badly with severe depression, but, no matter what poor emotional state I was in, I refused to fail," she said.

"I remember walking into Pier 1 and seeing this beautiful painting of Buddha, and wanting it in my new salon so, so badly," she shared. "It was $799 and I was making roughly $120 a week there in the beginning. I worked and worked and ran every half-price special I possibly could to get clients in. Within three months, I proudly was able to purchase the painting and hang it in my reception area."

And since that day, Rappa has worked tirelessly expanding her business, brand and family — and helping others.

"I’m able to offer free beauty services for women battling cancer and I’m working with the Department of Health, teaching other artists how to do what I love, and they love it, too," she said.

In addition, Rappa has her own own makeup line along with a professional lash product line. "It all started as a dream when I was a little girl to own my own beauty salon and is now a beautiful life I get to share with my family and friends," she said. "Buddha is now on the wall in my treatment room, right behind my chair, and has become a Beauty Bar staple. This is my very first salon, revamped, full of love and light. Although it killed me to paint over the blood sweat and tears of those walls, I’m learning to embrace the beautiful things to come. Live your dream, friends, you only get one shot at life and we all deserve to be happy."

When first interviewed by Patch in 2013, Rappa shared her thoughts on beauty: "I hope to bring a smile to the faces of woman by enhancing the beauty they already possess. I want ladies to leave The Beauty Bar feeling beautiful and confident, no matter what circumstances may be surrounding them."

Rappa, who said she has been fascinated by beauty her whole life, said there is no greater feeling than instilling confidence in women "from the inside out" and to be told she is beautiful — and believing it, herself.

Reflecting on the most rewarding part of her business, Rappa recalls a moment that was life-altering.

"The most fulfilling thing for me was when a young lady came to me after enduring months of chemotherapy; she lost all of her hair. She wore a wig, and she wanted lash extensions and makeup application for her high school reunion. After spending a few hours together, we both cried tears of joy because this woman hadn't felt beautiful since being diagnosed with cancer in 2012. I felt truly blessed to have been the one to put a smile back on her face."

Patch photos courtesy Allison Rappa.