NILES, Ohio – Karsyn Berk is preparing to follow in the entrepreneurial footsteps of her father and sisters – with a bit of her grandmother thrown in for good measure.
Earlier this week, Berk was preparing for a planned ceremonial ribbon cutting Thursday ahead of Saturday’s opening of Hello Blow Blowdry & Beauty Bar, 754 Youngstown-Warren Road. She has worked in the beauty industry for the past six years, after earning her certification in cosmetology from Casal Aveda Institute in 2020.
“I’ve always had a passion for the beauty industry,” she remarked. “I just never thought that this could actually be a career.”
Berk is the daughter of Robert Berk, former president and CEO of Berk Enterprises in Warren and founder of Past Times Arcade in Girard. Her sisters include Reilly Berk, who succeeded her father in both roles at Berk Enterprises, and Savannah Berk, operator of Sav’s Macs in Youngstown.
“I’m so blessed that I grew up with such an entrepreneurial family. Their support, their guidance, their patience has been amazing. Truly, I wouldn’t be able to do this without them,” Berk said. “With any new business, you either have the support or you don’t, and I feel like having their support has made me work even harder and push myself even more.
Berk had attended Youngstown State University for a time, “really unsure of what I wanted to do,” she recalled.
“She was one semester in and she was just not liking it,” Reilly Berk affirmed.
Berk credited her maternal grandmother, Karen Rubin, who had worked as a beautician, with sparking her interest in the field and encouraging her to follow her passion.
“‘You’re so good with people. You love beauty, all things beauty,’” she recalled her grandmother saying. Following her grandmother’s advice, she looked into beauty school and “absolutely loved it,” she said.
Reilly Berk also recalled their grandmother encouraging her sister to follow her dreams, as opposed to following the “default path” that many people follow of going to college and getting a degree.
“It takes some guts to be able to realize in that moment, ‘I don’t know if I love this. I think I’m going to try something else,’” she said.
Berk graduated from Casal Aveda in March 2020 – just before the shutdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a three-month delay before she could go to Columbus to get her license. During that time she couldn’t work in a salon, so she used the time to practice her skills and take online courses, “doing anything I could just to keep perfecting my craft,” she said.
She worked at Casal’s salon in Howland for about 10 months before moving onto another salon in Boardman and doing bridal makeup on the weekends – about 20 to 30 annually – always with the intention of opening her own shop, she said.
“I always knew I just wanted a special place that I could welcome people in and make them feel beautiful because I am a people person,” she said. She also loves being pampered herself and wants to pamper others as well.
Hello Blow isn’t a full-service salon and offers what Berk described as “finishing services” such as blow dry/blow outs, styling, makeup and spray tanning.
“I feel like there are full-service salons on every corner, but this specifically is different because we aren’t a full-service salon,” she said. “You’re coming in to get your hair washed and styled, but we aren’t coloring your hair. We aren’t cutting your hair.”
Since it’s not offering the services of a full-service salon, patrons can book an appointment and be out within an hour, she said. Often when she has called full-service salons to schedule a blowout, getting a booking has been difficult because the schedule is too full.
The salon offers six styling stations, plus a spray tan room and two shampoo rooms, with curtains to provide a “quiet experience,” Berk said. She designed the space with her friend, Kelsey Lammers, a costumer in the Canadian film and television industry who she met online six years ago during the pandemic.
“It’s been a hobby and a passion,” Lammers said. “That’s why it’s been quite fun to be able to lend that to her.”
Lammers has undergraduate degrees in business and fashion design, as well as a postgraduate degree in public relations. She has shared her knowledge with her friend and used her design skills for Hello Blow’s space.
“We designed this space to make you feel like you were stepping into a little bit of luxury. At the same time – because it’s calm and it’s classic – it feels very warm and welcoming and not too fussy,” she said. The goal was an aesthetic that would feel “calm and elevated” for patrons.
“Her services would be considered little luxuries,” she continued. “They’re not as expensive as a designer purse, but they’re also not 100% necessary to continue through life. You could do your blowout at home, but to have to spoil yourself in little ways, I think, is like a new way of thinking that has really popped up, I would say, since probably Covid times.”
Additionally, the curtains on the shampoo lounges help ensure that customers with air coverings feel like they can let their hair down in a safe environment, she said.
“We also have the ability to dim light, reduce noise and help with people who might struggle with overstimulation,” she said.
Berk praised her family members for their support. Family members don’t have to work in the family business and are encouraged to do what makes them happy.
Reilly Berk said she advised her sister that operating a business would be a lot of work, but that as long as she is passionate and her heart is in what she is doing – “which it is” – she was confident she would be successful.
“She cares a lot about what she does, and she cares about making people feel their best,” she said. “It’s not always going to be easy, but it’ll be worth it just to keep moving forward.”
“The biggest thing is just go after what you love, work hard, don’t give up. Like that’s the biggest thing, like don’t give up on your dreams,” Berk said. “Not every day is going to be perfect. You know you have the bumps in the road, but you’re still going to persevere. You’re going to push through.”
Hello Blow will open with four hairstylists, including Berk, plus an aesthetician, a makeup/spray tan artist and someone who provides spray tan services exclusively. Scheduled hours will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, though Berk acknowledged she already has a booking at 8:20 a.m. that day. It will be open Wednesday through Sunday, with the possibility of adding days in response to demand.
“We’re opening at the perfect time because homecoming is in October, so we’ll get a big homecoming rush, and then the holiday season,” she said. “Weddings will be huge.”
She also expressed her enthusiasm for launching her business and the effect the services she offers have on patrons.
“It’s the most rewarding profession,” she said. “Just to see someone come in and sit in your chair, and maybe [after] they stand a little taller or have a bigger smile on their face, and they just light up,” Berk said.
Pictured at top: Karsyn Berk, owner of Hello Blow Blowdry & Beauty Bar.
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