Meet the stylists
Convenient online booking is now available for select stylists, allowing you to book by service or by stylist. If your preferred stylist is not listed, please contact the salon by phone (425.629.3686) and our team will be happy to assist with scheduling.
Melissa Carlson
Stylist/Owner
Melissa began her career in 2006 and brings nearly two decades of experience behind the chair. She completed advanced color training with L’Oréal Professionnel, balayage and foil training at the Di Pietro Todd Academy in San Francisco, and continues yearly education to stay current on evolving techniques and trends. Melissa is also certified in Bellami Extensions. She is experienced in the hand-tied method and offers multiple different extension lines tailored for each client.
A truly versatile stylist, Melissa is known for her thoughtful, customized approach and believes the best hair is created by honoring each client’s individuality and lifestyle. She has a strong passion for dimensional color, lived-in blondes, precision cutting, and is especially sought after for expertly crafted bob haircuts.
When she’s not behind the chair, you’ll likely find Melissa on a boat on Lake Washington, chasing the sun during the winter months, or traveling and drawing inspiration from wherever she lands.
Rachelle Short
Stylist
After 18 years behind the chair, Rachelle’s work has always been rooted in intention, education, and care. Training extensively with Bumble and Bumble, Oribe, and L'Oréal Professionnel - including hands-on education with Oribe himself, she has also had the honor of styling for editorial publications and bridal shoots. She specializes in lived-in balayage, corrective color, and certified in Habit Hand-tied extensions, with a focus on tailoring each cut and color to fit her client and their lifestyle. Rachelle’s goal is simple, for every client to leave feeling confident, elevated and their absolute best. Bringing years of experience, refined technique, and calm, she wants all clients to feel a welcoming approach with her.
When Rachelle’s not in the salon, you'll find her running, or soaking up time with her husband and three children.
Jennette Mendoza
Stylist
Creative, versatile, and passionate about her craft, Jennette has an eye for style. Jennette began her career in the hair industry 20 years ago. Starting at Gene Juarez and completing her advanced training with Vidal Sassoon, she has also taken extensive color courses with Wella and Schwarzkopf color. Jennette is skilled in highlighting using different techniques such as balayage, foilyage, and ombre to name a few. Throughout the years, Jennette has attended workshops and hair shows in New York, LA, Miami, and Canada. Jennette is also Keratin Smoothing treatment certified and loves to continue her education and continues to grow to keep up with the trends.
Jennette understands the importance of listening to all of her clients' needs. Her goal is to make each client feel beautiful by creating a style that is designed just for them.
Leah Kostelecky
Stylist
Leah began her career as a stylist in 2013 after attending Gene Juarez Academy. Since then, she has worked with various product lines and has an extensive background using Oribe, R&Co, L’Oreal Professional, Redken, and Wella. She loves the ever-changing industry, and has continued her education throughout her career in order to keep up with future techniques and trends. Past opportunities include working Seattle charity events, styling for fashion shows, and educating newer stylists fresh out of beauty school. She has a passion for creating beautiful, bright blondes through balayage, and loves to use many types of foiling techniques. In addition to lightening, she enjoys formulating vibrant, multidimensional brunettes, and tailors her cuts to each individuals specific lifestyle, bone structure, and face shape. In her free time, Leah loves traveling, and hiking around Washington. She loves staying involved in regular community service events, exercising, and spending time with family.
Kara Quackenbush
Stylist
From the age of 3, Kara’s dream was to become a hairstylist, and she made that dream a reality back in 2012. Her specialties include; low maintenance blondes, natural looking redheads, and dimensional brunettes. Kara believes in a holistic approach to haircare and loves working with clients who want to enhance their natural color and focus on the health of their hair and scalp. She has educational training with some of the country’s top stylists including Nikki and Riawna of Nine Zero One Salon, Daniel M Beauty, Johnny Ramirez, and Ahn Co Tran. Kara is also certified in hand-tied extensions and loves to use them to enhance her clients’ natural hair. She has worked with L’Oreal, Wella, Redken, and Swarzkopf and uses her vast knowledge of multiple color lines to create one-of-a-kind colors for each client. When Kara is not creating beautiful hair, you can find her playing with her dogs, doing Pilates, or on vacation.
Brittany Brown
Stylist
Brittany Brown is a seasoned hairstylist with over 15 years of experience and a graduate of Gene Juarez Academy. She specializes in elevated blonde services using advanced foiling and balayage techniques, with extensive training in L’Oréal Professionnel Hair Color. She has also attended multiple hair events, charity events and fashion shows over the years learning styling techniques from Oribe himself and the R+Co professional team. She is known for creating low-maintenance color tailored to each client’s lifestyle to maintain their look beyond the salon. Brittany is passionate about continued education and is currently working toward certification in hand-tied hair extensions.
Outside of the salon, Brittany enjoys spending time with friends, family, staying active, traveling, attending concerts, and raising her young son and daughter.
Wesley Kelly
Stylist
Wesley has been in the hair industry for 14 years. She has trained with some of the leading educators in the industry. Wesley has studied at Dipietro Todd, making her cutting style with curly hair a master behind the chair. Her training at Vidal Sassoon, Oribe, as well as Keristase, sets her apart with her own amazing technique as a cutting and color expert. Wesley is also certified in the L’Oreal Expert Network. She continues to learn and grow with a love for education. When Wesley is not at the salon, she enjoys hiking, outdoors, plants, good food, laughing with friends and volunteering is a passion of hers! Come in and see Wesley for a personalized cut and color tailored just for you!
Carissa Gevaart
Stylist
Carissa started her career as a hairstylist in 2014 after graduating from Gary Manuel Aveda Institute. Later, she continued her education with Wella to become a master colorist as well as getting her certifications in balayage, color correction, extensions and more. She continues to refine her craft in color and further her education with experts in the industry.
Known for her dimensional brunettes, bright blondes, and rich reds, Carissa’s work focuses on seamless placement and thoughtful customization to create color that grows out beautifully, maximizes longevity and ensures effortless grow-out between appointments. Carissa values building genuine, long-term relationships with her clients and is dedicated to providing an experience feeling both elevated and personal. Her goal is for every client to leave her chair feeling confident, refreshed, and completely themselves.
When she's not behind the chair, Carissa enjoys spending time with her friends and family and most importantly her dog.
Sami Knowles
Stylist
Sami starter her career as a hair stylist in 2010 from Gene Juarez Academy. She had the pleasure of apprenticing with many senior stylists, as well as traveling to LA, Portland, and Arizona to further her education. She regularly takes classes in-person/online to educate herself and keep the creative juices flowing. She thrives on giving her clients the best cut/color for their personal style, lifestyle, hair texture, face shape, and skin tone. Sami enjoys making her clients feel and look beautiful every day!
In her free time, she likes to explore, be in nature, and spend time with her boyfriend+ two cats, as well as spend time with friends!
Kristel Shelley
Stylist
Kristel has been behind the chair since 2012 and known for creating beautiful blondes and rich brunettes. With advanced training with Oribe, L’Oréal, and Redken, she has continued education with some of the industry’s most respected artists including Lisa Walker (Lisa Loves Balayage), Maggie Hancock, Linh Phan, Gina Bianca, Zach Mesquit, and Sarai Speer. Kristel specializes in all things blonding, from bright, seamless foils to soft, blended balayage, always using a customized approach to help each client achieve their version of dream hair. She also loves creating multidimensional brunettes and taking on the challenge of color corrections. Her philosophy is simple: every client should leave her chair feeling confident, beautiful, and truly taken care of.
When not in the salon, Kristel enjoys exploring nature with her family and German shepherds, watching football (go hawks!), cooking with her husband, and unwinding with a good thriller book or the Real Housewives.
Gina Facchini
Stylist
As a stylist for over 20 years, Gina is an expert in creating beautiful hair that has a natural and sophisticated feel. Taking pride in listening to her client’s desires to tailor each look to their personal style, physical features, and individual lifestyles, she specializes in artistic cuts and styles utilizing her extensive training in both French and British cutting techniques with a strong attention to detail. She continues to expand and further her technical skill set by pursuing learning opportunities with experts in the field.
Jenica Mahinay
Stylist
Jenica is Alaska-born and raised and attended a cosmetology program during high school. After graduating, she moved to Dallas, TX to train at the Toni&Guy Academy and then continued doing hair in that area for the next 9 years and eventually owned her own studio. She moved to the Seattle area in 2007 and continued to grow and learn through education events from L’Oreal, Oribe, Bumble&Bumble, R+Co., Ashley Norman, and many others. She has 25 years of experience and loves working on special occasions & wedding styles, hand-tied extensions, curly hair, and creating beautiful dimensional reds.
If she’s not behind the chair, she’s probably baking cookies or camping with her husband and kids somewhere in a PNW forest.
Hayley Cunnington
Stylist
Hayley is Seattle born and Boise raised! She loves everything in a city and everything that is country. Hayley loves meeting new people every day and getting a chance to make a small or big change to their hair. “The satisfaction makes the end of my day worth it.” She graduated from Gary Manual Aveda and continued her education to be a colorist at Gene Juarez. She has education through, Goldwell, Pravana, L’Oreal, Wella and Brazilian blowout. She recently completed her Wella Master Color Expert program. In addition to color, Haley is educated and has experience with Tap in Extentsions and has plans to educate herself with different types of of styles. She loves, blonde, brunettes, color corrections and fashion colors. She is up for a challenge! In Haley’s free time she enjoys hiking, camping, yoga and any new adventure!
Natalie Graham
Stylist
Natalie began her career 18 years ago. She’s always been very interested in fashion and the beauty industry as a whole. Lucky to apprentice under the creative director at Gene Juarez after completing advanced training, she worked at Gene Juarez in Seattle and Alderwood for the first 8 years of her career. She has spent the last 18 years perfecting her knowledge of hair color and different styling techniques. She is certified in L’Oréal, Schwarzkopf and Mydentity color lines. She specializes in blondes and French cutting. Natalie keeps up on education by always learning the latest trends and techniques. She has a passion for what she does and making sure each person that sits in her chair feels and looks amazing every time they leave.
When she isn’t in the salon she enjoys time with her family, hiking outside and spending time with her frenchies.
Sai Sutha
Stylist
As a stylist for over 20+ years, Sai specializes in signature blondes and dimensional brunettes. He enjoys creating beautiful hair with balayage and foiling techniques. Sai mastered his haircutting skills through extended training with Bumble and Bumble, Redken, L'Oreal and Oribe. His strong technical background and attention to detail has gained him a following of both men and women who love his work. His devotion to his clients over the years has allowed him to develop a special bond with each and every one.
Sai has styled at Paris Fashion Week along side the Oribe team and worked fashion shows in New York, Las Vegas and Seattle.
Courtney Ahearn
Stylist
With five years of experience in the beauty industry Courtney is passionate about creating styles that empower and inspire her clients. She believes hair is a powerful form of confidence and beauty that she takes pride in by listening to your vision and bringing it to life. Whether it's a fresh cut, color, or a complete transformation, her goal is to make you feel confident and beautiful. Continuing education is important to Courtney. She believes having a variety of skills is necessary to achieve a certain style and can best customize and accommodate each client. Recently, Courtney completed the Wella advanced color class along with their cutting masterclass.
When Courtney is not in the salon, she enjoys time with her horse Mark, and spending time with friends and family.