Hi, I’m Summer — a hair and scalp service provider based in Valparaiso, IN. I help people embrace the hair they wear by offering solutions that are approachable, personalized, and rooted in real-life needs. Whether it’s choosing a low-maintenance cut, customizing color to conceal, enhance, or transform, adding extensions for instant length or fullness, or offering guidance for scalp concerns, I’m known for my positive, solution-oriented approach to hair design.

My path to this career wasn’t linear — and that’s exactly what shaped the way I work today.

I started college with big dreams of working in the music industry. After high school, I headed to Butler University to study Arts Administration, followed by a semester at Purdue North Central, and then transferred to Columbia College Chicago to pursue Music Business. I loved living in the city and soaking up knowledge about acoustics, intellectual property, and the recording industry. But when the 2009 recession hit, funding fell through — and I had to change course.

Back home in Indiana, I enrolled in Purdue North Central once again and completed a Business Administration degree with a concentration in Marketing — a “common sense” degree that, in hindsight, gave me tools I now use every day. Still unsure of my path, I enrolled in beauty school during my final semester of college. What started as a way to buy time and delay loan payments turned out to be the start of something real.

In 2013, I began training at Regency Beauty Institute in Merrillville. After earning my license in 2014, I shadowed my lifelong stylist Anthony Voltattorni of Anthony’s Salon, then headed back to Chicago to become a color assistant at the flagship Mario Tricoci Salon on Michigan Avenue. I was lucky enough to train under Creative Color Director and celebrity stylist Nelida Prado D’Alessandro, where I deepened my knowledge of hair color, luxury client experiences, and teamwork on a large scale. I completed my apprenticeship and became a junior color technician — but eventually realized that the dream I once chased in the city wasn’t my endgame after all.

Coming home turned out to be a blessing. I returned just before COVID hit, and the forced pause gave me time to reassess and reconnect. I eventually joined Clawdia’s Beauty Salon — run by a dear friend and fellow Regency grad — and have proudly worked there as an independent stylist since 2021.

The road here has been winding, but I wouldn’t trade the detours. Every stop along the way has given me something: knowledge, growth, friendship, and a deep belief in trusting the process. I carry those experiences with me into every service I offer — and into every person I welcome into my chair.