Angie Molina has been working with hair for about a dozen years.
She uses a straight razor sometimes to help cut hair but at one point Molina had wanted to do another type of cutting.
“I wanted to be a surgeon,” Molina said.
While Molina didn’t have a problem with stuff like blood, she eventually took a different path.
After talking with her counselor at Mingus Union High School, Molina said she thought she’d try her hand at hair.
Molina went off to attend a beauty school in Flagstaff.
It’s worked out quite well, especially to hear the customers talk.
“I don’t even advertise,” Molina said. “It’s all word of mouth.”
Molina runs and owns a salon, Ruby Red, nestled back in the corner of the complex over by the road that leads off of Cottonwood’s Main Street into Riverfront Park. The salon was actually Molina’s first job, back when her friend used to run it.
“I was the first stylist she hired,” Molina said.
Her friend eventually decided to move to Colorado Springs and the opportunity came to purchase the business and take over.
Molina said she’s enjoyed the experience of still doing what she likes to do while learning what it takes to run her own business.
She’s got other stylists and people who work in her salon, including a woman who was busy working with a woman’s nails on a Tuesday afternoon last week.
“It’s been a good experience,” Molina said. “I couldn’t see myself wanting anything else.”
Born in Sedona, Molina grew up in the Verde Valley.
She’s pretty much lived in Cottonwood her entire life although she did move to Phoenix for a brief stint a few years ago.
Her job has given her other opportunities to travel.
The company whose products she carries sent Molina to New York City for a few days of training.
Molina stayed in the Big Apple for a week and absolutely loved it.
“It wasn’t really anything like I had in my head that I thought it would be,” Molina said. “People were very friendly and everyone was smiling.”
It was also the first time Molina had ever been on an airplane, something else she said was an enjoyable experience.
Outside of work, Molina has another project going on that she jokes is almost like a second job.
“I’m renovating my home,” Molina said.
It’s another experience that Molina said is giving her the opportunity to learn quite a bit. She got the home, a house built in the 1960s, last year.
“I threw the kitchen away,” Molina said. “There’s also some work on the floors.”
As for the salon, Molina said it moved into its location after the shopping center was built.
Molina said it’s a great building.
“I wouldn’t mind living upstairs,” Molina laughed.
