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Meet Melanie Murillo of Wild Roots Hair-by Mel in Queen Creek

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Murillo.

Melanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Most hairdressers will tell you that they have dreamed of doing hair since they were very small. Not this hairdresser….. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I was done with school. I started out a bank teller and moved my way up to a branch manager of a large prominent bank and hated my job. My husband and my family were feeling the effects of my misery and asked me to take some time off to reflect on what I wanted to do. “Explore your dreams”, he said. So I did….and I found out I was more artistic than I thought. So at the age of 26 with three small kids, I started hair school. And that is where the beginning of my dreams began.

My first job out of hair school was at Ulta. I started out as a Designer and quickly moved up to a Master Stylist and onto a Salon Manager. While there, I had extensive training with Redken and did platform education with them also. That opened another avenue for me that I found I was highly passionate about. Education. Teaching new stylists and molding them. Seeing the “Ah ha!” In their eyes was the greatest feeling an educator can have. I have had the pleasure of being a Master Designer, Salon Manager, Senior Educator, and now…a Salon Owner!

This is the part where I tell you how hard I worked to get here. How hard it was to get to where I’m at. While all of that is true, let me just preface that by saying how much I love this industry and how much I absolutely LOVE what I do. Becoming the Co-Owner of Wild Roots Hair is a dream come true, and I still have goals I want to achieve with the salon and eventually educating again. So yes, while I did work hard, and I had many failures and successes along the way, my husband was right…. “If you find something you love doing, you’ll never have to “work”. And that’s exactly what I did.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As I mentioned before, we have three kids. Trying to raise children while going to school at the age of 27 was difficult to say the least. Working off of only one income was a struggle that we had talked about….but living it out was rough.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Wild Roots Hair-by Mel – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I am a Co-Owner of Wild Roots Hair. I have been a hairdresser for about 13 years. I’m best known for my extensive knowledge on haircare and what works best with every hair type. I also specialize in color (more blondes than anything else) because toning is a talent not all hairdressers have mastered. I am most proud of how far me and my “work wife” have come as hairdressers. We have the opportunity to learn from each other and pass that k owl edge onto not only our guests but other stylists as well. She is also a mom, her kids are younger than mine, but she reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. I respect her very much.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Goal setting is such a huge part of me that future plans will always be ever changing and evolving. I do plan on getting back into the education game again. I love to teach and I love to travel and meet new people. More to come on that soon. 😉

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