ELGIN CHARLES SALON
Elgin Charles (310-858-8533) has always dreamed of being a hairstylist. He had a job with Smith Barney, but realized that the job wasn’t offering him any opportunity to move forward in the company so he quit. Elgin found that his prior experience in the business world would come in handy for him to eventually open his own salon. Elgin came upon a client who offered him some good fortune. Singer Natalie Cole became friends with Elgin through the business, and she offered to loan him $10,000 to get the Elgin Charles Salon started. The salon currently operates with an average of 16 employees, with Elgin as the lead stylist. His salon is one of the only African-American owned and focused salons in the city. Along with the salon, Elgin currently offers his own line of hair care products for all types of hair which he sells at the salon and hopes to offer them elsewhere in the future.

THE ALMA GROUP, INC. / BESAME COSMETICS
When The Alma Group, Inc. first began operations as a business, their focus was on packaging and graphic arts for major corporations and non-profit organizations. Initially, they designed items such as pamphlets, flyers posters, invitation packages and websites. Five years ago the company ventured into designing high-end cosmetics with detailed packaging for items such as lipstick and blush. The cosmetics aspect of the company, Besame Cosmetics, have only been on the shelf as of early September and sales are picking up rapidly. Cosmetics are a major focus and a passion for owner/creator Gabriella Hernandez (818-246-1388). She started designing floral boxes and cases that resemble those of the 1940’s. Gabriella’s husband Fergus has been working part time in the business since the beginning. The business currently employs three other people and is seeing six-figure numbers.