Image & Design Salon
T
Written By Kimberly Ewertz
he famous saying, “Do what
you love and you’ll never
work a day in your life,” certainly rings
true for Heidi Trujillo, professional hair
dresser since 1983 and owner of Image
and Design Salon in Gilroy.
“I picture myself doing hair until
I’m 92, it’s my passion,” Trujillo said.
She’s equally passionate about her
family; husband of 33 years, Rudy, and
children, Brittney, 32, Morgan, 29, and
Johnathan, 21. For Trujillo, maintaining
a balance between work and family
is essential.
“Family’s first,” Trujillo said, adding
that her connection to family extends
to her work family past and present,
as well.
“I’ve had a lot of great stylists come
through my salon,” Trujillo said. “I have
a great team now. I’ve been very fortu-
nate.”
Kristin Castellano started coming
to Trujillo for her hair when was nine
years old. For the past four years she’s
worked for her as a stylist.
“We’re all like a family, pretty much,”
Castellano said. She considers Trujillo a
great boss.
“She’s a great salon owner, I love
working here,” Castellano said.
For Monique Pirozzoli, stylist at the
salon for over 11 years, Trujillo is more
than a boss, she considers Trujillo her
mentor.
“I’ve learned so much from her;
different techniques from hair cutting
to highlighting, I’ve learned it all,”
Pirozzoli said. “We’re all like so, so
close, it’s like a family, it’s just comfort-
able, it’s just a good place to be.”
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Trujillo herself had a mentor,
Robert Raymond, of Robert Raymond
Custom Salon, where she spent eight
years early on in her career. During
that time Raymond instilled in Trujillo
the confidence she needed to move
forward in her career.
“He told me to be confident, and,
‘just keep working like you’re working
and it will just flow, it will just come,’”
Trujillo said.
That advice propelled her in 2001 to
accept Lynn Schaffer’s offer to join her
team. Schaffer, at the time, was owner
of Image and Design Salon.
”She really wanted me there, she
kind of recruited me, she’d been asking
me forever,” Trujillo said, adding,
“One day I just walked in and said,
‘I’m ready.’”
The new atmosphere turned out to
be a great fit.
“I needed more action around me, I
needed more people,” she said.
That move led to Trujillo’s own-
ership of the salon in 2004, when
Schaffer suggested she and Tyrene
Boyd, Trujillo’s friend and co-worker,
take over the business. On April 1,
2004, the ladies did just that.
“It was easy in the beginning
because we didn’t really know what we
were doing,” Trujillo said with a grin.
Two years later, when the lease was
up on the Church Street location, the
new owners relocated to Gourmet
IMAGE AND DESIGN SALON
7995 Princevalle Street, Suite 120 • Gilroy
408.842.6969
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
august/september 2019
Alley. In 2006 the salon moved to its
current location, 7995 Princevalle
Street, Suite 120.
A great deal of hard work was
needed before Trujillo opened the new
location. In a month’s time she and
her friends and family converted not
one, but two, vacated offices into a 14-
station salon that now offers everything
from haircuts, color treatments, and
Brazilian blowouts, to deep condition-
ing treatments, bridal up-dos, eye lash
extensions, and more.
“My husband and I, my business
partner, and my kids, we all demoed
and just built this salon,” Trujillo said.
With the success of the remodel,
Trujillo was able to offer her clients a
positive and spirited ambiance, exactly
the type of atmosphere she thrives on.
“When people walk in they say it
has a really good energy,” Trujillo said.
Debbie Dalcin, salon manager for the
past five years, believes it’s the genuine
affection the staff has for one another,
and their clients, that provides another
key ingredient to the salon’s success.
“I think it’s because we care about
each other, not just in the work
environment, but personally,” Dalcin
said, adding, “And that goes with
clients as well. There’s more than just
going and getting your hair cut or
colored, there’s a connection.”
Trujillo’s clients will be pleased to
hear that as far as she’s concerned,
Image and Design is her second home,
and she’s never leaving.
“I love where I work and if I ever
sold it, I would stay. I’d put myself in
the contract,” Trujillo said with a smile.
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