Erica Sanchez applies makeup to Imani Thomas before her prom, as Sanchez's grandmother, Angela Fantauzzi, watches. Sanchez opened the Boca Raton hair salon, Vanity Salon, with her grandmother's help. (Mark Randall, Sun Sentinel / )
Everyone should be lucky enough to have a grandmother like Angela Fantauzzi.
When her 22-year-old granddaughter wanted to open her own hair salon, Fantauzzi sold her home and gave the young woman money to get started.
Fantauzzi sold her single-family home for $205,000 last September, netting about $186,000. She now lives in a town home.
She has since invested about $100,000 in buying and renovating an existing salon off Federal Highway in Boca Raton, which opened as Vanity Salon in February.
'We're very close, and we discuss business,' Fantauzzi, 72, said of granddaughter Erica Sanchez. 'She's very mature, and she knows what she wants in life.'
Work ethic apparently runs in the family.
Fantauzzi worked for 50 years for watch companies in Long Island City, N.Y., before retiring to South Florida in 2006. She soon got bored and now works in sales for a Steinmart store in Royal Palm Beach.
Her granddaughter is just as driven, so Sanchez had every confidence to give her the large amount of money, which Fantauzzi said is a 'gift.' She doesn't expect a financial return.
After attending hair styling school at age 15, Sanchez soon found work at salons in Wellington and Boca Raton. She also earned her associate's degree in business from South University in West Palm Beach, with the idea that she would open her own business.
Sanchez and her grandmother chose the location, 7400 N. Federal Highway in Boca Raton, because it is a high-traffic shopping plaza on the border of Delray Beach.
The salon owner's biggest challenge has been finding experienced stylists. She has room for four more at the salon.
She's marketing Vanity Salon through Groupon, an offer for color, highlights and a blow-dry, at 50 percent off, and through Facebook - 'feeling drab? let the #VanityVixen make you fab!'- and other social media.
While Sanchez is off to a good start, small-business counselor Sharon Geltner said she needs to find ways for her salon to stand out from the stiff competition in Boca Raton.
'I think it's wonderful what the grandmother did,' said Sharon Geltner, a business analyst for the Small Business Development Center at Palm Beach State College in Boca Raton.
But now it's up to Sanchez to be creative and work hard to draw customers, Geltner said
One simple fix: Sanchez should post her own picture on her website and Facebook page, along with photos of the salon, she said.
'I'd play off her age. She needs more of her own personality' online to draw customers, Geltner said.
While Fantauzzi is not involved in management of the business, she does pass on grandmotherly advice to Sanchez.
'Be the best you can be; honesty is the best policy; and work hard - nothing is handed to you on a silver platter,' she tells her.
mpounds@tribune.com or 561-243-6650
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