For Stephanie Winters, opening Opal & Ivy The Salon was never simply about starting a business.

It was about creating a place where people could feel lighter.

Before becoming a salon owner, Stephanie spent her early adult years serving the community as a deputy sheriff while also doing wedding hair on the side. She loved serving people, but over time, she realized she was being called toward a different kind of environment—one centered on joy, connection, and helping others feel renewed.

“I wanted to serve people in a space where I wasn’t taking work home with me,” she says. “I wanted to surround myself with something lighter.”

That dream eventually led her to open Opal & Ivy, but the journey there felt bigger than simply finding a building.

While searching for a location throughout Salem with her mother-in-law, she kept coming back to the same bright, window-filled space on State Street. It was the very first location she had toured, and nothing else ever felt quite right.

At one point, she found herself saying aloud, “I just have to be here.”

Her mother-in-law smiled and said, “If you need a sign, turn around.”

When Stephanie did, she saw a sign featuring a pair of scissors and the words, “Your future begins here.”

The building had been vacant for five years, but a grant opportunity unexpectedly aligned, opening a door that allowed her vision to become reality.

Today, that vision has grown into something much bigger than a salon.

At its heart, Opal & Ivy is about creating community.

“Everyone is welcome,” Stephanie says.

The salon is home to seven hairstylists and three estheticians, all working toward the same goal: helping people feel more confident, comfortable, and refreshed in their own skin.

The environment itself reflects that mission. Bright, clean, elevated, and welcoming, every detail was intentionally designed to create a sense of calm—including massage chairs at the shampoo stations for an added touch of relaxation.

Stephanie's philosophy also extends to the team she builds.

In every interview, she starts with the same requirement: “You have to have a kind heart to work here.”

That simple expectation has become the foundation of the entire business.

Kindness also extends beyond the people inside the building and into the world around them. Opal & Ivy is Salem's only full-service Green Circle Salon, a sustainability initiative that helps divert up to 95% of salon waste from landfills. Hair clippings, used foils, plastic bottles, and excess products are all repurposed and responsibly processed rather than simply thrown away.

For Stephanie, caring for people and caring for the planet naturally belong together.

Like many entrepreneurs, she's had to balance building a business while building a family. As a mother to a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, she's navigated the challenges of entrepreneurship, motherhood, hiring the right team, and growing a client base all at once.

Yet she continues to dream bigger.

Earlier this year, Opal & Ivy hosted its first annual Daddy-Daughter Hair Class, welcoming 16 fathers and 16 daughters for an evening of learning how to brush and braid hair together. Each family left with brushes, bows, and new memories—and Stephanie plans to continue the tradition every year.

She's equally passionate about investing in her team's education, believing that when businesses invest in people, entire communities benefit.

When asked what advice she'd offer Illahe residents, her answer was simple:

Prioritize self-care and don't feel guilty for taking time to recharge.

“When we do this, we have so much more to give.”

In many ways, that philosophy perfectly describes Opal & Ivy itself.

Yes, it's a salon. But more importantly, it's a place intentionally built around kindness—a place where people can slow down, feel cared for, and hopefully carry a little more light back out into the world when they leave.