Justine McCall owns Beautifully Blessed, a Beauty Salon in Delhi, Louisiana. She has always loved doing hair. As a little girl, she enjoyed trying different hairstyles and changing up the look, which led her to want to experiment with other people’s hair. Justine believed that when you look good, you feel good, so she made that her motto. She was happy when others, especially her grandmother, let her do their hair. She remembers braiding her grandmother’s long hair. As they spent their time together, her grandmother always said, “You should do hair.” Justine would laugh it off and think I cannot retire from doing hair. In Justine’s mind, she had a picture of hairdressers in the past, standing on their feet all day. “I will not stand on my feet and do hair the rest of my life,” Justine said.

Justine McCall, owner of Beautifully Blessed Salon
Justine McCall started Beautifully Blessed out of her family room
Listen as Justine tells the story of how she came to opening her own salon

Through the years, Justine continued doing her friends and family’s hair, working with extensions, creating different styles, and making herself happy by putting a smile on their faces. Still, she decided to go with her gut and attend school as a medical assistant. After receiving her certification, she started a job as an instructor/medical assistant at Unitech Training. She worked there for six years and loved working as a medical assistant and instructor but finally admitted that doing hair was her passion. Justine saved extra money throughout her medical career by playing the piano at two local churches and continuing to do hair on the side. Her grandmother was one of her routine customers. Although Justine would try not to charge her, her grandmother insisted that her granddaughter treat her like any other customer.

In 2019, Justine opened up Beautifully Blessed as an online business to sell beauty products. She ran the company out of her family room. She started cosmetology school in 2020 and worked at Unitech Training until 2021. In 2022, she graduated from cosmetology school but sadly lost her grandmother at the end of the year.

Justine knew it was time to do something for herself. She also wanted to do something in her grandmother’s memory. Something that would make her grandmother proud. “She always told me you are so smart.” “Everything I did was tremendous to her.”  Justine shared.

Early vendor display of Beautifully Blessed before the salon opened
In what has become a new 60,000 square foot salon, Beautifully Blessed got it's start selling online and at events

Justine knew that she had to keep pushing after she lost her grandmother. After many conversations with friends and family, Justine sat down with her husband and discussed her dream of owning a salon. During the next few weeks, Justine and her husband started researching everything they needed to do. They followed all the steps, from creating an LLC and opening a business bank account to building websites and designing logos. Justine began talking to everyone she knew, and soon the word got out, and she discovered that closed doors were starting to open.

While searching for a loan, she contacted a nearby credit union but felt discouraged by their process. Her aunt attended a meeting in town about funding, and Communities Unlimited (CU) was there. Justine’s aunt shared CU’s information with her, and Justine reached out to CU’s Lending Team.

“The whole experience was great; even from the beginning phone call, the receptionist was very friendly, and as I continued through CU’s process, I knew I had found the right place”

— Justine McCall, owner, Beautifully Blessed

Justine McCall, owner of Beautifully Blessed Salon

Justine prayed about her decisions daily and took every step one day at a time. Beautifully Blessed is located in a strip mall in Delhi, Louisiana, and is 6,000 square feet. She will have a big area for her four stylists and mini-suites for her nail technicians and massage therapist. Although some of the construction needs to be finished and some plans are still being finalized, Justine is excited to start her business. The salon is a family affair; Justine has enlisted the help of her husband, father, grandfather, sister, son, and many others to get her dream off to the right start.

Beautifully Blessed had a Grand Opening event on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Justine is excited to live out her business’s motto, “When you look good, you feel good,” and she is determined to do both for her customers and herself.

Justine McCall, owner of Beautifully Blessed Salon
Justine McCall stands outside her salon in Delhi, Louisiana at the Grand Opening. Justine came to Communities Unlimited in search of a small business loan.
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