SuperMOM | Stephanie Ruiz
Before Stephanie Ruiz opened Eden Salon in 2015, she’d built a hairdressing career out of her guestroom at home, using it as a salon room to work on clients. It was an ideal set-up for her—especially when she was pregnant with her first child. All throughout her pregnancy, Ruiz kept working; and when her son was seven months old, she decided that she was going to take a leap and open her own full-service salon, outside of her home.
Over the next five years, Ruiz worked tirelessly at the salon—and then COVID forced her to temporarily close her doors. The next few months gave her something she’d never had: time off and a chance to shift her priorities. “Being a working mom has definitely changed for me in the last year. I had a chance to re-examine what was most important; and in the midst of it, I told my husband often that my time home was like the maternity leave I’d never had,” says Ruiz, who has been married to her husband, Donovan, for eight years this October. Together, the couple has three children between the ages of six and two-and-a-half. “I went back to work five days a week when both of my girls were two weeks old; so for me, being home during those six weeks of quarantine is a time that I will cherish for the rest of my life!”
