Hope Ortiz didn’t speak any English when she moved to New York from Colombia.
Ortiz, of Glen Cove, said she got her first job as a shampoo assistant at Paul Anthony Aesthetics in Manhasset, rising in the ranks to the salon’s skin care manager during her 18-year tenure.
Ortiz fell in love with the world of skin care and had a dream of owning her own salon and spa, so about 10 years ago, Ortiz quit her salaried position and invested in her first salon and spa, Hope Aesthetics in Glen Cove.
“When I started, the economy was awful,” Ortiz said. “Everyone told me I was going to fail, but I love challenges. Once my sons were off to college, I was all focused on my dream and my business.”
Many of Ortiz’s clients followed her to the Glen Cove location, helping make the Glen Cove salon a success, but Ortiz said she always dreamed of owning a place in Roslyn.
Last year, she found an 1888 single-family home for sale and jumped at the opportunity to expand with a second location and was welcomed into the historic village, opening the 1519 Old Northern Blvd. location.
Ortiz is very hands-on with her business, employing only a handful of stylists and skin care specialists to keep the small, peaceful feeling in the salon.
“You don’t see 100 chairs or 100 people working here,” Ortiz said. “It’s me, Hope, waiting for you to make your day special because I care for you. I can feel your pain. I know your grandson is not doing well. I know your grandmother passed away. I know your mom’s in the hospital. I am here for you.”
Ortiz said she considers herself more a healer than a beauty professional, using facials and massages to connect with her clients and help relieve physical and emotional stress and tension.
The spa offers face and full-body services as well as hair care, including haircuts for men, women and children as well as coloring, extensions and Brazilian Keratin treatments.
The salon also offers ALMA laser hair removal for most body parts and deep pore cleansing on the hard-to-reach area of the back.
“My clients mean the world to me,” Ortiz said. “When I say the world to me, I mean it. I grow with them, and they teach me everything — how to be patient, how to be kind, how to be loved. I really do love what I do for a living, touching people, making a difference. It’s a family.”
