October 13, 2022 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Balance Salon owner reflects on her 25 years in community By ALEXANDER POPP alex@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Not many can say they have both good and bad luck, normally it’s just one or the other. But for longtime salon owner CJ Nicotera, every cloud has a silver lining, and with a little hard work, even the worst luck can be overcome. For the past 25 years, Nicotera, who runs Balance Salon in Dunwoody, has battled every kind of bad luck, from the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic to roof collapses, but still she hasn’t lost her love of providing top service to loyal clients. “There’s something about her energy and her spirit,” said Lisa Rayner, a longtime customer and friend. “She’s just such a vibrant, uplifting person I went, ‘This is what I need in my life.’ Then she turned out to be a great hairdresser as well.” Nicotera got her start in the business in 1997, working with partners out of a house on Buford Highway in Atlanta. She said they were so broke and so new to the business, they cut hair with clients sitting in lawn chairs and saved every penny they could to get real equipment and outfit the salon. “So, I did that for 10 years,” Nicotera said. “It was Buford highway, but it’s the cheapest rent we could find. So, before studios were cool, we were cool.” Nicotera and her partners would literally walk neighborhoods throughout the Metro Atlanta, putting flyers and postcards in mailboxes for the salon,
CARL APPEN/APPEN MEDIA
Eastbound commuters on I-285 are in for some serious delays as the Georgia DOT closes the two innermost lanes between Roswell Road and Ashford Dunwoody Road for bridge reconstruction. Westbound drivers will lose one travel lane in the coming week.
Ga. 400 interchange project will close lanes for months BALANCE SALON/PROVIDED
Balance Salon owner CJ Nicotera launched her career in 1997, cutting hair in a house on Buford Highway in Atlanta, using lawn chairs for customers.
earning the business of locals with hard work and sweat. “That’s how we grew the company the first 10 years,” she said. “We would pound pavement and pound doors, and
See BALANCE, Page 9
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By ALEXANDER POPP alex@appenmedia.com ATLANTA — Drivers should expect major disruptions to daily commutes on I-285 due to long-term lane closures between Ashford Dunwoody Road and Roswell Road, the Georgia Department of Transportation announced. Starting Saturday, Oct. 8, and lasting about 8 months, lanes of the interstate will be incrementally closed so that the I-285/Ga. 400 interchange reconstruction project can be completed, GDOT announced on Oct. 3. With the scope of the project, state
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officials said drivers who frequent I-285 should prepare for the major delays the project will ultimately cause. “The traveling public should expect major disruptions to their daily commutes and driving routines during this time and should be prepared for
See TRAFFIC, Page 10