Treat your feet to thebest!

Kristina Dexter, salon coordinator, was hand-picked by Wright for the partnership. They knew each other from the local scene and Wright describes her as a kindred spirit.

“It’s amazing,” Dexter said of life at the salon. “I get to hang out with really rad people. And the fact that we’re doing it together — I’m working extra hard because I know she relies on me. We’re a small team working toward a common goal. There is a significant difference working in a female environment versus not. I feel supported.

(Wright) is people over profit. We made this decision so we can keep doing this for each other and keep living our best lives.”

One Friday morning, Christine Kunze sat on an oversized couch with big pillows, draped in a purple cape, her hair slicked back mid-color (though she prefers to call the service “glossing”).

Kunze and her daughter Haddie, 14, live in Grand Marais and both have been making regular appointments with Wright since the latter was 18 months old.

“And her favorite book was ‘Pat the Bunny’ and she was in a pink onesie,” Wright recalled, tending to Haddie’s signature short hair.

Kunze said she’s always ready for an experience at the shop. One time there was a singer performing. Politicians have dropped in. Then there was the sex therapist.

“I never know who’s going to walk through the door,” she said.

Kunze favors a look that is conservatively funky, or funky conservative, she said.

“I think a lot of people assume I do a lot of wild (haircuts),” Wright said, adding that she thinks it is based on her own eccentricities. “My preference is natural-looking classic cuts with a twist.”

Recently, when a woman came in off the street with a poster about a Young Farmers Association Fundraiser. Wright took the poster and invited her to a women's group at her home.

Then: “You going dancing tonight at Blush?” she asked. This life — and the client list that has hit about 1,100 — suits Wright, who described it as making art and “hanging out with (my) buds.”

“I think I have been fortunate to have such a strong personality,” she said. “When I try to conform to a certain way, it’s catastrophic. I’ve worn my heart on my sleeve and gone through painful public things.

“I always wanted to be a wallflower, but it didn’t really work out.” D

Many prolific writers and artists have experienced a range of dark times. Often, this shapes and inspires their work, allowing them to feel the full spectrum of human emotion.

Moira Villiard can relate. After experiencing an unconventional childhood, where she was exposed to poverty, mental illness and isolation, she began creating art as a form of escape. In retrospect, she can see the hard times were a beneficial and necessary stepping stone to her success.

Now, at just 23 years old, she is a hardworking and talented young artist on the rise.