Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronnie Cruz.
Ronnie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my journey in the beauty industry working for a kids’ hair salon in Ann Arbor. When that salon unexpectedly closed its doors, I had to pivot quickly. While completing college, I began offering mobile services and hosting salon pop-ups to keep serving my clients. That period of adapting on the fly actually laid the groundwork for my true calling: creating a flexible, compassionate, and deeply intentional business model that serves families who find traditional salon environments overwhelming.
Driven by my background in Health Science, behavioral therapy, and time spent working in the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) field, I knew I wanted to bring specialized sensory awareness into the beauty space. I initially partnered with a local play cafe, which allowed me to combine salon services with community building.
However, my ultimate goal was always to build a dedicated, permanent sanctuary for my community. I am thrilled to say that dream became a reality when I officially opened the physical doors to my independent storefront, Ronnie’s A2 Family Salon. Building out my own brick-and-mortar space allowed me to custom-design every single corner to meet the unique sensory needs of my clients, creating a true safe haven.Looking forward, my heart is set on community advocacy. I am currently working on channeling my efforts into establishing a dedicated community fund. This initiative will focus on bridging critical gaps by sponsoring specialized haircuts for unhoused individuals and providing accessible, sensory-friendly haircuts for neurodivergent youth. I went from being a mobile stylist finding my footing to a salon owner and advocate leading a movement for truly inclusive, impactful haircare.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
t definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. In the beginning, one of my biggest hurdles was operating without a permanent home navigating mobile services and temporary pop-ups while trying to provide a stable, predictable environment for families who thrive on routine.
When I finally decided to establish a permanent brick-and-mortar location, a massive new challenge emerged: the physical build-out. Finding a commercial space is one thing, but completely customizing it to be a sensory-safe haven is another. From adjusting the lighting systems to managing acoustics, layout, and sensory-friendly aesthetics, building out Ronnie’s A2 Family Salon required an immense amount of capital, grit, and hands-on design work.
Beyond the tangible business logistics, one of the heaviest challenges has been the mental health toll of entrepreneurship. Juggling lease negotiations, commercial build-out stress, marketing, and administrative burdens while maintaining a high standard of clinical and emotional care for my clients led to moments of intense burnout. As someone deeply attuned to sensory environments, managing my own sensory overload and mental health while building a sanctuary for others was a profound learning curve. I had to learn how to extend the same grace, patience, and accommodation to myself that I give to the families in my chair every day.
Overcoming these financial, physical, and emotional challenges didn’t just give me a storefront it gave me a stronger sense of resilience. It provided the firsthand blueprint for what truly inclusive, empathetic beauty spaces look like, which has ultimately fueled my growth as an industry educator.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At my core, I am a multi-passionate senior brand designer, marketing strategist, and professional hairstylist. Today, I am the owner and founder of Ronnie’s A2 Family Salon in Ann Arbor, a dedicated brick-and-mortar sanctuary custom-designed to provide sensory-friendly, inclusive beauty and grooming services for families and neurodivergent individuals.
I specialize in merging high-level hair artistry including professional hair color formulation and specialized cutting techniques, with advanced behavioral science. What truly sets me apart from others in the beauty industry is my unique educational and professional background. I hold a degree in Health Science and Behavioral Therapy and spent years working directly in the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) field. Because of this, I don’t just cut hair; I completely re-engineer the salon experience. I understand how to read sensory cues, manage environmental stressors like lighting and sound, and implement a specialized “Calm Cuts” framework that transforms what is often a terrifying or overwhelming appointment into a safe, predictable, and even joyful routine.
I am most proud of the absolute intentionality behind building out my own physical storefront. Every single corner of Ronnie’s A2 Family Salon was designed with our families’ unique sensory needs in mind, moving away from the chaos of a traditional salon to create a true safe haven. For me, this work is about bridging a massive gap in our industry, ensuring that every individual who sits in my chair feels safe, valued, and completely understood.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
To me, risk isn’t about being reckless; it’s about having a deep, unwavering conviction in a vision that doesn’t exist yet, and being willing to bet on yourself to build it. When you are creating spaces and services that defy the traditional industry mold, every single step forward requires a calculated leap of faith.
The biggest risk I have ever taken was walking away from the safety of mobile services, pop-ups, and shared partnerships to completely fund and build out my own independent brick-and-mortar storefront, Ronnie’s A2 Family Salon. Signing a commercial lease, taking on the massive financial overhead, and diving into a complex physical build-out all while navigating my own mental health and entrepreneurship burnout was incredibly terrifying. There was no guarantee that the investment would pay off, or that a custom, highly specialized sensory-safe salon could sustain itself as a standalone business.
But I looked at the risk of not doing it the risk of leaving families in my community without a reliable, permanent sanctuary where they felt safe and understood and decided that staying safe was a bigger failure than trying and stumbling. Taking that risk transformed me from a stylist with a passionate concept into a business owner with a tangible community anchor. It taught me that on the other side of fear is the exact impact you were born to make.
Pricing:
- Sensory Haircut $85
- Kids Haircut $45
- Adult Haircut $70
- Senior Haircut $40
- Babies First Cut $35
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bookwithronnie.as.me/schedule/f9d276d1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronniesfamilysalon/
