In 2017, Carla Oliva found herself frantically dashing from place to place to get ready for a surprise anniversary trip to St. Barts with her husband. She knew there had to be a better way.
“If I could have blowouts, lashes or facials – each including a manicure and pedicure – in one place, I could cut the time it takes to get these procedures done in half,” says the Miami native and resident.
“Time is what the modern woman needs most and can’t buy.”
That inspired her to create the salon-spa DashBar, the first of which will open in October in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. The core of the concept is the patent-pending PolyDash chair, which was designed to allow the DashSquad to complete three services on one client in 60 minutes. (Think a pedicure station meets a salon chair – on steroids.)
Always a risk-taker, the 41-year-old entrepreneur learned from her late mother – Alba Montoya, a Colombian immigrant – that hard work is the path to achieving the American dream. Oliva graduated from American Senior High School in Hialeah in 1997 and attended Miami Dade College in Miami for two years.
“After my mother died in 2000, I was busy raising a young daughter,” she says. “I started my first business as a realtor and title agent and never looked back.”
When the real estate market tumbled in 2009, Oliva made a career change and managed a local law firm, where she met her future husband, Ruben. The two married in 2013.
So what sparked her next career change?
“I wasn’t unhappy, but I was looking for something I could be passionate about when I stumbled on this need from my own personal frustrations,” she explains. “I planned the concept with industry experts for a year.”
Thanks to the help of a doctor consultant, DashBar is strictly following – and exceeding – all city health guidelines pertaining to the pandemic, Oliva says. Plus, products are ethically sourced, non-toxic, vegan and cruelty-free.
“I knew I needed to create something really unique to set us apart – and not just from the customer’s experience,” she says. “I’m paying a living wage, benefits and offer things other salons don’t and will run a thriving business.” O