Our Staff
Redefining Luxury Haircare in Austin
Here at Villa Salon Boutique, we redefine luxury hair care in Austin with personalized care. Our expert stylists, renowned for their world travel education, artistry and innovation, deliver only trend-forward styles tailored to each Guest’s needs. When visiting with us at Villa, experience exceptional care, and a welcoming ambiance, where sophisticated looks are born with art and creativity.
Ati
I opened Villa Salon with my wife, Pascale, fifteen years ago. Our shared vision was clear: to create a sanctuary where every guest feels seen, cared for, and transformed through luxurious haircare. At the start of my journey, I created this motto: “I charge for therapy; the hairstyling part is free.” Now, as an International Master Stylist with decades of experience, this motto rings truer than ever. For me, hairdressing is about far more than technique. It is about connection, confidence, and comfort.
My journey as a hairdresser began long before I ever held a pair of shears. I was born and raised in Beirut during the Lebanese War, where daily life was steeped in fear and uncertainty. Riding my motorcycle through war-torn streets, I became fascinated with the bold hairstyles of the 1980s. Blowouts, bob cuts, shag cuts, mullets – I saw them all as flashes of freedom and defiance against a backdrop of destruction. Even then, I understood that hair was more than mere appearance. It was artistry, identity, and self-expression.
When I fled the war and sought asylum in Canada, survival took priority. I worked odd jobs, lived in cramped quarters, and cut my roommates’ hair to make ends meet. With no formal training, it seemed like nothing more than a hobby. My journey took a turn when I met Pascale. After marrying, we moved to Austin, Texas, where I drove a cab for several years. The work was steady, but every morning I woke up knowing I was meant for something different. Pascale saw it too. One evening, as I styled her hair, she turned to me and asked: “What are you doing driving a cab? You should do this instead!”
Still, fear held me back – until a fateful encounter with a passenger named Rick, a hairdresser who revealed he made my weekly income in a single day. That was the final push I needed.
The following Monday, I enrolled at Baldwin Beauty School, determined to step into my true calling. After earning my certification, I joined the prestigious Toni & Guy Academy. There, I mastered precision techniques and refined my craft, while also discovering that my greatest gift was the ability to connect. Clients didn’t just leave with polished hair – they left with renewed confidence and a sense of belonging.
Eventually, I knew it was time to create something of my own. Villa Salon was born from a desire to blend world-class hair artistry with heartfelt hospitality. For the past fifteen years, we’ve specialized in custom haircuts, luxury blowouts, balayage, color correction, and personalized styling services. And yet, more than any service we offer, the connection we build with our guests is what defines us. I’ve greeted each day with gratitude, arriving ready to offer not just a haircut, but a moment to transform, illuminate, and educate through my craft.
Though the path was anything but easy, every challenge shaped me into the stylist and person I am today. My greatest joy is creating a space where people feel comfortable, uplifted, and confident. When you sit in my chair, it’s about igniting a presence and energy that turns heads, commands attention, and stays with you everywhere you go.
If you’re ready to experience more than just a haircut, I invite you to Villa Salon. Come as you are, leave as the best version of yourself.
Pascale
I’ve been captivated by the sacred art of adornment for as long as I can remember. Rooted in my Orthodox Christian faith and a deep reverence for cultural storytelling, I have always seen jewelry as more than decoration. To me, it is a vessel of meaning, memory, and personal power.
My earliest realization of this came in Beirut, Lebanon, where I was born and raised among the rich textures of heritage and faith. At twelve, I saved enough to buy my mother a pair of 18K gold earrings, my first true expression of love through jewelry. I didn’t know it then, but that small act would define the course of my life.
My love for beauty and ritual also began at home. My father used to blow-dry my hair, a gesture that felt intimate and empowering. When my mother once asked what I wanted to do when I grew older, I answered without hesitation: “I want to marry a hair stylist and drive a Range Rover!” What seemed like a child’s fantasy was really intuition speaking, guiding me toward the life I would one day create.
At seventeen, I fled the war in Lebanon by boat, stepping into an uncertain future. I eventually found myself in a small Canadian town, far from the cosmopolitan Beirut of my youth. There, I met Ati, a cab driver with a hidden gift for hairstyling. We married and later moved to Austin, TX, drawn by the city’s spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship. One evening, when Ati blow-dried my hair, I recognized his undeniable talent and urged him to pursue it—a spark that grew into the creation of our luxury beauty salon.
In 2010, after earning my degree in Communications–Human Relations from the University of Texas at Austin, I founded Villa Salon & Spa, now Villa Salon Boutique. As founder and chief visionary officer, I wore many hats: creative director, mentor, and leader. Motivated by a deep devotion to community, I ensured that every guest experienced authenticity, beauty, and care. Anchored in Ati’s masterful hairstyling, Villa Salon Boutique flourished into one of the premier luxury salons in Austin, a sanctuary where women could enjoy the transformative and therapeutic power of haircare.
During those years, I also began curating rare jewelry from my travels—pieces rich with story and soul. Yet I felt called to go deeper, to create jewelry of my own. PK Jewels was born from that calling.
I design many unique pieces, including spiritual jewelry that women can wear daily, not just for milestones but for the sacred moments woven into everyday life. Each piece is inspired by the places I’ve traveled, the traditions I honor, and the truth that beauty is meant to be lived in, never locked away. My collections are dainty yet defiant, modern yet rooted in tradition. I design for women who don’t wait for permission to shine—women already illuminated from within.
I am not just a designer, but a seeker of truth, a curator of meaning, and a believer that jewelry is a form of spiritual self-expression. PK Jewels is my offering to women who want to feel radiant, rare, and rooted in something deeper.
My journey has always been guided by intuition, determination, and faith. With intuition as my compass, I escaped a war and found my calling as a Lebanese American designer. Determination fueled me as a young mother balancing family and ambition to complete my degree. Faith steadied me through every moment of uncertainty and risk.
Today, I live the dream that first began in Lebanon with that childhood answer. I did marry a master stylist, and together we built a life rooted in beauty, artistry, and faith. It’s not the details of that childhood dream that still inspire me, but the essence of it — the desire to create a life rooted in love, guided by vision, and devoted to transforming women’s confidence and self-expression.
PK Jewels brings that vision to life with pieces that are dainty, defiant, and divine, created to express your essence and elevate your presence with effortless truth.