Humans of Cranston is a recurring column showcasing the stories of Cranston community members’ community involvement, diversity, and unique life perspectives.

It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own salon. ... I’m originally from Connecticut. I’m licensed here in Rhode Island, and I’m also licensed in Connecticut, so I worked in Connecticut, I had a full-time clientele, and then I moved from Connecticut to here to pursue other things, and I was working at a financial firm. ... I was in the financial world, and then they, right at the beginning of 2020, started to make layoffs. So, they laid off about five people because the broker dealer was purchased by someone else, and I was one of the people that was laid off. I had a whole binder of my salon idea, my concept, my colors, and everything, I just was never really acting on it, so when they made the layoffs, my husband was like, “what do you wanna do?” I had an opportunity to work at another financial firm here in Warwick, and it was never really my passion. [It was] kind of dry, it didn’t do it for me, and I said, “I feel like at this point I’m young enough but I’m old enough; I think I need to open up a salon.”

I already had the name ready: Zella Rose, which I named after my mom. My mom passed away from leukemia in 1999, so I wanted to kind of pay homage to her; she was like, all things beauty. She actually went to cosmetology school, but I don’t think she finished, so it’s kind of nice to go through with it all. And then, the “Rose” part just stemmed from just wanting to put a play on beauty and not just call it Zella Rose Salon. I kind of wanted people when they drive by to be like, “Zella Rose, what is that? It doesn’t say ‘salon,’ like, what is it?” and kind of just, you know, dig a little deeper and try to find out and start conversations. So, I named it after her. It’s kind of my way of turning something tragic into something beautiful.

My mom passed away in ‘99. She passed away from leukemia, so I always wanted to get involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I just never really knew how, or maybe I just didn’t want to take that step. I’m not sure, but it never really presented itself to me, like, an opportunity for me to just kind of give back. In December 2021, I was approached at the Toys for Tots event at the Thirsty Beaver. Ed Brady had introduced me to Rick Lindholm, and Rick was on the board and on the leadership team of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and we were just talking, having a conversation, and they both were like, “I think you would be great for this,” and I was like, “I don’t know!” and I thought about it and I was like, “you know what? I think I might be into it,” and so I committed. And then, after I committed, all these emotions started coming up that I didn’t even know were inside of me and I started to back out, and I’m like, “I can’t do this. This is a lot, and this is drumming up some things,” but then I said, “you know what? I gotta do this. I gotta do this for my mom, I gotta do this for myself, and more iAmportantly, I gotta do this for the hundreds of families and patients affected by this horrible disease. You know what? You got this. You gotta do it.”

So, I recommitted myself and I did a ton of events that were centered around the community. We hosted a Zumbathon at a local gym for my friend Laura, who was actually the 2023 Visionary of the Year, which is cool! We did a Cut-a-Thon here at the salon, we did an event at 39 West, so it was really nice to get the community involved, and I healed so much from it that I didn’t even know that I needed, but since then, and after receiving that title [of 2022 Woman of the Year], my goal was to raise $50,000. So, for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at that time, it was called Man or Woman of the Year, and it’s a philanthropic competition where you rally teams in your local communities to see who can raise the most funds for LLS. My goal was to raise $50,000, and the reason being was because if you raise $50,000, you get to have a portfolio linked of your choice in honor of yourself, in honor of your family member, or whatnot, so it was very important for me to hit that mark, and I did with the help of the community. I would not have been able to do it on my own, and I was able to accomplish that. So, that was great, and it was nice to do something that was bigger than me, bigger than you, bigger than anyone. It was so nice to just place yourself into something for this change for the better.

I’m actually on Cranston Cares, so it’s nice helping to kind of orchestrate different events, community events, and just learning more about the community, and one thing I’ve noticed is that Cranston is built on small businesses. I mean, like, you can drive from Johnston to Warwick on Atwood Avenue, all the way down in Cranston, and I encourage you and I encourage people – like, obviously pay attention to the road – but when you’re driving, just look around and see that all these small businesses are what make up Cranston. ... I think we all are kind of consumers at some point. As a business owner myself, when I go into a small business, now I recognize that I’m not just going into a small business and buying something. When I go in a small business or anyone goes in a small business, you’re supporting someone’s dream. You’re supporting someone’s vision. You’re not just going into the bakery to buy bread, you’re paying for someone’s tuition, you know? So, it’s so different and it really does give it a good feel as one community.

The second season of this project has been made possible by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the efforts of the OneCranston Health Equity Zone of Comprehensive Community Action, Inc. in partnership with the Cranston Herald and Timothy McFate. The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Humans of Cranston participants do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the aforementioned parties. The presented stories are voluntarily provided, unpaid, and given verbatim except for correcting grammatical errors. 

Want to nominate a Cranston resident to be featured? Email JB at jfulbright@comcap.org.