BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) — As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, one local salon is showing there’s much more behind the beauty business than meets the eye.
For the owner of Y Beauty Studio, Yashira Santiago, opening the doors was about creating more than just a place to get your hair done.
“Being able to work at different places and not finding something that got like my Latinas or my culture and curly hair like it encouraged me to do it myself, and I’m like, if I can’t find it nowhere else, then let me just do it myself,” Santiago said.
She wanted to build a space where everyone will feel seen, safe, welcomed and heard.
“I would just stop at the stop light and look at it and be like, ‘Oh my god, you’re going to be mine, you’re going to be mine,'” she said. “It’s very rewarding finding a place that we could go safely to.”
And for one stylist and nail technician who works here, that mission hits close to home.
Karina Mavariego’s parents are from El Salvador and moved to the United States, and for her, this space represents something much bigger than hair and nails.
“I’m the first-generation daughter here, so I just want to make them proud. I want to represent my culture,” Mavariego said. “Sometimes, my mom, I would see her, she would be really upset because sometimes they don’t understand her, or she would get the wrong thing, like even at a restaurant.”
She says it’s a place to share cultures, connect with one another and give Latinos and Hispanics a space where they can feel comfortable being themselves.
“It’s so nice to walk in here because we are a whole bunch of different cultures, like Puerto Rican, Hondurans, I’m El Salvadorian, like we have so many different things in here, and I just love the people that come in here,” Mavariego said.
And with Hispanic Heritage Month underway, the salon is also highlighting the culture and community behind the business.
“We want the right person to do our hair, understand and not just understand our hair, but understand ourselves,” Santiago said. “Being the Latinos we are, just do it. There’s more Latino businesses opening up and new things are growing with the Latinos, and I like that because there’s room for everybody.”
For the women behind the chairs, the goal is simple: make people feel good when they leave, but also make sure they feel like they belong when they walk through the door.
“Being a Latina, it is hard, pero se puede.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.
