Boxing plus hair care proves to be couple’s formula for success





GRAND OPENING— Rachel and Audley Harrison and their 5-year-old daughter Ariella attend the opening of their new salon, Salon Nuuvo, in Calabasas on Feb. 12. The couple met when Rachel styled Audley’s dreadlocks at the Mandalay Bay salon in Las Vegas.

GRAND OPENING— Rachel and Audley Harrison and their 5-year-old daughter Ariella attend the opening of their new salon, Salon Nuuvo, in Calabasas on Feb. 12. The couple met when Rachel styled Audley’s dreadlocks at the Mandalay Bay salon in Las Vegas.

Boxing gold medalist Audley Harrison and his wife Raychel, a celebrity hairstylist, pooled their talents to launch a premier hair salon featuring the sophistication of a Beverly Hills shop with the friendly ambiance and pricing of the Conejo Valley.

Salon Nuuvo opened at The Summit at Calabasas shopping center last month. The shop offers superior haircuts, hair coloring and skin care services with impeccable customer service, said Audley Harrison, a self-managed sportsman who is using his promoting skills to market his wife’s venture.

An Israel native who immigrated to Southern California at age 7, Raychel Harrison, 30, was trained and mentored by award-winning stylist Robert Cromeans.

She then became a platform artist for John Paul Mitchell Systems hair care suppliers, teaching the latest trends in hair fashion throughout America, and built her reputation serving celebrity clientele at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

She met boxing champ Audley Harrison in 2003 while he was training for his U.S. debut. The 6-foot-5 fighter, who had walked into the Mandalay Bay salon to get his dreadlocks fixed, said he immediately fell in love with the pretty and clever hairstylist.

“I loved her smile. Her eyes were flirting with me even though she would not give me her number on the first occasion,” he said.

Raychel Harrison said that at first she didn’t want to date her client. But his perseverance, intellect, enthusiasm and charisma eventually won her heart.

Born and raised in London, Audley Harrison discovered at age 19 that he had a natural talent for boxing when he got into a fight with a friend at college.

His affinity for the sport led him to become the British super heavyweight champion in 1997. He retained the title in 1998 and that same year also won the Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Harrison triumphed in the super heavyweight division at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. His gold medal was the first won by a British boxer in 32 years.

He then turned professional and set up his own company, A-Force Promotions, to manage his career and signed a broadcast deal with BBC Sport.

When the Harrisons married in 2005, Raychel Harrison stepped away from her career as a celebrity hairstylist to support her husband’s boxing career in England.

After the birth of their daughter Ariella in 2006, the couple moved to Westlake Village to raise their family in a safe community with good schools.

In 2008, Raychel Harrison went back to working in a salon, but she didn’t like the independent booth-rental model which exists in most shops.

“She wanted a team-based environment, were the goal of all staff is uniform for the benefit of the client,” Audley Harrison said.

When Ariella began kindergarten at White Oak Elementary School last year, the hairstylist moved forward with her dream to run a business of her own.

Salon Nuuvo now employs three master stylists, two color specialists, two junior stylists and one aesthetician, all of whom underwent an extensive evaluation before they could work with clients.

The salon has a refill station, allowing customers to purchase high-end hair products by the ounce at wholesale prices.

The Harrisons hosted a grand opening on Feb. 12, featuring a celebrity runway-style show with actresses Ziah Colon, Barbara Alyn Woods and Leilani Dowding, and live entertainment.

“It’s not every day that you have an Olympic gold medalist boxer open a beauty salon,” said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Mary Sue Maurer, who was thrilled to see the salon open its doors at The Summit.

“It joins a list of other new restaurants and shops opening across Calabasas that signal a long-awaited turnaround in the local economy,” she said.

Raychel Harrison, a boardcertifi ed hair colorist, said west

Calabasas is the perfect place for Salon Nuuvo.

“We have so many people who are unhappy with their current hairdresser and service. That goes back to education. You can have a gorgeous salon and not a well-trained staff,” she said.

Audley Harrison, 40, who has a degree in sports science and leisure management, uses his marketing experience to support the business venture beyond the creative and day-today management that “Raychel handles so brilliantly,” he said.

The Harrisons have been active in the school community. He is a member of the Together Helping Education Foundation, which raises funds for Las Virgenes schools, and she volunteers at White Oak every Monday.


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