Lighten Up Salon & Spa

At the precocious age of 22, entrepreneur Linda Cesario started her own salon—but a fire soon destroyed it, and Cesario was forced to go to work for other salon owners. With time, Cesario gathered the courage to strike out on her own again, and she named her new salon Lighten Up as a nod to her career philosophy of always striving to lift her clients' spirits. Now at Lighten Up, Cesario is again her own boss, which means she has to email herself when she wants to play hooky and then confront herself when she does. She draws on more than 38 years of industry experience as she helms the salon’s dedicated stylists, who tame tresses with INOA hair color and products from Redken and Paul Mitchell. The salon also coddles appendages with manicures and pedicures, waxes away fuzz, and massages sore muscles.