Born in Santa Cruz del Ceibo, Dominican Republic, Melania Rivera is a multifaceted beauty professional whose credentials include graduating as a lawyer in her native country and receiving a Master's Degree in Business Administration, and a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from the University College of Kaiser, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

A certified immigration consultant, notary public, and wedding officiant, Melania spends part of her professional time assisting a loyal clientele in resolving both legal and personal matters.  “I marry them, divorce them, or adjust their immigration status, depending on their needs,” he tells us with humor and simplicity. 

And, how is it that among so many other studies, this extraordinary woman also affects the beauty industry? – Melania learned the skills necessary to be a hairdresser by apprenticing to a beauty professional who taught her how to make homemade curling iron at the age of ten, how to apply the curling iron, and eventually how to make cuts, among other essential services of the profession. 

How was it possible for him to do so many things? – With commitment and diligence since Melania used to play her role as an apprentice after school and took the self-taught catalogs to study how to make masks, makeup, and various other aesthetic services.  Her foray into this learning would serve her well years later, when in 1986, for personal reasons, she emigrated to New York City where she worked as a hairdresser under the supervision and license of the owners of several salons. 

In 1995, Melania moved to the state of Florida where she decided to acquire the necessary credentials to open her own beauty salon.  By 1999, she achieved her goal by graduating from Belle Beauty School in Miami – a step that allowed her to acquire her license and establish Grace Beauty Studio in 2004, around which time she decided to move to Hartford, Connecticut where she still resides and dabbles in performing. beauty services to the present.

Melania has two daughters whom she started in the industries and who, like their mother, work in multiple professions; one is a psychologist and hairdresser, the other works as a phlebotomist and hairdresser.

What is the most important message Melania has for the next generation of industry professionals? – May they make their dreams come true, may they fall in love with the profession, and may they finish what they start so that they can do well in life.

And what is this extraordinary woman most proud of? – To be a sensitive, simple person, to be humanitarian, and not to have the need to compete with anyone.

And who does Melania admire most in life? – To his mother who was an exceptional woman; that she was able to clean the hands of 17 guards, 5 police officers, and a family home so that her seven children could have the opportunities and studies that life denied her.  Melania attributes all her achievements to that woman whose story of heroism lives in the hearts of her children and archived in the anonymity of heroism that is limited to the personal sphere.   Melania, like so many of our valued members, stands on the shoulders of a gigantic woman.