Story By Deborah Welky | Photos By Abner Pedraza
Today, well-known local stylists Claudia and Monica Diesti work together to keep Wellington residents looking and feeling great. However, the life they are living today seems light years away from where it began.
Claudia Diesti was only in her 20s when she grabbed her seven-year-old daughter Monica and whatever personal items she could carry and fled her homeland of Colombia forever.
“I was in an abusive relationship and struggling through a really bad divorce,” Claudia recalled.
The mother and daughter were able to stay with an aunt and uncle in Miami for a short time, but Claudia knew she had to move on.
“I saw my self-esteem go down. I was not in the best place in my life,” Claudia said. “But I discovered that putting on a good appearance made me feel better about myself. When I had a good hair day, it empowered me. Empowered women feel good about themselves.”
It was this realization that made her rethink her career goals.
“In Colombia, I was studying to be a dentist — a different kind of beauty. But I had to quit college. When I got here, I needed a new beginning,” Claudia said. “So, I went to the Total Nails & Hair Academy in West Palm Beach to learn to be a stylist. I learned hair cutting and coloring techniques.”
Watching her mother, Monica also got interested in the beauty business.
“I got interested through my mom, by watching her work,” said Monica Diesti, now an adult. “I was seven when she started to go to beauty school. She would bring the styling heads home to practice on, and I would play with them. When we moved here, we were running away from my biological father. We grabbed what we had and ran. In America, we couldn’t afford a babysitter, so sometimes she would bring me to the school with her. The owner was nice enough to let me sit on the side.”
Monica always enjoyed all things art, even during her school days.
“I was always very artistic,” she said. “I won art competitions in school and was always drawn to anything artistic or color creative. So that led me to want to be more of a colorist. I started out in salons just working as an assistant — doing shampoos, the laundry, making sure the salon was clean.”
In the meantime, Claudia was speaking with a Realtor, looking to move to a place with the best schools for her daughter. The Realtor told her that Wellington has the best schools.
By 1997, the mother-daughter team had moved in and made their home in the community.
“We love the families,” Claudia said. “The community is beautiful, and we’ve been growing together.”
“My mother has gone through many hardships and has some health issues,” Monica added. “I am grateful that I can now help her out. I get to give back to her for everything she has given to me.”
After her high school graduation, Monica attended the same beauty school her mother once went to.
“The owner knew me from when I was little, and I told them I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps,” Monica said.
As she has grown in the business, Claudia has gone from employee to independent owner.
“In the beginning, I was working for other people,” she said. “In 2000, I started working independently, renting a chair in someone else’s salon, and then having a little beauty room in a spa.”
By 2010, Claudia and Monica were working side by side. By 2014, they had their own corner studio in a professional business suite. Their Wellington Beauty Room is currently located at 1043 S. State Road 7, Building E, Suite 118.
Now known as one of the top stylists in Wellington, Claudia has taken advanced courses in Canada, Taiwan and Paris.
“I wanted the best schools around to improve my education,” she said. “I wanted to give clients confidence in my abilities as a professional. I wanted to know everything I could about how to achieve the best look for each person. We ask how much time they spend on their hair each day, then work to accentuate their features for their lifestyle. Because I work with my daughter, it’s like four eyes looking at one person. We love our work, and our clients know how hard we work. We realistically try to get the best look for each person and make each client feel good.”
Along the way, this mother-daughter team has diverged a bit in the type of clients they work with.
“My mom caters to the business owners, attorneys, doctors, doctors’ wives and other professionals,” Monica said. “Due to the creative aspect, I specialize in avant-garde colors, unicorn colors, fantasy colors, rainbow-colored hair. I work a lot with hair extensions — that’s one of our big things. We can also do makeup if a client has an event that day and doesn’t want to make an extra appointment somewhere else.”
Hair extensions are huge in the beauty industry now, but they take special expertise to do well.
“We’re certified in four different methods of hair extensions and many different brands,” Monica said. “My mother was a L’Oréal educator, and I spent some time at the London academy for L’Oréal.”
Because the Wellington Beauty Room is owned by these “generational women,” the mother-daughter team attracts many mother-daughter and husband-wife clients. More and more male clients are finding out about them — and the Diestis encourage men to think more about their hair style.
“Often they have shoulder-length hair, and they’re going for a short haircut,” Monica said. “We call it a hair transformation. My mom is the one who does men’s haircuts. We also offer a VIP luxury experience where we block out the salon from other clients and do a makeover.”
That’s certainly the answer for someone who isn’t sure how to visualize or communicate what they want but still wants to emerge from the salon like a butterfly from its cocoon.
“Sometimes the salon is the only place you can relax and have that time to yourself,” Monica said. “You come out feeling rejuvenated and refreshed and relaxed.”
Visits to Claudia and Monica Diesti at the Wellington Beauty Room are by appointment only. For more information, call (561) 632-5425 or visit www.wellingtonbeautyroom.com.
