Posted 11:56 pm Sunday, October 07, 2012
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Redwine Spalon 'starting to take off'
By Brian Pearson
bpearson@tylerpaper.com
Reisa Redwine has been in Tyler more than 25 years, but those deep, stable roots belie the traveling childhood she experienced.
bpearson@tylerpaper.com
Reisa Redwine has been in Tyler more than 25 years, but those deep, stable roots belie the traveling childhood she experienced.
Ms. Redwine, who owns Redwine’s Spalon off Old Jacksonville Highway in Gresham, is the daughter of a horse-racing jockey who frequently moved his family.
“I lived all over the United States,” she said. “We landed in El Paso so I could at least go to one high school and graduate.”
She grew up with four siblings, and her mother was a homemaker.
Born in the small town of Raton, N.M., her childhood was marked by cross-country adventures with her family.
“There were five of us in the family, and we were all born in different states,” she said.
Her father, Grady Overton, rode horses for celebrities such as Willie Nelson and Telly Savalas.
“He did very well for himself,” Ms. Redwine said.
According to Equibase.com, Overton made 1,463 starts during his jockey career, winning 175 races, placing second in 196 and grabbing third in 154, meaning a win, place or show in more than a third of his races.
Ms. Redwine found herself in cities such as New Orleans, Hot Springs, Ark., and Chicago, moving with the horse-racing seasons.
“It depended on what contracts he got and where we had to go,” he said. “We were all over.
“When you’re young, it’s stressful. You go to school and you start to have friends, and then it was time to move off again. The good thing was I got to go all over, see different people and different lifestyles, like Texans versus the Yankees up north. I’m grateful now that I got to live all over.”
She grew up with four siblings, and her mother was a homemaker.
Born in the small town of Raton, N.M., her childhood was marked by cross-country adventures with her family.
“There were five of us in the family, and we were all born in different states,” she said.
Her father, Grady Overton, rode horses for celebrities such as Willie Nelson and Telly Savalas.
“He did very well for himself,” Ms. Redwine said.
According to Equibase.com, Overton made 1,463 starts during his jockey career, winning 175 races, placing second in 196 and grabbing third in 154, meaning a win, place or show in more than a third of his races.
Ms. Redwine found herself in cities such as New Orleans, Hot Springs, Ark., and Chicago, moving with the horse-racing seasons.
“It depended on what contracts he got and where we had to go,” he said. “We were all over.
“When you’re young, it’s stressful. You go to school and you start to have friends, and then it was time to move off again. The good thing was I got to go all over, see different people and different lifestyles, like Texans versus the Yankees up north. I’m grateful now that I got to live all over.”
When the family eventually settled in El Paso, Ms. Redwine attended Coronado High School, where she was involved in gymnastics. She graduated in 1980 and attended Texas Tech University, where she studied fashion design for 18 months before moving to Odessa.
“I didn’t have a car, so I hitchhiked to Odessa,” she recalled. “My first job at Odessa was working at a furniture company. (My boss) hired me as a secretary, but I wound making the curtains for displays. He taught me how to do the bookkeeping and stuff. Even though I was a secretary, I was really a seamstress.”
Ms. Redwine married and moved with her husband to Tyler in 1986. She spent the coming years as a homemaker but eventually became a saleswoman for Mary Kay products, working her way up to senior director.
She quit that in 2005 and went back to school to become an aesthetician.
“I worked for a couple of people here in town,” she said. “I guess I’m so independent that I decided to start my own place.”
She launched Redwine Spalon as owner and its sole employee in 2007.
Today, the fitness and boutique salon at 16700 Old Jacksonville Highway in Gresham employs seven. Spa services include facials, chemical peels, microdermabrasion, eye lash extensions, permanent makeup, waxing, Botox and massages.
“I didn’t have a car, so I hitchhiked to Odessa,” she recalled. “My first job at Odessa was working at a furniture company. (My boss) hired me as a secretary, but I wound making the curtains for displays. He taught me how to do the bookkeeping and stuff. Even though I was a secretary, I was really a seamstress.”
Ms. Redwine married and moved with her husband to Tyler in 1986. She spent the coming years as a homemaker but eventually became a saleswoman for Mary Kay products, working her way up to senior director.
She quit that in 2005 and went back to school to become an aesthetician.
“I worked for a couple of people here in town,” she said. “I guess I’m so independent that I decided to start my own place.”
She launched Redwine Spalon as owner and its sole employee in 2007.
Today, the fitness and boutique salon at 16700 Old Jacksonville Highway in Gresham employs seven. Spa services include facials, chemical peels, microdermabrasion, eye lash extensions, permanent makeup, waxing, Botox and massages.
The spa also offers programs for weight loss, shoulder and knee rehabilitation, arthritis relief and strength training. The business even offers wedding packages.
Ms. Redwine said her business has come a long way since she started alone in a “hole in the wall.” She moved the salon into a strip-mall suite in 2008 and then took over two suites the next year.
“We’re just now starting to take off,” she said. “In the beginning there was hardly anybody out in Gresham. With the money I made, I just kept investing.
Ms. Redwine, 50, who is single, said she pours what little free time she has into her family and into networking. She has four children, and her youngest, Rachel, is a Grace Community School sixth-grader.
Most subjects for this column come from business cards randomly drawn from a briefcase. Send cards to Managing Editor Brian Pearson, 410 W. Erwin St., Tyler, Texas, 75702.
Ms. Redwine said her business has come a long way since she started alone in a “hole in the wall.” She moved the salon into a strip-mall suite in 2008 and then took over two suites the next year.
“We’re just now starting to take off,” she said. “In the beginning there was hardly anybody out in Gresham. With the money I made, I just kept investing.
Ms. Redwine, 50, who is single, said she pours what little free time she has into her family and into networking. She has four children, and her youngest, Rachel, is a Grace Community School sixth-grader.
Most subjects for this column come from business cards randomly drawn from a briefcase. Send cards to Managing Editor Brian Pearson, 410 W. Erwin St., Tyler, Texas, 75702.
