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Born and raised in Surabaya, Indonesia, Yuri Sinata has fulfilled a major goal in her life with the opening of Palette Salon Studios at 1128 Mission Street in South Pasadena.
How she ultimately opened the business speaks to her drive, dedication and perseverance in wanting to be successful in life.
Sinata moved to Los Angeles in 2007 with $500 in her pocket at the tender age of 21. Like many, she was searching for the American dream, but I wasn’t sure which path to take in order to pursue it. “Like everyone else, I worked as a food server to survive,” she recalls. “I always loved makeup and hair, and was pretty good at it, but never took it on it as a career.”
That is until she became a makeup artist in 2008 after convincing someone she’d been doing it for a longtime in Indonesia. “I knew I could do it, so I had to fake it to make it,” explained Sinata. “I did her wedding hair and makeup, and she loved it. I guess that was the start of my career. Before Yelp, Instagram and the whole social media thing, my work was just based on word of mouth.”
After saving a couple hundred dollars, she attended the Paul Mitchell School that same year, graduated in November 2009 and quickly got her first job as an assistant at Salon Finsel in South Pasadena, where she worked for seven years.
Sinata then decided to venture off with fellow worker Lindsey Neller, who was also working at Salon Finsel at the time. In June 2016, she opened Letter B, a small studio on Lake Avenue in Pasadena. “We both got so busy right away and quickly overgrew our little space,” explained Sinata.
Her next move brought her back to South Pasadena. It has been her dream since turning 17 to open a full service salon.
Dreams do come true, she discovered.
In May, Sinata opened Palette Salon Studios and made it official on June 2 as the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce welcomed the new business owner by hosting a ribbon cutting. On hand were members of the City Council, representatives of elected state officials, members of Sinata’s family and friends.
The name Palette Salon Studio didn’t come by accident. “I chose the name because I believe each of us, the stylists, are unique and have our own colors and we all come from different backgrounds,” she said. “But we work together as a union and empower each other. All of our stylists are not just any other stylists. We truly care about our clients’ satisfaction. Each of us takes time to work on every client, from consultation to process and finish. We make the world more beautiful, one head at a time.”
