On this episode of Opening Soon, we sit down with Shobha Tummala, founder of Shobha, one of the most trusted names in hair removal. With six locations across New York City and Washington, D.C., Shobha built a category-defining brand around threading, waxing, laser hair removal, and sugaring—before most people even knew what those services were.
A Harvard Business School grad and former Bain & Procter & Gamble consultant, Shobha walked away from a fast-track corporate career to open a threading salon in the back of a salon in SoHo—armed with just a handwritten letter to Vogue and a bet that New Yorkers were ready for a better beauty experience.
We talk about:
→ How Shobha opened her first salon by renting a chair from another salon
→ The handwritten letter that landed her in Vogue before she had a storefront
→ Why she bootstrapped instead of raising venture capital
→ Her approach to scaling without compromising on quality
→ The systems she built to maintain consistency across six locations
→ How she’s thinking about products vs. services in today’s beauty market
→ What she would’ve done differently (and why she didn’t pay herself for years)
→ Advice for anyone considering opening a brick-and-mortar business in 2025
Episode Specific Links:
→ Shobha Salons – https://www.myshobha.com/
→ Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/myshobha
Sponsored by Signs and Mirrors, the leading sign and furniture shop for retail stores.
Opening Soon Links & Resources
→ Signs and furniture for retail stores: https://signsandmirrors.com
→ NYC and Houston’s first self-portrait studio: https://fotolab.studio
→ Follow us on Instagram: @openingsoonpodcast
→ More episodes and guest info: https://www.openingsoonpodcast.com
→ Your Host Alan Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-li-711a8629/
