Journey From Hairstylist to FRQNCY Founder in Dubai
After more than 20 years in the hair industry, Simona Bitar is doing something that feels both new and familiar.
She is still surrounded by hair, creativity and clients, but her role is changing. After years behind the chair, she is now building FRQNCY, a boutique salon in Dubai shaped by everything she has learned throughout her career.
Her journey has taken her from Helsinki to Los Angeles and New York, and eventually to Dubai. Each city brought different experiences, different people and different lessons.
But through all of it, hair remained the one constant.
“I’ve always loved the creative side of hair, but what I’ve loved just as much is the relationship you build with people,” says Simona. “You see clients through different stages of their lives. Sometimes they come in wanting a completely different look, and sometimes they just need to feel good again.”
That human connection has always been a big part of why she stayed in the industry. It is also one of the reasons FRQNCY came to life.
More Than Just a Salon
After spending more than two decades behind the chair, Simona began thinking about what she wanted to build next.
She wanted something that could grow beyond her personally.
FRQNCY brings together her experience as a hairstylist with a salon environment built around great hair, personalised service, wellness and connection.
The focus includes colour, balayage, textured hair, treatments and personalised consultations, but for Simona, the experience is about more than the service itself.
She wants people to feel comfortable when they walk through the door.
That might sound simple, but after years of working closely with clients, Simona knows that the salon experience can mean different things to different people.
Sometimes it is about changing your look. Sometimes it is about taking time for yourself. And sometimes, it is simply about leaving the salon feeling a little more confident than when you arrived.
That understanding has stayed with her throughout her career.
Learning to Become a Founder
Creating FRQNCY has also forced Simona to step outside the role she has known for most of her professional life.
Being a hairstylist and running a business require very different skills.
“Being a good hairstylist and running a business are two very different things,” she says. “I’ve had to learn how to lead, delegate, build systems, and trust other people. That has probably been one of the biggest changes for me.”
For someone who spent years being directly responsible for every client and every result, learning to let go of some of that control has not always been easy.
But it is something she knows she needs to do if FRQNCY is going to become bigger than her.
Her goal is not to build a salon where everything depends on Simona being behind the chair.
She wants to build a team that can grow, contribute and eventually help shape the future of the brand.
That means learning to trust people, give them responsibility and allow them to develop in their own way.
For Simona, that is one of the biggest personal shifts that comes with becoming a founder.
The Cities That Shaped Her
It is difficult to understand Simona’s career without looking at the places that shaped it.
Helsinki, Los Angeles, New York and Dubai have each played a different role in her story.
Moving between countries meant repeatedly stepping into unfamiliar environments and finding a way to adapt.
It meant meeting new people, learning different ways of working and sometimes starting again.
Those experiences taught her more than just different approaches to hair.
They taught her independence.
They taught her to be open to change.
And they taught her that a career can evolve in ways you never originally planned.
Dubai eventually became home, and it is here that Simona is now bringing together the different parts of her experience through FRQNCY.
The Difficult Parts Are Part of the Story
From the outside, a career spanning multiple countries and more than two decades can look like a straightforward success story.
Simona sees it differently.
There have been difficult moments, personal challenges, changes and times when she had to start over.
Those experiences have shaped her just as much as the achievements.
“I think a lot of my achievements are actually the things I had to overcome,” she says. “Every time something could have stopped me, I found a way to keep going.”
That mindset has become part of how she approaches both business and life.
She does not see resilience as something you simply have.
It is something you build every time life asks you to adapt.
And now, as she builds FRQNCY, that resilience is becoming part of the culture she wants around her.
Creating Space for Other Women to Grow
One of the things Simona cares about most is creating opportunities for other women in the industry.
Having built her own career through different countries and environments, she understands how important it can be to have the right people around you.
Sometimes talent is already there.
What is missing is confidence, experience, encouragement or someone willing to give you an opportunity.
She wants FRQNCY to be a place where women can develop those things.
That means learning from mistakes, gaining experience, becoming more confident and eventually creating careers they are genuinely proud of.
For Simona, leadership is increasingly about creating space for other people to grow rather than simply being the person at the centre.
That is a very different definition of success from the one she may have had earlier in her career.
A Different Idea of Success
Twenty years ago, success may have meant becoming a better hairstylist, building a strong reputation and having a busy schedule.
Today, Simona wants something different.
“It’s no longer just about being a great hairstylist or having a full column of clients,” she says. “It’s about building something sustainable, developing a strong team, and creating a brand that can continue to grow.”
That change is perhaps the clearest sign of where she is in her career today.
She still cares deeply about the craft.
But she is also thinking about what happens beyond the chair.
How do you build a team?
How do you create a healthy working environment?
How do you pass on what you have learned?
How do you create something that continues to have value even when you are not personally doing everything?
Those are the questions that matter to Simona now.
FRQNCY Is Only the Beginning
FRQNCY represents a different kind of creative project for Simona.
For most of her career, creativity meant working directly with a client and turning an idea into a finished look.
Now creativity also means building a team, creating an environment, developing a business and deciding what kind of brand she wants FRQNCY to become.
That shift comes with its own challenges, but it also gives her the chance to use everything she has learned over the past two decades.
The knowledge gained behind the chair.
The relationships built with clients.
The lessons learned from moving between countries.
The difficult experiences that taught her resilience.
And the confidence that comes from knowing she has started over before and found a way forward.
All of those experiences are now part of FRQNCY.
Looking Ahead
Simona is not trying to recreate the career she already had.
She is building something new from it.
After more than 20 years in the industry and experiences across Helsinki, Los Angeles, New York and Dubai, she has reached a point where the question is no longer simply what she can achieve herself.
It is what she can build with other people.
For her, that means creating a strong team, supporting women in the industry, giving clients an experience that feels personal and building a business that can continue to grow.
There is still a lot she wants to learn.
And that is something she is comfortable admitting.
FRQNCY may be the beginning of a new professional chapter, but it is also the result of everything that came before it.
The moves.
The risks.
The hard days.
The people.
The lessons.
The years behind the chair.
Simona has spent more than two decades creating beautiful work with her hands.
Now she is learning how to build something that can exist beyond them.
And for her, that may be the most exciting part of the journey yet.
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