Meet Amanda Lawlor | Salon & Bar owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amanda Lawlor and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
my name is Amanda Lawlor and I am the owner of The Olive Tiger. I came up with a concept in 2020 while I was pregnant with my youngest daughter. To say I had a challenging pregnancy was putting it lightly. I suffered from multiple complications which left me with the fear of possibly not surviving child birth. Instead of letting this unknown fear consume me , I decided to make a plan for when I DO survive and make my dream of owning my own high end salon a reality. The concept came from wanting to incorporate my ex-husband’s career as an award-winning bartender and my 20 years of hairstyling. I thought it would be so revolutionary to bring the two worlds together of high end cocktails with luxury salon service.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I was a 15 year old high school student when my life changed forever. One day when I got home from school I was greeted by my dad screaming in pain. We rushed him to the hospital to then find out that he had pancreatitis. Unfortunately in the process of his diagnosis they also found that he had cancer all over his body, including his brain. It wasn’t much long after that we lost him. I was truly a daddy’s girl through and through. His death broke me. I held his hand as he passed promising to make him proud. I remember meeting with my grief counselor and saying to her “I just don’t know how I can continue going to school and pretending like everything is fine”. She then told me about an elective trade skill course program that I could attend outside of school and only come to school for my core classes. That way I could “start fresh” with a new group of people that didn’t look at me and see the girl who’s dad just died. I chose beauty school as my trade skill course and my career began! I dove straight in and found I had a true natural talent. I’ve been doing hair ever since! Not only do I know my dad would be proud of me, but I’m proud of me too.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Denver Is such a fun city to visit because its easy to do a lot in a short amount of time. My favorite restaurant is somebody people. The food is always incredible, and the service in spot on. I also adore babes tea room! There right up the street from us and they have the BEST tea service in the city. Its my go to for a cute lunch date with my daughters or friends.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The people who have been my biggest cheerleaders through this whole process have been my clients. They truly did everything they could to help me from connecting me with women’s groups like Enterprising Women’s Giving Circle who were able to help my with a scholarship to perchance my POS system, to coming in and helping me build furniture, you name it they were there! And of course my family.

Website: https://theolivetiger.com

Instagram: theolivetiger