DeLauro Visits, Praises Local Small Business

New Haven, CT – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) visited the winner of last year's Connecticut Small Business Administration's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Serenity Salon and Day Spa, today where she met with the owners and discussed their success in starting and growing their business.

Accompanying the Congresswoman were SBA Regional Administrator Jeanne Hulit, SBA District Director for Connecticut Bernie Sweeney, who discussed how the business utilized SBA loans to be successful, and First Vice president and SBA Department Manger at New Alliance Bank Christopher Earle, who approved the business's applications for the loans. Created in 1953, the Small Business Administration is an independent agency of the federal government whose purpose it to provide aid, counsel, assistance, and protection to small businesses, encourage free market competition, and to help maintain and grow the economy.

The Serenity Salon and Day Spa was opened in 2007, when owners Stacy Rogenski Read and Theresa DelGreco Cipriani were just 24 and 25 years old. It has since grown to include another location, Escape Mind and Body Boutique and Yoga Studio, and from four employees to 18. The company encourages their staff to consider their jobs a career, and as such, offer benefits and funds for education, and even the chance to own a share of the business. In 2010, owners Stacy Rogenski Read and Theresa DelGreco Cipriani were honored with the Connecticut Small Business Administration's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which is given each year to business owners under 30 years of age who have demonstrated success in operating a small business for at least three years.

"The Serenity Salon and Day Spa is a remarkable success story, and Stacy and Theresa are fantastic young businesswomen—I am so pleased to have met them both today and to see first-hand how they have leveraged the opportunities available to them into a successful and growing company. Small businesses are the engine of our economy, and it is critical that we do all we can to support them and the entrepreneurs out there who are working hard each day. The SBA is an essential part of this effort, and I commend them for fulfilling their mission so well with the Serenity Salon and Day Spa," said Congresswoman DeLauro. "Stacy and Theresa should be proud that they are doing their part to grow our local economy, and I look forward to their continued success."