Blissful Orchid: a labor of love

The Webster Dictionary defines blissful as “Full of, abounding in, enjoying or conferring bliss. A high state of happiness.”

To meet Raquel Micaela, the owner of the Blissful Orchid full-service salon in Luling, one would think she is the perfect picture of blissful. She is extremely happy and loves her job as the owner of the salon.

However, Micaela has had to overcome a great deal of personal hardship and family tragedy in the last five years on her journey to find peace, happiness—and yes—bliss.

“I grew up in Luling and made a lot of mistakes when I was younger,” she laughed. “I got married, moved away to West Texas and had five sons with my husband. Unfortunately, he was killed in an auto accident in September of 2014.”

“It was hard to know what to do, but after my sons completed the school year, I called my mom and asked her if we could come home and live with her. She didn’t have a huge house, but she agreed, and we moved back. I realized I needed to do something to provide for my sons, and inadvertently I ended up in the nail and salon business.”

Micaela was encouraged to get into the nail technician line of the salon business, so she went to a nail tech school. She went to work for another salon in Luling and liked the work but wasn’t comfortable not being her own boss.

“I was a stay-at-home Mom and getting things done the way I wanted them done,” she laughed. “Working for someone else was just not for me.”

In May 2018, she quit her job on a Friday. The next day she went to a birthday party for one of her son’s friends. There she met Rick Carter, and it changed her life.

“I was talking to his daughter, and she was encouraging me to think about starting my own business,” Micaela said. “Rick overheard the conversation, came over and introduced himself and told me he had an office available and he would work with me to get things up and running.

“I was nervous and didn’t want to take on any debt, but we met on Monday and talked. When I left the building, I had the keys to my office.”

Micaela laughs about the condition of the office she inherited. There was some worn out carpet on the floor, old desks, lots of clutter and the place needed an overhaul.

And that’s just what she did. Little by little and piece by piece.

“I put a plastic tarp down over the carpet and opened the doors,” Micaela recalled. “I apologized all over the place to my customers and promised I would get the place cleaned up and looking better. They were all very understanding and supportive.

“Then little by little, the floor got put in with help from my brother Jesus Chan. My sister Esmerelda, my mother Maria and my fiancée Emmanuel all helped a lot. We cleaned up the building, got the work stations assembled by Jesus, got new desks, a new refrigerator, new counters, new shelves and now it’s almost where I want it.”

Raquel has two people working out of her salon as full-service salon artists, Brittany Michelle and Fufi Reyes. The salon is open Monday through Saturday, and by appointment. For more information, call 830-351-5352.