Pony Studios Co.

Pony Studios Co. has been independent since 2019, when Corinna Hernandez founded it. The salon works on a 4,000-square-foot floor in Temescal and has an indoor lounge and an outdoor lounge. A front desk, trained assistants and a salon manager keep the day running. The salon is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9am to 6pm.

Booking is online through Mangomint and takes about a minute. First-time clients are welcome. New color clients begin with a quick consultation before the appointment, so the color plan is set before any work starts.

Pony Education was established in 2014 and has hosted hundreds of classes since 2019. Hands-on classes take place at the Oakland studio using live models rather than mannequins. The studio room has four HD cameras, a 24-foot screen and professional lighting. Classes are also live-streamed and available on demand through the Pony Education app, which costs 29.99 dollars a month after a seven-day free trial. Monthly one- to two-day workshops are open to professional hairdressers, and the platform has hosted educators including Laurent Philippon, Howard McLaren and Tina Andersen.

The salon says it has won Best of Oakland awards and describes itself as Oakland's most awarded salon. It reports a 4.9-star average across more than 2,750 client reviews, and says it has been featured in Forbes, ELLE and Refinery29. The salon also says it has raised more than 150,000 dollars for the community.

Education comes first at Pony, both for the team, who receive free access to Pony Education workshops and the live stream, and for hairdressers across the region who attend its classes.

The space pairs a working salon floor with indoor and outdoor lounges.