Meet Zanya Gissler

We sometimes refer to her as “Big Red”. She’s not very big in stature, though. In fact she is quite petite. But a red head for sure (and you can’t get that shade in a tube). She is the big force behind everything at Zanya Spa Salon.

Growing up in Massachusetts, Zanya Gissler loved all animals and all of nature. A free spirited child of the earth, she was outside constantly, and continues to be that person today. Her love of nature and keen powers of observation combined with her degree in fashion design have shaped the artist and stylist that she has become.

Zanya left her pastoral setting to be where fashion and hair styling were alive and kicking – NYC. In the 80's, there were precious few women in the styling biz, but she knew that in order to advance her career, she'd have to carve out a name for herself among the men. She worked in NYC on editorial fashion shoots and runway styling with the likes of Michael Kors, doing celebrity styling, and in big-city salons like Suga at Bergdorff Goodman – always knowing that she would someday get out of the paved city, back to green vistas and open her own salon, taking all her experiences with her. And so she did.

In 1995, Zanya Salon opened in New Hope, PA. There Zanya began to sow the talent seeds of which we are all reaping the benefits today. Into her 800 square foot New Hope shop she brought Todd Fox, Jason Schmeltzly and Cheyenne Delia, all at the very beginning of their careers, and remain with her to this day. From her modest but successful 4 chair salon, she made an epic leap to her new venture – Zanya Spa Salon.

Zanya Spa Salon, all 6,700 square feet of it, opened in 2004, in the historic Laceworks Building in Lambertville, NJ. Zanya created a Moroccan oasis of a spa and combined it with a 12 chair styling department with 6 additional chairs for color. And today, the color department has doubled to 12 chairs, and the spa is on the verge of doubling in size. Whew!

That’s what vision will do for you.

Zanya loves to do agility training and competing with her Border Collie Kira, who is our little wonder-dog mascot. Her love of the outdoors still prevails, and she spends most of her free time in nature gardening, cycling, swimming and skiing. And there are many things to be afraid of in her basement, but we won’t get into that now…