“I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach,” explains Shavon. “I have a huge team so we’re working with the energy of the dog, the coat of the dog, the skin, and the nutrition—it’s all about how we can get this dog the most amazing haircut. I believe that’s based on a whole range of things, not just the skills of a groomer, and that’s one of our specialties.”

Surprisingly, Shavon spent most of her teen years detesting being a groomer.

“My parents used to have a mobile business and I would have to go and fill up water buckets and help, and the older I got, I just said I wasn’t going to do this,” she recounts. “I went out and did all my teen rebellion stuff and eventually got a job in adman. But I just couldn’t do it, and my mom invited me to work for them.”

Shavon admits she was hesitant to accept the offer, unsure about working full time with her parents, but she did, and became fast friends with the other groomers and worked hard on improving her skillset.

“Eventually, I became a manager at one of their other salons, which was the big push I needed,” she shares. “Now, I wasn’t in the same space as them, and I was able to find my feet in the industry.”

For Shavon, the most important part of the company’s evolution was when she rebranded the salon from Singleton Grooming to Oasis Pet Styling two years after opening the doors. But even before that, things began mostly without a hitch.

Thankfully, she already had a strong reputation upon opening due to the link to her parents’ grooming business, so she had a handful of clients and good word-of-mouth referrals. Being a new business, though, Shavon was very mindful on pricing, as she didn’t want to set prices so high that they scared customers away.

When the business started in 2017, one of the biggest challenges was a rival groomer in town who slandered the company’s name from the get-go.

“We had clients tell us of all the things the other groomer was saying and sending screenshots, so that wasn’t a fun time,” she recalls. “There wasn’t anything for me to do than just keep doing what I was doing, and eventually it stopped.”

A strong social media campaign and solid word-of-mouth referrals helped negate any problems that were caused by the hiccup of the jealous groomer. Today, the salon is still evolving, which Shavon credits to continuing to educate herself.

“I am currently studying to do a more holistic, natural approach; I’m like a hippie in that sense,” she quips. “I enjoy natural remedies and shampoos and products, so I want to do more with that kind of thing.”

However, the team at Oasis Pet Styling is Shavon’s favorite part of owning her own business.

“I just love them all so much,” she says emphatically. “One of the things that sometimes gets overlooked is that your team is a reflection of what you need to work on as a leader, and each of my team has taught me something about myself. And each of my team has their own niche thing, which I think is important, because you don’t just want a bunch of mini-mes running around.”

For instance, one of Shavon’s groomers loves working with dogs with behavioral problems, another specializes in doodles and another works well with large dogs. These are three areas where Oasis Pet Styling is well-known throughout the community.

“All of the hard stuff is generally what we’re known for,” she adds. “I adore that they all want to be the best at what they do.”

Shavon and her team often compete in grooming competitions and she says everyone is always looking to learn more and become better at their craft.

When first setting up her salon, Shavon felt practicality was very important. She wanted to have designated bathing and drying stations, so she enclosed sections for each, with a big open grooming space in the front.

“The open space is also important to me because I don’t like it seeming like we are hiding anything, so we always groom the dogs open,” she explains.

“Our color scheme, whilst being boujee, is also to reflect a calming energy within the salon,” adds Shavon. “I don’t like tacky. I like bright colors, personally, but when I walk into a business, I don’t want to see hot pink because it punches you in the face. We’ve always gone royal blue or dark charcoal black, and we’re now moving towards an emerald green. It’s still flashy.”

In 2025, Shavon will be launching a new academy to train prospective groomers, though initially it will be more cat focused.

“Right now, I do predominantly cats, and my team works on the dogs,” she shares. “The person who I trained and mentored with is going to help me and start doing training in the academy. I have a space specifically set up and it’s pretty exciting for me.

“I’m at the point now where I just want to sit back and watch my team thrive, but I’m also so into cat grooming because I find it’s so rewarding to win a cat over,” continues Shavon. “Dogs love everyone, whereas cats don’t really care. So, at the end of a cat groom, if you’re getting purrs, it’s the most heartwarming thing in the world.”

Eventually, she hopes to add a dog-friendly café to her setup because there are not a lot of places nearby for people to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and bring their dogs. She has lots of space in her building, so plans are in motion to open this in the next year.

“This is a really compassionate and enjoyable industry and everyone has so much heart,” concludes Shavon.