India Rochelle Rice is the owner of Rochelle Salon Suites, located at The Shoppes at University Place, and hers is the only black, female‐owned business in the entire shopping center.
Not only that, but her suites offer others a chance to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams by allowing them to own their own business without the traditional overhead costs. All a stylist or barber has to do is pay rent for the space and the look/feel/services provided for each suite is entirely up to the individual owner.
Rice has a bachelors in communication and a masters in business, and spent 20 years working in finance and later the cosmetology industry. But after moving from New York to Charlotte eight years ago with her husband (they now have two sons), Rice had a hard time finding work after taking a year off to care for her family. When a cousin in Maryland introduced her to the idea of salon suites, she was hooked.