Jessica Lawson article

Meet the governor of West Virginia. Check.

Nic and My Meet Manchin

Be photographed as a model for an as in Racer X, a national motocross magazine. Check.

Train alongside the owner of Morganton, W.Va.’s go-to spa and salon. Check.

When Nic Romanoli decides to do something, he goes at it full throttle. So it’s no great surprise that the laundry list of activities he assembled for 19-year-old Swedish cosmetologist My (pronounced “Me”) Menmark’s recent one-month guest stint at his Nico Spalon was about much more than hair, skin and nails. Indeed, when he agreed to host My for an unofficial internship, he intended far more for her than planting her beside the shampoo bowl and forgetting about her.

“(I’m big on) the exchange of ideas through mentoring,” Romanoli said.

Ideas are something he certainly has no shortage of–and not just ideas about running a successful spa and salon. This long-time business-owner has myriad passions, among them political activism and artistic expression, and he is adamant about igniting similar enthusiasm in My and other young people.

Romanoli is clearly comfortable talking about himself. Yet, an understanding of his total drive and commitment today requires a look at his seemingly single-minded focus on excellence in all he has undertaken. In his 50 short years, he has worked as the top educator for hair-care giant L’ANZA. He has studied with Vidal Sassoon and has worked with fashion greats Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, and Adolfo, to name a few. A yearlong stint in Europe doing hair for fashion photographers ignited in him an interest in photography, which led to what has become a successful second professional career in that business. Oh, and he has owned five salons and has his own hair and skin-care product line, called Nico.

“I want to be able to do lots of different things”, Romanoli said. “I don’t want to just cut hair behind the chair.”
He has the same desire for My when she began her work with him in November. A longtime friend of My’s mother, Carina, Romanoli had last seen the teen when she was 5 years old. But when Carina contacted him to tell him her daughter had graduated from cosmetology school in Sweden, the idea quickly was born for My to come to Morgantown and study under him. Little did she know just how well-rounded her education would be.

“I wanted My to see how change can happen,” he said. “A lot of young people aren’t involved in politics and don’t think they can make a difference, (but) one voice can become very loud. One person can tell another person, and the voice gets louder and louder, and change is done.”

To that end, Romanoli is a very vocal supporter of Manchin’s Student Educational and Economic Development Success, or SEEDS, a volunteer mentoring program that partners a public school principal with a seasoned business leader and master educator to turnaround a struggling school.

“I think (Gov. Manchin) is right on target with that, and I think other business people need to jump on board and help him with it,” he said.

Just as Romanoli works to inspire political involvement in My and other young people, so, too, does he use his successful spa and salon as a venue for his support of the arts-and, by extension, young artists.

“(At Nico Spalon), we have an art gallery where we showcase young artists’ work. We have a photo studio (and an art studio) here. We’ve had cooking classes,” he said.

On a personal level, the payoff for Romanoli is in seeing the young people he has mentored go on to fulfilling, productive lives. “A lot salon owners in Morgantown at one time worked under me,” he said. “It makes me feel good that (they) are successful.” And, on a professional level, he also knows that an investment in young people will pay off for his business as well.” I (also) utilize young people a lot, because they are the ones that have all the new ideas,” Romanoli said. For example, ” just being with My has changed the way I do thing and look at things.” For her part, My gives her experience high marks in every respect.

“I have had a lot of fun here, and I’ve done so many things,” she said. “Nic is so good at what he does. He has so many ideas. You get inspired by him.”

-Jessica Lawson

Jan 28, 2009 | Categories: NICO articles | Leave A Comment »

A Beautiful Life

Nic Romanoli is a man with a brilliant philosophy and a tremendously successful career as a photographer, hairdresser and entrepreneur.  He owns Nico Spalon (Nico Spalon ~ Morgantown, WV) in Morgantown, WV and has spent a lifetime working with the best and most talented people in the beauty industry.  He is a master of his trade in both cosmetology and photography.  He is a powerful inspiration and mentor to his younger protoges. His mind houses a university of experience and knowledge of the industry.  Nic is respected as a ‘Life Coach’ for those inspiring to succeed as models, photographers, makeup artists, colorists and hairdressers, or any other interest in the art and beauty culture.

Romanoli has a keen perception and awareness of the beauty in the world around him.  We are living in an era that will be recorded in history books as a time when people have lost faith in their governments, the United States is involved in a war that few people support or even understand, and mainstream tabloids have diverted their attention to the antics of a handful of out-of-control teenage socialites to sell their stories and boost their ratings.

Nic is utilizing his talents and natural instinctive eye for seeing and spotlighting the beautiful, to show us that there is still so much beauty around us at all times.  The beauty of a rose is timeless and likewise is the inner and outer beauty of people. From birth to our senior season of this unpredictable journey through life, beauty changes with the seasons, but never fades.

His work and collaborative work with artist, Michael Green, was recently on display at the Monongalia Arts Center (www.monartscenter.org ) earlier this Spring and over 400 people attended the showing of the “Nothing But Nico” exhibit, which highlighted the past 25 years of Romanoli’s photography.

Nic studied with Vidal Sasoon in Chicago and London and attended West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. When he finished at WVU, he moved  to Europe with a good friend who became Miss Sweden.  This exposed him to all kinds of people in the fashion industry, including many great fashion photographers.

He then moved to Paris, France and became a hairdresser for fashion photographers there. He has worked with internationally known designers including Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, and Adolfo, as a hairdresser.  He would look through the lens of the photographer’s camera and began to view his own work as a hairdresser through the camera lens.

After returning to Morgantown, he first worked as a top platform artist for Lanza International and began to experiment in photography himself.  He met a beautiful young Italian male model and photographed him.  His work began to get noticed and he was asked to arrange the WVU Calendar of Men in 1984.  To his own surprise, Romanoli became an instant success as a photographer and appeared on Entertainment Tonight to showcase his work.

Romanoli is most known for his erotic, intimate photographs of beautiful, young male models like the one pictured above.  However, many of his models did not even see themselves as models or even as being attractive.  Many of them were just ordinary, blue collar workers, but Nic Romanoli saw beauty and through his photography he has contributed to numerous successful modeling careers.

Despite his instant success as a photographer, Nic has continued to work as a hair designer and opened his own salon, Tonique. He promoted Tonique through his own photography and advertising.  The ads were tremendously successful and a bit controversial.   They inspired Romanoli to create two art exhibits of his work in the Mountainlair Art Gallery at WVU.

Nic has also utilized his photography to increase awareness of AIDS and those infected with HIV, as well as those at risk of being infected with the virus.

Nico Spalon is the product of the combined vision of Romanoli’s love for beauty and art.  It is a very upscale salon/spa, art gallery and photo studio in Morgantown, West Virginia, that employs some of the best cosmetologists in the industry. It houses and showcases some of Romanoli’s photography, along with various other artists, throughout the entire spa.

Guests of Nico Spalon will agree that the creation of beauty is also an art form.  The staff is committed to making their customers feel good about themselves by bringing them cutting edge style and technology.  “I leave here feeling complete and put together…” says Lesley, a guest, as she smiles into the mirror and views the results of her visit. “I know I am going to leave here looking like a million dollars”, she adds.  “Everywhere I go, I get compliments on my hair.”

“Treva knows what I want better than I know what I want.” –Mindy, another satisfied longtime customer of Nico Spalon says.

Treva is Nic’s main colorist.  Nic and Treva have been together professionally for twelve years.  They have learned to finish each other’s thoughts and together they create a ‘dream team’ duo of expertise and knowledge of the biz.

The entire staff is composed of the very best masters of the trade, including Rick Stache, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, all of whom were hand picked by Nic himself.

Nic also has his own line of hair care products that the salon uses.  These products are available to consumers and to retailers by visiting: www.shopnico.com

Jan 28, 2009 | Categories: NICO articles | Leave A Comment »