This Tri-Citian is back from the Miss Universe pageant. She wasn’t there to compete

Chauné Fitzgerald didn’t originally plan to be hair stylist. She thought she’d run a hospital someday.

But styling helped her pay for college and graduate school, and it’s taken her all over the world — including to the recent Miss Universe pageant in Thailand, where she was on the international styling team.

It’s also ended up being fulfilling, meaningful work.

“Not too many other professions allow you to be in somebody’s personal space and make a difference in their life. You can get really personal with them, and they open up and talk to you and share with you what’s going on,” she said. “I try to be really good at what I do. I try to make (clients) feel the best they can.”

Fitzgerald, a master cosmetologist, owns Salon Remedi in The Parkway in Richland.

She’s also an educator for Farouk Systems, which makes hair care products under brands such as Chi and Biosilk.

The company sponsors the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants and sends stylists to work there.

Fitzgerald just returned from a whirlwind 1 1/2 weeks helping the 94 contestants from around the world with hairstyles for this year’s Miss Universe — everything from up-dos to the traditional “pageant hair” of long, big curls.

She’s also worked other Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, including this year’s Miss USA in Louisiana.

Pageant work can be chaotic and intense. Fitzgerald tries to be a tranquil presence.

“A lot of times we get a chance to sit with (the contestants) for a little while, in that calm moment when they’re preparing. And we get a chance to encourage them,” she said, adding that it feels good to be able to help.

“You advise the girls to stay humble from start to finish because you never know what the judges are looking for, and don’t take the hair so, so hard. By the time you get to this level, the hair helps. But it’s not really what got you there,” she told the Herald. “Who you are as a person is what’s going to help you to win.”

At Miss Universe, Fitzgerald worked with contestants from all over — Great Britain to Nigeria.

She opened her Richland salon about nine years ago, after moving for her husband’s Hanford job. She and Eric have four kids between them — daughter Micah, 12, and sons Caleb, 22, Joshua, 25, and Alexander, 26.

Caleb Mitchell, a rapper who goes by the name Leebo, has been featured in the Herald for his music.

Fitzgerald was born into a military family. She has a masters of business administration from Troy University in Alabama, and she spent much of her adult life in the South before moving to Tri-Cities, she said.

She plans to add nonsurgical hair replacement to her business.

For Fitzgerald — who’s also an ordained minister and founder of the women’s group Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities — doing hair is a way to help people on the outside and the inside.

“I try to take time to listen to people when I’m behind my chair,” she said. “The beauty part is surface. I get the chance to get past what people see on the outside.”

To reach Fitzgerald, call 509-308-0559 or email chaunefitz@gmail.com.

This story was originally published December 22, 2018 at 1:30 PM.