Spotlight on: Angela Zajic

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - What do you get when you mix a great voice, a talented hair stylist, a business owner, a wife, a mom, a Tahoe native, an entrepreneur, a teacher, and an artist together? Why, an Angela Zajic, of course!

Angela, or Angie as her friends know her, is now living her dream - running two salons, doing wedding hair (her obsession), and spending part of the winter on the southern California coast.

She grew up singing and dancing, first under Dorothy Farnon, and then from age 10 on with Marcia "Miss Marcia" Sarosik. Angela was in performances of Scrooge at Harrah's Tahoe when Farnon and her husband Brian brought the holiday special to life every year.

It was a life-changing, and life-saving, move to Miss Marcia's studio. Angela was 10 and Marcia noticed something and asked to see her mom after class. Marcia said, your daughter needs to see a doctor as I think she is diabetic.

Her close relationship with Marcia began then as Angela was a type 1 diabetic.

"She was a big part of my journey," said Angela of Marcia.

The journey included getting married, having a child, the death of her brother, getting divorced, becoming a licensed beautician, opening her own salon, trying out for both The Voice and American Idol (you should hear her sing), finding love again, moving the first studio, and opening a second.

The journey also included a first visit to Camp Buck, a week-long camp at the 4H Camp at Lake Tahoe put on by the Nevada Juvenile Diabetes Association for kids with the disease. Marcia sent her that first year, and Angela returned as both a camper and a counselor. Now Angela puts on the Adult Prom every two years to raise money for scholarships to Camp Buck, so more kids can experience what she did. She has eight of the proms under her belt, and the ninth will be in 2024.

Angela graduated from Whittell High School in 1997, and her "kid" Aurora arrived in 1999. By 2003 she was doing hair at the New Wave in South Lake Tahoe and then at the Onsen Spa inside Montbleu. Onsen was closing for two months, right in the middle of wedding season, Angela's favorite season. She found out Faze was being sold and she bought it in 2009. After a year she changed the name to Rah. In 2019, Rah opened its current location in The Crossing at Tahoe Valley.

Then came Edgewood in 2021.

"Edgewood is a dream bridal space," said Angela. "We added our touches but it was already a great spot."

"Pinch me, I'm living the bridal dream," she added.

Not every beautician/stylist likes to do weddings, but Angela is "obsessed" with weddings. She trains others on how to do wedding hair at other studios, saying it isn't something they teach you when going to school.

At the Rah location at Edgewood, Angela has three full-time employees, and at The Crossing she has eight (three of them are independent contractors). She offers health insurance to the employees, something that is very important to her.

"I had to leave a job I loved to get health insurance," said Angela. Being a type 1 diabetic, she needs to have insurance and is happy with the fact she can offer to staff.

Besides weddings, Angela loves to sing- she started singing on the stage at age 5. Her aunt, Dolora Zajick (the 'k' was added as her stage name), is a renowned mezzo-soprano opera singer. Dalora graduated from South Tahoe High and has even sung with Pavarotti.

Singing runs in the family - Angela's dad Al sang in Scrooge, and with the Tahoe Choir for years. Aurora also has a great voice and sang in all the South Tahoe High School musicals, sang the national anthem at AT&T Park and for the NHL special outdoor game at Edgewood, and trained in musical theater in college. They now live in Oregon (where grandpa happens to also live), performing in local theater and also taking after mom and is behind the chair as a barber.

"Aurora sings way better than me," said Angela.

Angela also enjoys a different kind of brush in her hand - a paintbrush. During her winter stay down in Newport Beach last year she was able to concentrate on her other passion and painted as the rest of us in Tahoe shoveled. She currently has her art on display at the Laguna Art Gallery.

She met her husband Charles in 2014 when he was living and working in Newport Beach. They married in 2019, the same month as the grand opening of Rah at the Crossing. Now Angela and Charles get to enjoy the best of both worlds - Tahoe and Newport.

"If you can dream it, you can be it," said the talented Miss Angie.