Maggie Leonhardt\u2019s trip to Southeast Asia showed her what she was missing back in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
Read more WNC congressional district more competitive + additional Helene aid incoming<\/a><\/p>\n Three years of working for hair salons in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia showed her a diversity of identity, language and culture. She came back to recreate this feeling at home.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the initiation to being more selective about where I worked. At the time I did not feel like there was any out and loud salons,\u201d Leonhardt said.<\/p>\n Out! Raleigh Pride<\/a>, the city\u2019s annual Pride event, is in its 14th year. One in 14 new business owners in 2025 identified as LGBTQ+, according to a recent national report<\/a>. <\/b>Greater social acceptance has allowed for businesses, restaurants and individuals to publicly identify as more than heterosexual, local business owners say.<\/p>\n The News & Observer visited three Raleigh business owners this June, learning how they <\/b>let their identities blend into their work. Their curated atmosphere, they say, is what keeps the Triangle community coming back for more.<\/p>\n Hightide Salon resides on West Martin Street in Downtown Raleigh\u2019s <\/b>warehouse district. The industrial-inspired space still holds remnants of the previous occupants. Wedged between bricks, a small notebook of names and dates traces back to White Rabbit Books & Things, the home of Raleigh\u2019s first gay bookstore and newspaper.<\/p>\n When Leonhardt sought to create Hightide in 2020, the building\u2019s history added to her cause. As a bisexual woman, she said she felt pressured to hide her sexuality in some <\/b>salon environments to <\/b>fit their aesthetics.<\/p>\n She was unhappy with the \u201chighly exploitative industry\u201d where cosmetologists pay rent to a salon along with a percent of their profits, seeking to create a new space. At Hightide, everyone has their own LLC and run their own business.<\/p>\n \u201cOur business model is unique. … They choose their hours, how they want to communicate to their clients, how they want to show up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Empowering fellow cosmetologists was always a part of the business plan. Kelly Phoenix, Leonhardt\u2019s sister and Hightide\u2019s CFO, offers all 37 businesses that occupy the salon with financial literacy education, tax coaching and marketing support.<\/p>\n Reinventing the hairstylist-salon relationship also meant examining what customers wanted from traditional salons that they weren\u2019t getting. Leonhardt wanted a salon that could accommodate all people and hair types while being as waste free as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were still going by men\u2019s haircuts, women\u2019s haircuts,\u201d she said. \u201cWe made that a part of our business model, that you could not gender. It had to be completely length-based, time-based.\u201d<\/p>\n Clipping are also sent off to be used in natural disaster aide; Hair, fur and fleece can be used to soak up oil spills.<\/p>\n Offering gender-affirming haircuts and safe spaces for hijab-wearing women to reveal their hair hasn\u2019t come without its challenges. The salon has received death threats and hateful messages, but these instances don\u2019t take away from the positive impact of Hightide, Leonhardt said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b>309 W. Martin St. Raleigh, NC 27601 | thehightidesalon.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n On West Morgan Street is Chef Gregg Hamm\u2019s retirement restaurant. Pink flamingos of all sizes glitter the walls, regulars have their pictures framed, card games are stacked high in a corner and \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u201d and \u201cGolden Girls\u201d loop on opposing televisions. It\u2019s a place where everyone knows your name or wants to learn it.<\/p>\n \u201cKinda like \u2018Cheers,\u2019\u201d Hamm said about his downtown bar.\u00a0\u201cTo me, it was important that it became that place that you could go without dressing up. You could go without a lot of pressure and just enjoy a neighborhood camaraderie.<\/p>\n Read more Former Duke teammates drafted: Isaiah Evans to Minnesota, Maliq Brown to Spurs<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBeing a gay male myself, opening a place that was safe for all genders and all people. … It\u2019s important that we\u2019re safe for everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For the past 30 years, the restaurateur and former culinary arts educator has owned many restaurants between Raleigh and Sanford. Libations 317 and its cuisine Su-Z\u2019s Asian Kitchen, created in 2021, is the only one of Hamm\u2019s restaurants where his face is the first one guests see.<\/p>\n In Hamm\u2019s opinion, the most \u201cunderrated\u201d part of his bar is the food. His culinary background demands fresh ingredients and evolving options.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first opened, we had a different focus on the menu,\u201d Hamm said. \u201cI always loved Asian food and wanted to do an Asian menu. But I\u2019m a white cis* man, and I own an Asian restaurant. It doesn\u2019t quite fit the queue.\u201d<\/p>\n His goal is to learn the cuisine deeply and what customers want, creating a menu that \u201cappears to all palates\u201d so anyone can come in and enjoy the food and drinks.<\/p>\n Libations 317 hosts Thursday night Drag Bingo and ticketed weekend Drag Brunches, a change from Hamm\u2019s other restaurants in Sanford. \u201cI was always open, but I just wasn\u2019t quite where I am now,\u201d Hamm said. \u201cIt\u2019s important that people know that we\u2019re offering this, … and I think that that\u2019s just the heritage of gay rights.\u201d<\/p>\n *Short for cisgender, a person whose gender identity corresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth.<\/i><\/p>\n 317 W. Morgan St., Suite 117, Raleigh, NC 27601 | chefhamminc.com\/libations-317-raleigh<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n Cinnamon rolls have always played a part in Darryl Fuller\u2019s relationship with his partner of 30 years, Jeff Couch. On Sundays, the pair would get canned pastries and read the Sunday paper together. Years later, their tradition turned into a small restaurant selling homemade cinnamon rolls, sandwiches and sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n After a career in the hotel industry, Fuller decided to enroll in culinary school. During a semester on baking and pastry, he practiced his cinnamon roll recipe, seeking the advice of Couch and his coworkers to create a formula he liked.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first started, he left his job to come work here for several months until I could afford to hire people,\u201d Fuller said of Couch. \u201cHe came up with what we call \u2018cinnarocks\u2019; They\u2019re little bite-sized pieces of the cinnamon roll dough, and then we bake them off in little mini muffin cups,\u201d Fuller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Morning Rolls, located on East Millbrook Road, is a member of Harmony: NC LGBT+ Allied Chamber of Commerce and the North Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. Both groups offer community and aid for small businesses in the area.<\/p>\n For Fuller, the greatest support has been from his customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the little things, like kids are allowed to ride their bikes up here and get a cinnamon roll in the summer,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cWe have a bunch of the high school kids from Sanderson [who] will come in for lunch a couple times a week. … They say they want to come work here when they\u2019re old enough.\u201d<\/p>\n With all the love, the four-year-old business is growing. Fuller is working to expand their catering options, add new flavors to the menu and look for a second location. His experience in operations management at hotels and restaurants keeps him anticipating the business\u2019 next move.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to keep it family focused,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cWe have families of every type.\u201d<\/p>\n