Stephanie Schon is the new president of Waxing the City, a full body waxing franchise under the Purpose Brands umbrella. Schon has a strong background in franchise leadership at Buffalo Wild Wings and Erbert & Gerbert’s Sandwich & Soups. She will continue to hold her role as president of The Bar Method, a fitness concept owned by Purpose Brands.
“When the opportunity to lead the Waxing the City business was presented to me, I saw it as a new challenge to champion a similar customer experience differently,” Schon said. “The Bar Method and Waxing the City have more in common than you might think, as our customers walk out of the building feeling better about themselves than they did walking in. It felt like a natural extension of my passion for health, wellness and franchising.”
Schon said she upholds the philosophy of Waxing the City, founded by Alex Arlotta and Summer Vasilas, while building on the brand’s momentum. “This philosophy radiates through each studio, and I continue to be inspired by the craft of our cerologists [waxing experts] who bring the Waxing the City mission to life through each service,” Schon said. “This is also a time of real momentum — not only in terms of industry growth, but in how consumers are embracing self-care. With the support of our exceptional team, I’m excited to continue to build on the momentum Waxing the City has already experienced this year.”
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She credits the waxing brand’s growth to its passionate franchisees and their commitment to delivering quality services. “Waxing the City’s strategic development is only going to keep flourishing into 2026 as we bring it to more communities across the country.”
Purpose Brands will also play an important role in Waxing the City’s expansion, she added. “Being a part of Purpose Brands means we have unique access to shared insights, training tools, operational efficiencies and a more robust tech stack to help franchisees provide customers with a best-in-class experience. The parent company is home to high-performing franchises, including Orangetheory Fitness, Anytime Fitness, The Bar Method and Basecamp Fitness, enabling us to cross-collaborate and leverage the system’s franchise development expertise to provide our franchisees with best practices that a single brand cannot match. We’re able to learn at an accelerated pace and help our franchisees implement those learnings much more quickly due to our scale.”
Tom Leverton, CEO of Purpose Brands, said Schon’s franchise expertise, strategic leadership and passion for self-care position her well as she guides Waxing the City forward. “Her success leading The Bar Method and her thoughtful and personable approach to franchise growth hasn’t gone unnoticed. With Stephanie at the helm, Waxing the City is poised to evolve with purpose, keeping the customer experience and franchisee success at the heart of every decision,” Leverton said.
Leading with a Clear Vision
Schon describes leadership as translating vision into action. “Throughout my career, I’ve learned that setting goals is the easy part. The challenge and the opportunity lies in building the right capabilities, initiatives and systems that turn goals into results. My leadership philosophy reflects that. I believe building a culture of franchise excellence begins with a deep understanding of the importance of stakeholder success, then aligning the strengths of the team and empowering them to succeed. This translates into building a beautiful partnership with our franchise owners, as we work together to improve the client experience and grow our unit economics.”
With the U.S. beauty and personal care market expected to generate a revenue of $105 billion in 2025, Schon said she is “confident the industry will continue this upward trajectory as people invest more in products and services that help them feel good about themselves. For investors, this means tapping into a category that’s growing and providing opportunity for repeat customers and high margins.”
In her spare time, Schon enjoys keeping her mind and body active. She earned an MBA from the University of Denver and has completed eight marathons, an Ironman and dozens of other races. She also studied Japanese throughout high school and college, and taught English in Japan for a year, which made witnessing the opening of a master franchisee’s first The Bar Method studio in Japan that much more thrilling.
