In New York City, where individuality is celebrated and the beauty industry constantly reinvents itself, it can still be surprisingly difficult to find a salon where everyone feels that they truly belong.
For Addison Martin, that realization became more than a personal observation. It became a philosophy.
Her answer is Another Planet, a salon in Bushwick, Brooklyn, built around a simple but powerful idea: if you have ever felt out of place in a New York salon for any reason, come to another planet.
Here, another planet means a place where you do not have to explain yourself before you can feel comfortable. A place where difference is not merely tolerated, but welcomed. A place where people can sit in a chair, breathe, and know they are safe, respected, and seen.
Located at 117 Grattan Ave in Bushwick, Another Planet reflects the journey of the woman behind it.
Twenty Years of Learning How to Adapt
Addison has spent two decades in an industry that has demanded resilience, flexibility, and the ability to solve problems that no one teaches you how to solve.
She has worked in virtually every role that makes a salon function: stylist, apprentice, receptionist, manager, owner, and educator. That experience gave her something that cannot be learned from a business textbook alone: an understanding of the salon from every side of the chair.
“I’ve seen most of what this industry can throw,” she says. “Nothing really fazes me anymore.”
Her career has repeatedly placed her in situations where there was no established formula to follow.
She ran a salon in a busy part of Brooklyn that was not originally hers. She kept a clientele together through the extraordinary challenges of COVID. And then came Another Planet, at a moment of enormous transition.
What had been a private studio suddenly needed to become a functioning public business almost overnight.
Half of the stylists had left. There was more space than the business needed. The infrastructure had to be rebuilt. Plumbing, paperwork, operations, scheduling, and basic systems all demanded attention.
There was no ready-made blueprint.
There was not even a lease template, a booking system, or a sign outside.
So Addison built one.
And then she built the rest.
That experience is central to understanding what makes her leadership different. Another Planet was not the place where Addison learned how to navigate uncertainty. It was the latest place where she demonstrated that she could.
The Business Behind the Beauty
Addison’s strength comes from being comfortable in two worlds that are often treated as separate.
She understands the creative side of the salon business — the artistry, the clients, the stylists and the culture. But she is equally comfortable with the operational side: finances, systems, organization, management, and the practical framework required to make a salon sustainable.
That combination is one of her greatest professional assets.
A beautiful salon can attract attention. A talented stylist can build a following. But creating a business that survives, adapts, grows, and remains financially healthy requires something more.
It requires infrastructure.
Addison understands that because she has lived it.
Her experience has taught her that successful salon ownership is not simply about having good taste or good hair. It is about understanding people, anticipating problems, creating systems, managing resources, and knowing how to make the next right decision when there is no obvious answer.
A Different Kind of Salon
But Another Planet is not defined only by its business model.
Its greatest distinction may be its sense of belonging.
The beauty industry has made progress in becoming more inclusive, but many people still enter a salon wondering whether they will be understood, judged, misunderstood, or simply made to feel like they do not belong.
Addison wants to change that experience.
Her philosophy extends particularly to people who have historically had to work harder to be accepted and successful — including queer and trans people, people of color, and people in recovery.
For them, inclusion is not an abstract marketing concept.
It can mean the difference between feeling comfortable and feeling exposed.
At Another Planet, the goal is to create an environment where a person’s identity, history, appearance, or circumstances do not become barriers to receiving excellent service.
The invitation is simple:
If you feel out of place in traditional salon spaces, come to Another Planet.
You do not have to become someone else to belong there.
From Salon Owner to Industry Consultant
Addison’s ambitions extend beyond the walls of her Brooklyn salon.
Her successful experience building Another Planet is laying the foundation for the next chapter of her career: becoming a consultant for salon owners and beauty professionals.
It is a natural evolution.
After twenty years of working at virtually every level of salon operations, Addison has accumulated something many consultants spend years trying to acquire — practical experience.
She knows what it is like to stand behind the chair.
She knows what it is like to manage people.
She knows what it is like to deal with clients, finances, operations, unexpected departures, changing markets, and the countless small decisions that determine whether a salon functions or falls apart.
And she knows what it means to build systems when there are none.
That perspective could become particularly valuable to salon owners who are talented at their craft but need help transforming that talent into a sustainable business.
Addison’s story suggests that consulting, for her, would not be about imposing theories from the outside.
It would be about sharing lessons learned firsthand.
Another Planet, Another Possibility
There is something fitting about the name Another Planet.
Because Addison Martin has created more than a salon. She has created an alternative to the experience that makes some people feel they do not belong in the beauty industry.
Another Planet offers a different possibility: a place where individuality is part of the culture, where professional excellence and inclusion coexist, and where people can walk through the door without wondering whether there is a place for them.
For Addison, the journey has never been about having all the answers.
It has been about facing whatever comes next, learning quickly, building what is missing, and finding a way forward.
After twenty years in an industry that has repeatedly tested her, she has earned the confidence to say that very little surprises her anymore.
Perhaps that is the most compelling lesson behind Another Planet.
Sometimes success does not come from having the perfect plan.
Sometimes it comes from knowing how to build a new one when the old one no longer works.
And sometimes, the best way to create a place where everyone belongs is to build another planet.
Another Planet
117 Grattan Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
anotherplanetbk.com
Instagram: @anotherplanetbk
