Entrepreneur, Executive, Veteran of the Armed Forces

Inspired by the business model of a former family business based in Los Angeles, California, which bore the name “D’Elegance Plus,” Yanelle Strong created Salon D’Elegance Plus with the intention of founding a business that catered to an elegant clientele with a taste for polished luxury.

D’Elegance Plus of Southern California catered to full-figured women seeking stylish and elegant fashions, and Ms. Yanelle Strong’s sumptuous salon followed the Los Angeles boutique’s style, staying true to the “plus” in her salon’s name by providing her customers with every modern convenience and decadent extras imaginable.

Every client who walked through Yanelle’s salon door and across its marble floors and beneath its crystal chandeliers were privy to an extensive array of “pluses,” including wireless internet with in-house laptops, lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, and cloth hand towels in the posh bath, to name a few.

Great Falls, Virginia holds a reputation as one of the wealthiest cities in the country, and Yanelle Strong’s luxurious Salon D’Elegance often attracted such top-tier patrons as former Washington Redskins to its sparkling interior. Salon D’Elegance Plus was featured in “Washingtonian Magazine” three times in 2007 alone and was so well received that it would seem that its owner would be a lifelong businesswoman.

Yanelle Strong’s background, however, includes much more than entrepreneurship. From 1982 to 2005, the United States armed forces veteran served positions of increasing responsibility with various agencies and departments of the U.S. Government, including the Department of Transportation, the Air Force, and the Navy. Ms. Yanelle Strong has also served extensively in roles within the Federal Aviation Administration, including System Management Office (GS-15) Manager, Technical Special Assistant to the Vice President of Technical Operations (GS-15), and Manager of the Air Traffic Control Center’s Environmental System Support Center.