Gilda Santiago and Christine DiBenedetto, two girls with curls, met over two decades ago and decided they had an idea for a salon whose time had come. A place where the educated stylist wants to continue learning and the educated client wants to be served, included, and heard. WINK is the result. 

Since opening the doors in 2005, Wink has been awarded ‘BEST OF’ in Mountain Xpress' Readers Polls from 2005 to 2020. Every. Single. Year.

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OWNERS

CHRISTINE DI BENEDETTO

Christine & Big Life, Thin Hair on Instagram

CO-OWNER & EXECUTIVE OF WINK, SENIOR MASTER STYLIST, ADVANCED DEVACURL level 2, CURL MASTER GENERAL, certified rene furterer scalp therapist, member of Rene Furterer Pro- Team ,SPECIALIST OF FINE AND THINNING HAIR

At the moment Christine is not doing hair.

Christine is a prism. Depending on where you're standing, you'll get a designer and stylist, a business owner with a sharp mind and drive, a mentor and sister focused on the care and feeding of her clients, fellow stylists and team, mom, friend, motivator and tender human. 

Before WINK was born, Christine was part of the master design team for Rusk International and she's been in the business for over 23 years.

Currently Christine is not taking clients she is running the business and is the lead trainer for Curly Hair and Thin Hair in our salon. Christine is a course creator, having written an e-course to help stylists work with clients with Thin Hair. She is also a member of The Rene Furterer Creative team teaching curly and thin/fine hair classes. Christine teaches Business Foundation Planning through Mountain BizWorks.

Finally, Christine is a mom to her two sweet kids. She loves cooking, cookbooks, cooking shows, pilates, NPR, CBS Sunday Morning, being outside, smart comedies, documentaries and being on the lake. 

GILDA SANTIAGO

CO-OWNER & EXECUTIVE OF WINK, SENIOR MASTER STYLIST, ORIBE AMBASSADOR, Rusk Master Stylist,olaplex certified, Barbicide Certified, INSPIRATION, TRAINER & BELOVED WINK MAMA

Gilda brings the juice. Not only did she co-found WINK with Christine DiBenedetto, she has been a stylist for 36 years. Her coworkers talk about her with reverence and deep affection. 

Gilda (pronounced Jill-duh, in case you were wondering or haven’t met her yet) is from Los Angeles, was an educator for Rusk International - a product line she introduced to the community of Asheville stylists - and has trained stylists all over the US for over 10 years.

Beyond training, she has personally styled clients from LA to WNC and many points in between and inspired former clients and friends to start their own successful styling businesses.

While Gilda’s got curls in a shop that specializes in them, she LOVES to cut straight hair, bobs and to create inventive, short and detailed styles. She is a grounding force at WINK, trains the apprentices at the salon, and easily accommodates clients with her philosophy that customer service means seeing happy faces, making sure that clients are met with smiles, being inclusive and meeting every client need - no matter what that means.

Most importantly, she’s wife to Gil, mom to Angelo and Nico and pup Sugar, friend to many, and an inspiration to the WINK family.