October is National Women's Small Business Month, and we wanted to mark it with something better than a discount code. So we went through our own customer list and picked 15 women-owned small businesses whose custom neon signs tell a real story. They span 13 states and spotlight 15 women.
A pink bake stand at the end of a driveway in Arlington. A three-chair salon tucked into downtown Ventura. An axe-throwing hall in Durango with six lanes and a sci-fi escape room. On paper, these businesses have almost nothing in common, except that women are behind every one of them, and each decided her business name deserved to glow.
Women owned 1,356,990 U.S. employer businesses in 2023, nearly 20% more than in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Behind that number are owners like the ones below: estheticians, a master barber, a sourdough baker, a fitness studio owner, a dental insurance consultant, and a real estate agent, among others.
For each honoree, you'll see the sign itself and why it suits her kind of business. Planning one for your own salon or market booth? Treat this list as a real-world idea board. These owners have already tested what works.
Why We're Honoring These Women-Owned Small Businesses This October
National Women's Small Business Month comes around every October. It isn't a federal holiday. The U.S. Senate has recognized it through bipartisan resolutions, including a 2019 resolution that honored women small business owners and entrepreneurs, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has used the month to spotlight women founders.
For women who want to learn how to launch their own businesses, the SBA runs a national network of Women's Business Centers that offer free or low-cost training and counseling built for women entrepreneurs.
We wanted our version to feel personal. Every business on this list is a Neon Designs customer, and every owner ordered a sign built around their own brand instead of a stock phrase. That gave us an unusual view into how different owners solve the same problem: making a room (or a booth, or a video frame) feel theirs unmistakably.
A sign doesn't build a business. These women did the hard part long before anything lit up, and at least one of them still bakes every order in her home kitchen. A good sign makes that work easier to see and photograph.
Here are 15 Women small business owners who bring their brands to light:
1. Serene Hair Loft, Erika Murillo's Boutique Salon in Ventura, California
Serene Hair Loft is a private, three-chair hair studio in downtown Ventura. The salon specializes in balayage, lived-in color, precision cuts, and extensions, and its booking page describes the space as "thoughtfully designed to be your escape from the everyday."
Her sign is white, with "Serene" in a soft script, "Hair Loft" in small capitals, and a leafy spring across the top. It hangs in the salon window, surrounded by dark floral wallpaper and trailing plants.
White was the right call here. Against wallpaper that is busy, a colored sign would have to fight the pattern for attention, while white light sits cleanly on top of it. Salon owners with bold interiors can take the hint: sometimes the quietest color in the room is the one people notice first.
2. The Pink Studio, Carolina Lorona's Beauty and Aesthetics Studio in Layton, Utah
Carolina Lorona is an aesthetician and an artist, and she owns and runs The Pink Studio in Layton herself.
The business name glows in hot pink, with "Pink" set far larger than "The" and "Studio." It runs across a plain white wall, so the whole corner of the room picks up the glow.
When your business name is a color, the sign does two jobs at once. Every client photo taken in front of it turns pink before anyone touches a filter, which is the kind of brand consistency other studios pay a photographer to get. If your brand has a signature shade, our neon sign color psychology guide explains how different colors change a space's mood.
3. A Sound Image Ultrasound Studio, Asten Wesley's Scan Studio in Johnson City, Tennessee
A Sound Image describes itself as Johnson City's first ultrasound studio offering both elective and diagnostic scans. Registered OB/GYN sonographers perform every ultrasound, and the studio's promise fits on one line: "Quality scans with the time and care you deserve."
The sign pairs a handwritten-style "A Sound Image" with block "Ultrasound Studio" lettering and a heartbeat line, all in white. It's mounted on a boxwood greenery wall trimmed with white roses, right where families pose with their new ultrasound prints.
That placement is the clever part. Parents leave an elective scan wanting to share the news, and this wall gives them the photo. Every announcement post then carries the studio's name to friends and relatives, which is about as targeted as word of mouth gets.
4. MOVE Fitness Studio, Doris Marcano's Rhythm Cycling Studio in Allentown, Pennsylvania
MOVE Fitness Studio is a boutique group fitness studio in the Lehigh Valley, built around rhythmic indoor cycling and strength training. Doris Marcano is the woman behind it.
The sign is her logo in cool white with an ice-blue glow, including a small rider on a bike working into the lettering and "Fitness Studio" underneath. It sits on a greenery wall where members line up for group photos after class.
Cool white suits a cycling studio. It reads crisp and energetic without glaring, and nobody wants a harsh light in their eyes halfway through a ride. Studios that want a motivational phrase instead of a logo can browse our gym neon signs for ready-made options.
5. Crumb to Mama, Isabella Fortunato's Sourdough Microbakery in Arlington, Virginia
Isabella Fortunato started baking sourdough in 2022 and kept giving loaves to neighbors, who kept telling her to sell them. Crumb to Mama now runs out of her home kitchen in the Arlington Forest neighborhood, turning out as many as 22 loaves a week plus jalapeño cheddar bagels and her "Mama Tarts."
Customers pick up their orders from a pink bake stand. "This was my dream," she told ARLnow. "It was just something I did for fun that ended up growing, and it's been such a blessing." Her sign lives inside the stand: an orange loaf, a yellow flower, and "Crumb to Mama" in pink.
This is the honoree we point to whenever someone says neon only makes sense for a storefront. The shaded spot under the stand's roof matters, too. Like any lit sign, neon struggles to compete with direct sun, so tucking it inside keeps the colors visible during Saturday morning pickups.
6. PPO Dental Consulting, Dana Moss's Dental Insurance Firm in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
Dana Moss worked nearly every desk in a dental office (front office coordinator, insurance specialist, office manager, practice administrator) before building PPO Dental Consulting.
Her firm helps practices with credentialing, fee negotiations, PPO plan strategy, and remote insurance coordination- the behind-the-scenes paperwork that decides how much a practice actually gets paid.
Her sign doesn't show the company name. It reads "PPO Therapy," with "PPO" in bold pink and "Therapy" in white script, set on a greenery wall behind her team.
It's easy for a consulting firm to skip signage, since clients rarely visit the office. Dana's sign earns its keep anyway. It's the backdrop for team photos, videos, and speaking promos, and its wording tells you her point of view before she says a word. A short phrase can carry more personality than a logo, as long as people can read it in a second or two.
7. Mamie & Me Soapery, Shannon McCloud Johnson's Handcrafted Skincare Brand in Adairsville, Georgia
Mamie & Me Soapery is a small, handcrafted skincare business that Shannon McCloud Johnson runs from Adairsville, in Bartow County northwest of Atlanta.
She uses her sign the way many makers should. "Mamie & Me Soapery" in pink script, next to a bright green bar of soap, sits on a black backing panel at the top of her market booth, with her products lined up underneath.
That black backing is a pro move. Craft fair booths are visually noisy (pegboard, string lights, the neighbor's tablecloth), and a dark panel gives the colors a clean frame so the name reads from across the aisle. Makers who sell at markets and pop-ups will find more booth ideas in our guide to custom neon signs for event vendors.
8. Bare Bloom, Sierra Brancato's Waxing and Skincare Studio in Casselberry, Florida
Sierra Brancato is a licensed esthetician, and Bare Bloom, her studio in Casselberry, focuses on body waxing and skincare.
Bare Bloom has the most detailed logo on this list: a woman's profile wrapped in leaves, "Bare Bloom" in clean capitals, and the tagline "Beauty in the Bare" underneath, all in violet. It glows against a dark greenery wall above her wax station.
Two choices make it work. Purple on a dark wall creates a calm, low-light mood, which helps in a service where clients can arrive a little nervous. The tagline also means every photo explains the brand without a caption.
The trade-off is size. Fine line art and a second line of text need more width to stay readable, so detailed logos usually call for a bigger sign than a name alone. Our guide on designing custom logo neon signs explains how to simplify artwork before it's turned into neon.
9. KD Esthetic, Darquita Chestnut's Skincare Studio in Lanett, Alabama
Darquita Chestnut's KD Esthetic specializes in full-body waxing, luxury facials, and intimate skincare, with a clear goal of building women's confidence. Before her sign arrived, the studio was clean and organized but felt generic, and it didn't photograph well. We covered the full story in our KD Esthetic case study.
Her fix was a hot-pink "KD" in bold letters with "Esthetic" in white script across it, mounted above the treatment area. "It is the highlight of my business and the first thing people compliment every time they enter," she told us.
Look closely at the photo, and you'll see why it feels so finished. The pink matches her treatment bed, storage drawers, and stool, so the sign ties the room together instead of hanging there as an extra. Other salon owners can borrow the idea: pull your sign color from accents already in the room, and it will look like it was always meant to be there.
10. Style by Grace Barber Studio, Home of Master Barber Ling Blendz in Spartanburg, South Carolina
Rina Tell started cutting at her first barbershop in 2019 and worked in four shops before opening Style by Grace Barber Studio in Spartanburg. Around town, clients know her as Ling Blendz. "I'm proud to say I'm the only barber here with that name," she told Voyage South Carolina.
The sign over her station puts that name front and center: "Ling" in gold capitals under a small crown, with "Blendz" in white script, glowing above a lit mirror on a wood-slat wall. "I love the sign; it's definitely made the business have more of a professional look," she said in our Style by Grace case study.
Barbers build followings around a person as much as a shop, so putting a personal name on the wall is a smart bet. Clients who follow their barber will recognize the name wherever she sets up her chair. For more barbershop and salon setups, see our roundup of businesses that use neon signs for foot traffic.
11. Espumita Cuban Coffee, Yvette Ramirez's Family-Run Coffee Shop in Riverside, California
Yvette learned to make Cuban coffee at home from Alfred, whose father and stepfather are both Cuban. The two opened Espumita Cuban Coffee on Magnolia Avenue in July 2024, and they still brew with a moka pot. The name means "little foam," after the sweet, frothy layer you get by whipping the first dark drops of coffee with sugar. Yvette dreams up new drinks each season, like the Havana Mango Matcha.
Their sign puts a moka pot at the center of a warm amber arch, framed by sunburst flourishes, with "Espumita" spelled out underneath. It hangs above a doorway on a multi-tone wood wall, high enough to stay visible over a morning line.
The icon earns its place. Before a customer reads the menu, the sign has already told them how the coffee is made, and the warm amber suits a family-run shop. Cafe and restaurant owners looking for a starting point can browse our restaurant neon signs.
12. Hideout Games, Allie Lauren's Axe-Throwing and Escape Room Venue in Durango, Colorado
Hideout Games sits on Main Avenue in downtown Durango, with six throwing lanes running more than 20 digitally projected, auto-scored games, plus an escape room and private event space. The venue calls itself "a third space for anyone who believes the best memories are made with the friends we know and the ones we've yet to meet."
Allie's sign is magenta, with Old West lettering inside an ornate outline and "Durango, CO" tucked under the name. It's mounted inside a heavy timber frame on a rough-sawn plank wall, so it looks like part of the building.
The lettering matches the room, so the sign reads as decor instead of an advertisement. Adding the city was a sharp move too, since every birthday party and team outing photo tags the location without anyone typing it. Entertainment venues looking for similar branding can start with our business neon signs.
13. Hot Girl Halftime, Helen McKeon and Shelby Burrows's Sports Podcast From Cleveland, Ohio
Hot Girl Halftime is a sports podcast for fans who care about the vibes, the pop culture, and the off-field drama as much as the final score. Its show listing calls it "a no-pressure sports podcast for the fans who want to feel a part of the game."
The sign spells out the show's name in warm yellow, varsity-style capitals with a marquee feel. It hangs over deep orange curtains behind the couch on their set.
On a podcast set, the sign does the job a storefront would. Anything filmed or photographed on that couch carries the show's name, so it travels even when the audio doesn't.
Cameras often overexpose bright neon, and the letters smear into one glowing blob. A remote dimmer that adjusts brightness in 10% steps fixes that in seconds, and our neon sign RGB and remote control guide shows how.
14. Dogwood Cloth, Lauren's Modest Women's Boutique in Newport News, Virginia
Dogwood Cloth sells modest, stylish clothing that works for the office and the weekend alike. Lauren founded the boutique, and Nathan handles operations behind the scenes. Most of the business happens online, but the brand also has a walk-in studio, and that's where the sign comes in.
It's the boutique's dogwood flower logo above "Dogwood Cloth" in cool white, mounted on a soft gray wall over a cream sofa.
Dogwood Cloth had a problem plenty of online-first brands ran into: the feed looked polished, but the studio didn't match it. The team told us their sign made "our videos and reels look polished, professional, and on brand," and you can read the rest in our Dogwood Cloth case study. Cool white was a good fit for a neutral palette, since it lights the logo without tinting the clothes on camera.
15. Your Centennial Hills Expert, Chelsea Atwell's Real Estate Brand in Las Vegas, Nevada
Chelsea Atwell is a REALTOR® with Realty ONE Group who works under the brand Your Centennial Hills Expert. Her site focuses on northwest Las Vegas, with neighborhood guides for Centennial Hills, Summerlin North, Skye Canyon, and more, and she lists digital marketing as one of her core strengths.
On her sign, the brand name is split into two colors: "Your" and "Expert" in warm yellow script, with "Centennial Hills" in bold coral capitals. It sits behind her when she films video.
For an agent, the brand is a neighborhood, not a building. The sign ties Chelsea's face to the area she sells every time a video starts, which is exactly the association a local agent wants buyers to make. Her layout also holds a lesson for anyone with a longer brand name: put the words that matter in the boldest color and size, and let the filler words sit lighter.
What These 15 Signs Can Teach You Before You Order Your Own
Line up all 15 photos and a few patterns jump out. None of them involve spending more. They come down to deciding what the sign is for before anyone picks a font.
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Pick the job first. A sign that brands a photo wall (A Sound Image, MOVE Fitness Studio), a sign that frames a video (Hot Girl Halftime, Your Centennial Hills Expert), and a sign that travels to markets (Mamie & Me Soapery) each need a different size and placement.
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Pull color from the room, not only the logo. KD Esthetic matched pink accents already in the studio, Serene Hair Loft went white against bold wallpaper, and Dogwood Cloth chose cool white so the clothes look true to color on camera.
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Keep the words short. The strongest signs here read in a second or two. A longer brand name still works if you size up the words that matter and let the rest sit smaller.
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Give the sign a backdrop. Four honorees mounted theirs on greenery walls, and Mamie & Me Soapery used black backing. A contrasting surface makes thin letters easier to read, in person and in photos.
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Plan around sunlight. Like any lit sign, LED neon struggles to compete with direct sun. The same sign looks stronger in shade than in full daylight, which is why Crumb to Mama's sign sits under the stand's roof.
A few specs are worth knowing too, minus the jargon. LED neon (flexible tubing lit by LED strips, not gas-filled glass) runs on low-voltage power through an adapter that plugs into a standard outlet, and it runs cool. Our signs come with acrylic backing, a mounting kit, a UL-certified power supply, and a remote dimmer, and most customers order in the 20 to 40 inch range.
Outdoor models carry an IP67 rating, which means the sign is sealed against dust and can survive temporary immersion in water. Not sure how high to hang yours? Our LED neon sign placement guide recommends 6 to 7 feet for business spaces.
Does a sign actually bring people in? The figure you'll see quoted most comes from a 2012 FedEx Office survey, which found that 76% of consumers had entered a store they'd never visited because of its signs.
FedEx sells signs, and the survey is more than a decade old, so read it as a direction rather than a promise. Our honorees' own words tell the more useful story. The sign is what clients compliment first, and it's what ends up in their photos.
Your Business Name Should Glow Too
Look back over this list and the signs almost become secondary. What stands out is the range: a sourdough stand, a barber's chair, a podcast couch, a consultant's video backdrop, a craft-market booth. Each owner took the same product and used it to answer a different question about her business.
We're grateful these women trusted Neon Designs with their names, and we'll keep cheering for them long after National Women's Small Business Month wraps up. If you run a small business and you're weighing a sign of your own, start with what you want people to remember.
Our customer case studies show more real setups, and our full collections are a good place to gather ideas. When you're ready, start designing your custom business sign.
Start with the name. The glow is the easy part.
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