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August 11, 2025
MENASHA – Bekki Garcia, owner of Brevity Bridal, said she’s always been driven.
After her parents divorced, she said she moved in with her grandmother, Marian – who she describes as “a spitfire.”
“I was raised by my grandmother,” she said. “She had six kids. She was a farm kid – always on the go.”
As the owner of several Northeast Wisconsin businesses, Garcia said perhaps she got her drive from her grandmother.
Born and raised in the Fox Cities, Garcia said she started managing a hair and tanning salon while still in high school.
That, she said, was followed by a short stint in the corporate world – which, she added, wasn’t a good fit – before she enrolled at the Salon Professional Academy in Appleton.
Since then, Garcia said she’s never looked back.
Finding a niche
Garcia said she opened Studio R Beauty Lounge – an all-service beauty salon (minus nails) – 10 years ago in Menasha (163 Main St.).
While operating the salon, Garcia said she “saw a niche” opportunity in the bridal side of the industry.
So, in 2019, she said she launched her second business, Brevity Bridal.
Though also based in Manasha, Garcia said Brevity Bridal serves all of Wisconsin – focused on providing on-location bridal hair and makeup services.
Currently, she said Brevity Bridal has a staff of 17 licensed stylists, artists and estheticians. “Some have full-time office jobs,” she said. “Some are stay-at-home moms.”
Others, Garcia said, even have their own business but work with Brevity Bridal on the weekends.
Though Brevity Bridal’s main focus is bridal – with her team working on more than 135 weddings this year alone – Garcia said it also provides services for engagement shoots, quinceañeras, birthdays, fashion runway shows and even editorials.
The company’s latest editorial shoot, she said, was for one of the top fashion magazines in Paris.
Since launching Brevity Bridal, Garcia said she’s recognized she not only enjoys creating updos – which is not heavily taught in the school she attended – she has become pretty skilled at it.
To continue to grow her staff’s capabilities, Garcia said she provides her staff with additional educational opportunities in order to keep up on the latest trends.
Though her staff remains quite busy, Garcia said it is important to her to remain flexible.
“When I first opened the salon, I was a full-time single mom,” she said. “I fully understand what it’s like to have sick kids and doctor appointments. I believe being a good leader means you are understanding and you work with people. I believe when you help people get to where they need to be in their employment, they return that to you – and that’s what makes a good leader and good boss.”
Garcia said she never wants her employees to wake up and have an “I don’t want to go to work today” experience.
“Because when you get to that point, you are no longer giving 100% – and you really should be,” she said. “You really should love your job and love wanting to go to work every day. So, if you don’t, then we need to figure out why.”
Garcia said it’s “really cool” being immersed in an industry that is always changing and “absolutely loves” everything about her job.
“For example, [recently], we were able to see everyone get dressed in their final looks – which doesn’t happen very often, that we get to see the bride in her dress,” she said. “The total look – that gives me all the feels. When you get to see it all come together and have people feel their absolute most beautiful selves on their big day, that is what is fulfilling for me.”
Support goes both ways
Garcia said her blended family of seven – with five children ranging in age from 14 to 18 – has been very supportive of her business ventures.
“They have always been very supportive of how much I work,” she said. “I’ve been really blessed. They are really good kids.”
Though she originally wanted to attend fashion school in Chicago, Garcia said family life took priority instead.
“But [that’s] okay – I wouldn’t change it for the world,” she said. “I absolutely love being a mom and all my kids. I made the best [of the situation]. It’s allowed me to be creative and create my life and create my future.”
Even now, at 37 years old, Garcia said she finds herself looking back on all she has accomplished.
“My life has been very crazy up until now – it [was sometimes] very ‘fight or flight,’” she said. “So, I think that was my drive to work really hard and get [to] where I am – to be an inspiration for my kids. I wanted to do something big with my life and create my own opportunities.”
Part of that, Garcia said, she accomplished through networking – a skill she learned early on.
“I’ve been networking almost my entire life,” she said. “I started bartending when I was 18. I found all the right people, and I’ve been given all these great opportunities. I’m very grateful and feel very blessed for everything that I have right now.”
Today, Garcia said she shares that knowledge with her younger staff – which isn’t an easy task.
“It’s so hard to teach my younger staff [about relationship-building now], because gone are those days of being comfortable talking to strangers,” she said. “So, it’s hard to try to coach them now [that], ‘Hey, you have to [put] yourself out there.’”
To help foster this skill, Garcia said a requirement for all her staff is they have to go to one networking event a month.
“You have to throw yourself into uncomfortable situations in order to grow,” she said.
Now that her kids are teenagers and will soon be following their own life paths, Garcia said she is beginning to ponder what’s next for her.
As far as her work is concerned, she said “I’m good where things are at.”
However, moving forward, Garcia said she plans to look into opportunities to serve her community in other ways – possibly through the local chamber or with area nonprofits.
“I feel like I’m at that point in my career, I have been able to find balance,” she said. “And I have a really good workflow of what I do, which days, and when and how. So, I have been able to create that balance, and I’m at that point to decide what’s next.”
For more on Brevity Bridal, visit brevitybridal.com.
