Sarah Kleespies

I’ve been grooming professionally for nearly 25 years, but my story started when I was 24 years old in a small mom-and-pop grooming shop. I began as a bather, spending my first year learning the basics and trimming feet. After that first year, the owner—who had been grooming for 40 years—asked if I wanted to learn to groom. She told me I had something that couldn’t simply be taught: the compassion and care for animals that makes a good groomer.

For the next two years, she taught me everything she knew, including as many breed-standard cuts as she could. From there, I spent five years grooming at a large family-owned pet hotel. That experience became incredibly important to the groomer I am today because I worked with many senior and special-needs pets. The owner also taught me how to groom cats, beginning what would become a huge part of my grooming career.

After moving to Florida, I worked in corporate grooming as an assistant salon manager. But I wanted to expand my experience even further, so I moved into veterinary grooming, where I spent about a year working with pets who required sedated grooming and dogs and cats with significant health concerns.

About 15 years ago, I came home to New Jersey—because, let’s face it, I’m a sassy Jersey girl. ❤️ I joined a grooming business that had recently lost its mobile groomer, and before long I became the sole groomer managing its mobile division. That’s when I discovered the environment where I truly belonged.

I fell in love with mobile grooming. The quiet, private, one-on-one setting allowed me to groom the way I’d always wanted to: without barking dogs, crowded salons, ringing phones, or constant activity. Just me and the pet in front of me, with the time and attention to listen to what they need. I usually have music or an audiobook playing—and yes, there may be some singing and dancing with my four-legged clients along the way!

Then, in 2013, my boss approached me with an opportunity that would change my life: Would I like to buy the mobile portion of the business I was already managing?

Taking that leap into entrepreneurship was scary, but owning a business was also in my blood. My dad became a business owner at 34 and, 37 years later, is still running his own business at 71. I grew up watching what it meant to build something of your own, and I decided it was time to take that leap myself.

There was just one question left: What would I call it?

My boss had always called me her “sassy groomer.”

And just like that, Sassy Styles was born. ❤️🐾

Over the years, I’ve continued learning every chance I get. I’m certified in animal CPR and first aid, and I attend grooming trade shows and continuing-education classes to keep improving my skills—particularly in cat grooming and caring for senior, medically fragile, anxious, and special-needs pets.

My career has also given me the opportunity to groom more than just dogs and cats. I’ve groomed rabbits, ferrets, and yes… I even groomed a goat once. And it was SO much fun! 🐐

But the most important lesson I’ve learned throughout my career has nothing to do with scissors or clippers: the more compassion you bring to the grooming table, the better the experience becomes for the pet.

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