The Women’s Small Business Association honored a salon owner from Upper St. Clair this year.

Jacqueline Capatolla, owner of Jacqueline’s House of Beauty on Brookline Boulevard in Brookline and Jacqueline's Hair Salon on Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh, was named the 2012 WSBA Best Business Woman in Pittsburgh.

Award criteria required the business owner to show professionalism and quality in her own business, as well as support to her community and to other local businesses.

Owning a small business is hard work, the Capatolla said, but the “giving” part of the job seems to come easily for her.

Capatolla has participated in events with the Brookline Chamber of Commerce and the South Pittsburgh Development Corporation. Her staff also has collected canned goods and sponsored basket raffles for the Brookline food pantry, and has donated products to Mom’s House of Pittsburgh. She is in the process of writing a book about starting a new business.

She also started Jacqueline’s Inside Out program, with the goal of helping young women establish confidence and self esteem. Together with her daughter, Capatolla has hosted or helped organize events that feature
makeovers, motivational speakers, mentoring female students, and helping women prepare for job interviews.

“We want to help women feel better inside about themselves,” Capatolla said. “Here, we can help with outside beauty, which we’ve done, but we want to help them have that inner confidence, too.”

Share your congratulations with Jacqueline! Tell her in the comments.

This article first appeared on Dormont-Brookline Patch.