She is the owner of Shear Art, the landmark beauty salon in the Carrollwood Center, celebrating its 22nd birthday this year. He is the former head of the Drug Enforcement Agency in Tampa, growing it to the top office in the U.S. with 100 agents from an agency of 6 people when he arrived. He retired in 1994 from the federal government; then worked for the State Attorney’s Office as a criminal investigator, retiring from there in 2004.

She is the founder and director of Salon Professional Academy, a training school for cosmetology professionals on Gunn Highway, with an enrollment of a hundred people right now.

He is an instructor for the Mendez Foundation, teaching antidrugs, anti-alcohol to teens, using his experience as a DEA agent as an instructional tool. He tells them how to deal with peer pressure, shows them “another road to go.”

She is drop-dead gorgeous, her own best advertisement for the beauty business.

He is the one you’d want by your side in danger’s way…and he’s not bad lookin’, either.

Together, Mike and Joanne Powers are a powerhouse of a couple, living in Carrollwood Village Phase II. They have raised their four children here, where they all played soccer on Village fields. Their grand-children have been attending summer-camp classes at the Carrollwood Cultural Center, which Mike calls “a big draw for Carrollwood.” And now they have plans to build a new house in, where else?, Carrollwood Village.

Joanne calls the Village her “circle of life.” She and Mike agree that everything they need is right here, so why move anywhere else. They found out that there were still some home sites available, in the Forest Preserve, at the far north end of Phase I. So they plan to be here for a long time. Mike is on Phase II HOA, and if the Village had a fan club, they’d be copresidents. They like the way the HOA runs and they like the proliferation of facilities, especially restaurants, nearby.

Joanne Powers, nee Ferlita, is a fourth-generation Tampa girl, grew up in the Egypt Lake neighborhood. Mike Powers, a former Marine, is originally from New York, but came here 25 years ago. Joanne’s childhood friend introduced them, and, voila, a dynasty was born. They’ve been together for 23 years, wed by his boss in the State Attorney’s Office, the iconic Bill James, for whom he worked as a criminal investigator.

It is a testimonial to the strength of their marriage that Mike accepts the fact that Joanne will be working 50 to 60 hours a week, part-time at Shear Art, part-time at Salon Professional Academy. She acknowledges that he has been her mentor all along…to use a well-worn cliché…the wind beneath her wings.

The Academy is her new baby, after all. After growing Shear Art to twice its size in 22 years, both in square footage and number of employees, Joanne envisioned an Academy, where she could take her industry to a higher level of excellence by producing strong, well-educated cosmetologists for the future. I hasten to add that Redken has sponsored the Academy, the first of its kind, right here in Tampa. 200 such academies are foreseen within five years.

The trilogy of esthetics (skin care), nails and hair are the building blocks upon which Joanne Powers is building her small empire. The instruction is rigorous, with 8 weeks spent in classroom, working on mannequins. There is an energy in this Academy, the interior of which was created by a New York designer, that is truly infectious. Joanne says, “I just smile when I walk through here.”

Cosmetology services at the Academy, available to the general public, are, understandably, some 50 percent of the prices at Shear Art, or other comparable salons. That’s because services are performed by students, albeit under the supervision of licenses cosmologists. Some 245 graduates have completed work here since its founding in 2005.

Meanwhile, the Powers family life goes on, as usual. Three of Mike and Joanne’s children live nearby, so “Pasta Nights” are an institution. In fact, one daughter and one daughterin-law work in the family business. There’s also a wedding in the works this summer. Daughter Heather will be married in St. Paul’s Catholic Church, with a reception at Emerald Greens Country Club.

Truly, Mike and Joanne Powers’“cup runneth over.”

     Sandra Harrington