50 Years of Stories, Love, and Community

Tricia Rivas
Aug 10
4 min read

A Milestone Worth Celebrating

July has been a month I will never forget.

Turning 50 was never something I planned on making a big deal about. Birthdays have just never really been "my thing." But this year felt different. This year felt like it deserved a pause, a celebration, and a real, honest look back at everything and everyone who got me here.

So instead of one big party, I decided to spend all of July doing what I love most: celebrating the small businesses, nonprofits, and people who have shaped my life and this community. Thirty days. Thirty stories. One really full heart.

The People Who Made Me

Some of the best days of July were the ones spent celebrating family.

I spent early July honoring my mom and dad, the two people who gave me my safe place and my biggest example of what unconditional love looks like. I celebrated my "crazy" family, the ones here on earth and the ones watching from Heaven, especially my brother Danny, who I know had a front row seat to this whole wild life of mine.

I celebrated my husband, Jeremy, the person who knows me better than anyone else, who has seen every version of me and has loved me through all of them. I celebrated our daughter, Marlee, who is always up for a rural Iowa road trip and reminds me that sometimes the best adventures are the simple ones. I celebrated our son Colton and the hard work he's put into building his own small business, Black Sheep Lawn Care.

I celebrated Tank, our loyal, protective, occasionally ridiculous baby boy. And I celebrated the friends who have become family along the way, the ones who show up, who watch our animals, who make our hair, who create art that makes us cry happy tears.

Because if turning 50 has taught me anything, it's that the greatest accomplishment of my life has never been a business milestone. It's the people I've been lucky enough to love.

Thirty Days of Small Businesses and Nonprofits

Every single day this month, I highlighted a small business or a nonprofit that has poured into me, my community, or this state.

I celebrated boutiques and bakeries, coffee shops and design studios, cattle companies and candle makers. I celebrated the women of Harlow + James, Iowa's one and only curvy boutique, where you feel like family the second you walk in. I celebrated Little Blackbird Bakery, whose owner Whitney gifted me one of the most beautiful, hand-painted cakes I have ever seen, made with so much love I actually cried.

I celebrated the entire Southside of Des Moines and its family-owned restaurants that have fed generations. I celebrated the incredible women of the Latina Leadership Initiative of Greater Des Moines, entrepreneurs building their dreams one brave step at a time. And I celebrated so many friends turned business owners: designers, photographers, boutique owners, bakers, and creatives who help tell the story of Trixie's Salon & Spa, Heart of a Hairdresser, and Culture Compass every single day.

Alongside every small business, I highlighted a nonprofit doing quiet, powerful work across our state: Children's Cancer Connection, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Iowa, the Food Bank of Iowa, Meals from the Heartland, Dorothy's House, Wildwood Hills Ranch, Can Do Cancer, Girl Scout Camp Sacajawea, and Hair Aid, an organization teaching hair cutting as a livelihood skill to people living in poverty around the world.

Thirty days wasn't nearly enough to celebrate everyone who deserves it. But it was a beautiful reminder that our communities are only as strong as the people willing to build them, one small business and one act of service at a time.

Backroads, Birthdays, and Bloody Mary's

Of course, no birthday month would be complete without a few good road trips.

We drove seven hours through the rolling hills of Iowa just for pizza, wine, and a view at Park Farm Winery, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We celebrated with family in Okoboji, our favorite time of year, soaking up the boats, the Fishbowls at the Ritz, and every boutique along the way.

I spent a beautiful morning with a friend chasing sunflowers at Badger Creek State Recreation Area (and made a new friend in a very random chicken).

We wandered through Newton, Monroe, and Pleasantville, trading city noise for small-town bars with the friendliest bartenders and the best homemade Bloody Mary mix you'll ever try.

We even took the celebration to Fort Dodge for the Iowa Girls State Softball Tournament, where Trixie's handed out sunglasses and sunscreen in the middle of a heat wave, cheering on athletes and pointing families toward local coffee shops, restaurants, and boutiques instead of the drive-thru. Because that's always the goal: wherever we go, we go looking for the backroads and the small businesses that make each town worth the stop.

And if you're already planning your next Iowa getaway, I meant it when I said I never mind the ask. Helping people fall in love with this state's back roads is one of my favorite things to do.

Trixie's, the Dolly Show, and a Whole Lot of Heart

This month also brought some incredible partnerships. We celebrated the return of The Dolly Show at The Ingersoll, a partnership Trixie's Salon & Spa is beyond honored to sponsor. We also spent time celebrating Melissa Merrifield and the upcoming Des Moines Whiskey Fest, cheering on a friend who pours her heart into everything she creates as she gets ready for a big event.

And through it all, our Trixie's Wellness Team kept doing what it does best: offering scalp treatments, wig fittings, massage therapy, reiki, and so much more to people navigating cancer, hair loss, menopause, and every season in between. Healing goes beyond the physical, and this month reminded me just how much that work matters.

Fifty Years of Gratitude

As July comes to a close, I keep landing on the same feeling: gratitude.

Grateful for a body that's carried three kids, stood behind a salon chair for decades, and traveled every backroad Iowa has to offer. Grateful for a community that shows up, again and again, for small businesses, for nonprofits, and for each other. Grateful for fifty years that have been far from perfect, but have absolutely been full.

Here's to the next fifty, one backroad, one Bloody Mary, and one small business at a time.