The family business: Winston-Salem woman continues legacy of entrepreneurs
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Entrepreneurial blood runs through Desiree Jackson's veins.
Jackson is the owner of The Labyrinth Barlor and Spa, a medical spa located at 50 West 4th Street #10 in Winston-Salem that specializes in the latest spa trends and 'offers gourmet sweets, ready-to-drink cocktails, boutique, and alcohol-infused ice cream from the infamous Tipsy Scoop,' according to its website.
After working side jobs in bars and spas for the past decade, Jackson decided to start her own business in 2024.
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'I decided that I wanted to get into that on my own because I was working so hard for everybody else. I was like, 'Let me just do it by myself,'' she said.
She's not the first in her family to have a storefront in Camel City's downtown area.
Jackson is the granddaughter of James Clyde 'J.C.' Bess, who owned and operated Harding's Expert Shine Parlor on Patterson Avenue for more than 50 years. He died in 2001, leaving behind a history-making legacy in Winston-Salem.
'My grandfather was the first African-American to own a business downtown,' Jackson said.
Harding's operated on Church Street near other Black-owned businesses, including the Lincoln Theatre, before moving to Patterson Avenue. The former Harding's location and Lincoln Theatre were demolished when the block was cleared for the construction of the Phillips Building in the early 1970s.
A clipping from the Winston-Salem Journal dated Aug. 23, 1981, highlights Bess' career as a well-known shoeshine and dye man. According to the article, at nine years old, he began working on the street at Salem Hill, where Ed Kelly's Inc. was formerly located.
Elmore Harding, who started the business, was Bess' friend and employer. He allegedly told his wife to let Bess have the store if anything happened to him.
'When he died, she gave it to me,' Bess said in the article.
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According to Jackson's mother, Hortencia Dunlap Rice, she was destined for greatness since childhood.
Jackson participated in several creative activities, including learning piano and violin. She regularly attended the National Black Theatre Festival alongside founder Leon Hamlin and his wife, former executive producer emeritus Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin.
'I knew then that Desiree was going to be theatrically, artly, everything inclined to do because she followed closely in my footsteps decorating and all of that,' Rice said.
Those weren't the only footsteps Jackson followed in.
Bess' daughter Rice is a business owner too, specializing in general contracting and property development in east Winston-Salem.
According to an article from the Triad Business Journal dated October 8-14, 2004, the development company of Rice and her business partner, Warren Mitchell, had recently completed the construction of five homes on Essex Street at that time. The pair hoped to see profits with the development of Whittier Point, a 42-home project in northeast Winston-Salem.
In 2014, Rice's sister, Mary King, was featured in the Winston-Salem Chronicle as the owner and operator of Keona's Boutique at 235 West 5th Street, another continuation of Bess' legacy.
'I have come from a long line of entrepreneurs,' Jackson said.
In the future, she aims to use her passion in early childhood development to use the Labyrinth as not only a spa but as an autism research center too, installing a 'float room' that may help sensory issues in autistic children.
'I'm hoping that I can use it to help study for early childhood development and brain development for autistic kids. I was a teacher for the past two years, um, and for some reason me and the autistic kids really just bonded,' Jackson said. ' I'm working with the [Winston-Salem] Small Business Administration to turn this into a research center.'
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The float room would feature a float tank, also known as a sensory deprivation tank. These tanks are dark and soundproof and work by eliminating outside stimuli so the user enters a meditative state. The water inside is saturated with Epsom salt, providing buoyancy to float more easily.
According to Autism Speaks, a nonprofit autism awareness organization, people with autism may have sensitivities to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, balance, awareness of body position and movement and awareness of internal body cues and sensations.
'If we are practicing cutting off those senses, I'm hoping that they may be able to be conditioned into doing it on their own, you know, outside of the float room.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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