Women Who Mean Business | Megan Ortego

Glow the Tanning Boutique

Passion turned into entrepreneurship for Houma native Megan Ortego. The wife, mother, full-time employee, business owner, and student juggles life proving women really can do it all.

Ortego worked at Glow since 2013 when it was called Glow Tanning Salon. She purchased the salon in February of 2017, changed it to Glow the Tanning Boutique. The boutique has six tanning beds and a spray tanning room. She praises her girls that help Glow, Leigh Bergeron, Taylor Chiasson, and Heidi Broussard, who she said are the reason they are as successful as they are. 

She is also a registered nurse, working from home with a position utilizing reviews.The flexibility allows her to be home more often for her salon and family. She said it’s chaotic yet rewarding balancing being a wife, mother, nurse, and running a business. “It almost, in a way, makes me feel invincible because as a woman. I can run a business and do everything a man can do running a business…I just feel empowered being able to have a full-time job, being a full-time mom, keeping the business afloat, and I’m also in nurse practitioner school,” she shared. 

Having just celebrated the fifth anniversary of Glow, Ortego said they look forward to the years to come. The last five years have not been easy; Glow was forced to close temporarily due to COVID, but the loyalty of customers prevailed. They were busier than ever following the lockdown. Hurricane Ida ravaged the area in August of 2021 however, Ortego shared they were blessed with no damage. 

Going forward, she is most excited about the growth and being able to maintain her business. She said everything is possible because of her staff along with her loyal customers, and maybe one day, she may spread the ‘Glow’ to the Thibodaux area.

“This is my passion, this is me, this is where I can be myself. I love each and every customer that walks through these doors, they’re like my family,” Ortego said