Steamboat Originals: Liana Torres
10/27/2025 02:13PM ● By Eugene Buchanan
Liana Torres is president of the board of Sk8 Church, works with the Steamboat Christian Center and hosts a podcast about teen mental health. Photo by Paula Jo Jaconetta.
While Steamboat Springs has its share of characters, a few stand out as breaking the mold when it comes to their love of the community, philanthropy, zest for life and contributions to town. As featured in Steamboat Magazine's Outdoors Edition, meet three locals who you'll be lucky to ride the chairlift with. First up: Liana Torres.
Liana Torres isn’t letting any grass grow under her feet – or unwanted hair on clients’ heads. The longtime local hairstylist, who owns Inspired Hair Design by Liana, is also president of the board of Sk8 Church, works with the Steamboat Christian Center, and hosts a podcast called “Healing Unscripted,” dealing with teen mental health.
But her desire to help others extends far beyond Steamboat Springs. After traveling to Honduras and Cuba on construction mission trips in 2023, she realized she can do more with scissors than she can a saw. So, now she’s doing so via hairstyling and beauty care.
Liana has traveled to the two countries to teach young people hairdressing skills and provide supplies through her nonprofit, Beauty in a Bag, to help them open their own businesses. The Cuba connection started in February 2024 on a mission trip organized by Sk8 Church president Marco Cuevas. Liana and Brio Salon stylist Stephanie Rodriquez taught beauty classes during the trip. “Everyone there is only YouTube-trained,” she says. “To go there from the U.S. and teach one-on-one is a huge deal.”
She also hosted an impromptu “community beauty day” with students practicing on community members. She brought combs, bleach, razors, scissors, clippers, mirrors and brushes, as well as course completion certificates. “Everyone was super appreciative,” she says. “You could see the pride on their faces. The fact that someone was taking the time to help them was huge.”
Liana moved to Steamboat in 1990 from Southern California at age 14 with her family. After high school, she dabbled with courses at Colorado Mountain College and became passionate about snowboarding. At 24, she worked at a bank in Denver for a spell, living down the street from a salon, which planted the hairstyling seed. She later returned to Steamboat, attended beauty school in Craig and founded Inspired Hair Design by Liana, all while raising her three children, including son Miles, 25; daughter Ava, 16; and son Maximo, 14. “I’ve just always loved hairstyling,” she says. “I was always getting my friends ready for proms.”
She loves getting others to love it as well, with continued plans to visit Honduras and Cuba. “And that’s just the start,” she says. “If other communities need us, we’ll go.”
Her altruism extends to mental health. In April, Liana and friends Jennifer Harper and Laura Campbell launched the “Healing Unscripted” podcast dealing with mental health issues, with a recent episode receiving more than 10,000 plays on a platform alone. “We’re trying to share all the resources we have here that offer mental health services,” Liana says, adding their first guest was marine vet Zack Alexander. “Mental health has a lot of different variations and people need to talk about it. The podcast lets us do that in a non-judgmental way.”
Be it hairstyling or mental health, it boils down to giving. “I love helping people and I love this community,” she says. “People watch out for each other here. It’s our duty as human beings to give back and help others.”
While Steamboat Springs has its share of characters, a few stand out as breaking the mold when it comes to their love of the community, philanthropy, zest for life and contributions to town. As featured in Steamboat Magazine's Outdoors Edition, meet three locals who you'll be lucky to ride the chairlift with. First up: Liana Torres.
Liana Torres isn’t letting any grass grow under her feet – or unwanted hair on clients’ heads. The longtime local hairstylist, who owns Inspired Hair Design by Liana, is also president of the board of Sk8 Church, works with the Steamboat Christian Center, and hosts a podcast called “Healing Unscripted,” dealing with teen mental health.
But her desire to help others extends far beyond Steamboat Springs. After traveling to Honduras and Cuba on construction mission trips in 2023, she realized she can do more with scissors than she can a saw. So, now she’s doing so via hairstyling and beauty care.
Liana has traveled to the two countries to teach young people hairdressing skills and provide supplies through her nonprofit, Beauty in a Bag, to help them open their own businesses. The Cuba connection started in February 2024 on a mission trip organized by Sk8 Church president Marco Cuevas. Liana and Brio Salon stylist Stephanie Rodriquez taught beauty classes during the trip. “Everyone there is only YouTube-trained,” she says. “To go there from the U.S. and teach one-on-one is a huge deal.”
She also hosted an impromptu “community beauty day” with students practicing on community members. She brought combs, bleach, razors, scissors, clippers, mirrors and brushes, as well as course completion certificates. “Everyone was super appreciative,” she says. “You could see the pride on their faces. The fact that someone was taking the time to help them was huge.”
Liana moved to Steamboat in 1990 from Southern California at age 14 with her family. After high school, she dabbled with courses at Colorado Mountain College and became passionate about snowboarding. At 24, she worked at a bank in Denver for a spell, living down the street from a salon, which planted the hairstyling seed. She later returned to Steamboat, attended beauty school in Craig and founded Inspired Hair Design by Liana, all while raising her three children, including son Miles, 25; daughter Ava, 16; and son Maximo, 14. “I’ve just always loved hairstyling,” she says. “I was always getting my friends ready for proms.”
She loves getting others to love it as well, with continued plans to visit Honduras and Cuba. “And that’s just the start,” she says. “If other communities need us, we’ll go.”
Her altruism extends to mental health. In April, Liana and friends Jennifer Harper and Laura Campbell launched the “Healing Unscripted” podcast dealing with mental health issues, with a recent episode receiving more than 10,000 plays on a platform alone. “We’re trying to share all the resources we have here that offer mental health services,” Liana says, adding their first guest was marine vet Zack Alexander. “Mental health has a lot of different variations and people need to talk about it. The podcast lets us do that in a non-judgmental way.”
Be it hairstyling or mental health, it boils down to giving. “I love helping people and I love this community,” she says. “People watch out for each other here. It’s our duty as human beings to give back and help others.”