Michele Matkovich, the Founder and Visionary behind Fully Booked AI®, is rewriting the narrative for women in the worlds of artificial intelligence (AI), SEO, and salon automation. Through her innovative approach, she has established herself as a rare and powerful disruptor in the tech and beauty industries. With a deep-rooted understanding of the beauty business, Matkovich combines cutting-edge technology with niche expertise to deliver real, results-driven solutions for beauty professionals.
From Salon Owner to AI-Driven Business Builder
Michele’s career trajectory is a testament to resilience, reinvention, and strategic thinking. After graduating from West Virginia University in 2002, Matkovich dove headfirst into the beauty industry. Despite the economic collapse following the 9/11 attacks, she pursued her passion, enrolling in beauty school.
In 2010, when most businesses were closing their doors due to the Great Recession, she custom built and opened her first brick and mortar storefront salon.
Over the next several years, Michele Matkovich built a beauty brand that stood out in a saturated market. She launched a second salon location, co-founded a medical spa, and grew her brand into a Top 200 Salon in North America—recognized for both its innovation in technology and growth. By 2015, she had firmly established herself as a high-performance operator in the beauty industry.
Like so many others, Matkovich was hit hard by the COVID-19 shutdowns. In the same year her salon business was forced to close with no certainty to the future, ironically enough her 10-year lease expired—and she knew that chapter was over.
What followed, though, was unexpected clarity: the privilege of spending the last 18 months of her father’s life fully present, without the stress of employees or financial the burden that came with running a business in such unprecedented times.
The Birth of Fully Booked AI®
In 2019, Matkovich entered the tech world, officially launching The Agency M2 Inc., with a focus on salon and spa lead generation using automated marketing SaaS technology.
What sets Fully Booked AI® apart from other software platforms is its foundational focus on solving real-world problems for today’s beauty business owners.
Without traditional investors, Matkovich built Fully Booked AI® using a mix of strategic funding, partnerships and industry expertise—developing a niche specific AI-powered sales and marketing system that speaks directly to the needs of salon and med spa professionals nationwide.
Recognizing a huge gap in the market, Matkovich leveraged HighLevel—a SaaS platform built for agencies—to create Fully Booked AI®: a white-labeled solution built specifically for salons, spas, and beauty entrepreneurs. While HighLevel provides the infrastructure, it’s just a cold shell without strategy, setup, or support. Fully Booked AI® goes far beyond—delivering a high quality team, ready-to-book leads through custom-built websites, local SEO, and AI-powered automation.
But it doesn’t stop at lead generation. Every system is white-glove and done-for-you—from advanced conversion tools like chat widgets, missed call text-back, and review funnels to retention workflows, nurture campaigns, and performance tracking. It’s not just marketing—it’s the full client journey, optimized and automated to keep beauty professionals fully booked and in control.
Her AI-powered tech stack integrates SEO-optimized funnels, client relationship management (CRM) systems, and automated follow-ups to help beauty professionals scale their businesses without burnout. While Fully Booked AI® does offer its own native booking capabilities, it’s not the platform’s primary focus—because it doesn’t need to be. Most of our ideal clients already use trusted software like Meevo, Phorest, Vagaro, PatientNow, and others—and they’re happy with them.
Our system was built to work alongside these tools, not replace them. With open-source flexibility and case-by-case integrations, we ensure our platform connects seamlessly to what salons already have in place.
Fully Booked AI® includes over 500 features, and while our booking engine performs exceptionally well for other industries, we rarely deploy it for salons. Why? Because we’re not here to reinvent the wheel—we’re here to focus on what actually moves the needle: organic and paid leads, automation features, and AI-driven growth.
Today, she leads a specialized team of sales strategists, affiliate marketers, SEO experts, and web developers who help bring this system to life for clients nationwide.
Leading In Male-Dominated Spaces
Matkovich’s success is particularly noteworthy given the challenges faced by women in the fields of tech and SEO.
In an industry where only 26% of tech roles are held by women and fewer than 19% of leadership positions in tech are occupied by women, Matkovich’s rise to the forefront is a significant achievement. Even more remarkable is her leadership in SEO and AI—fields that are still predominantly male.
As Matkovich puts it, “Websites, SEO, lead generation, automation, chatbots, AI—these aren’t just buzzwords. They’re how salons get seen, stay booked, and scale without burning out. This space might be male-dominated, but I love it here—and I belong here. I just bring a different kind of power to the table—one built on understanding beauty professionals and creating real systems that help them win.”
Yet, Matkovich isn’t here to blend in—she’s here to solve what others overlook. Her AI-powered systems are designed for how salons and spas actually operate: fast-paced, client-focused, and constantly evolving. It’s tech that feels personal, performs like a pro, and gives beauty business owners the structure they’ve always needed—but never had access to until now.
As Matkovich puts it, “WordPress, SEO, lead generation, automation, chatbots, AI Agents—these aren’t just buzzwords.
They’re how salons get seen, stay booked, and scale without burning out. This space might be male-dominated, but I love it here—and I belong here. I just bring a different kind of power to the table—one built on understanding beauty professionals and creating real systems that help them win.”
Fully Booked AI® wasn’t built in a boardroom. It was built from the ground up by someone who lived in the chaos, carried the weight, and hit the wall trying to do it all.
Michele Matkovich’s ability to merge real salon industry experience with technical expertise has helped Fully Booked AI® thrive where most tech solutions fall flat.
“Most salon owners aren’t stuck because they lack talent or business sense,” she says. “They’re stuck because they don’t have the time, access, or skillset to build smart-scalable systems—things like missed call text-back, AI-chat bots that follow-up, SEO-optimized funnels, real-time performance tracking, and automated client nurturing. Fully Booked AI® is the system I wish I had when I was a salon owner.”
COVID shut her down—fast in 2020, and with it, the career she thought was complete. “I had no plans to go back into the salon industry after that mess,” Matkovich says. “I was done. But losing everything and everyone forced me to grow in ways I never expected. My path became very clear. I wasn’t supposed to go back to that life—I was meant to build something bigger. Something I could share to help raise the bar for the entire industry, nationwide.”
Now, she leads a team of web developers, SEO specialists, affiliate partners, and a dedicated sales team—all aligned behind one mission: to give beauty business owners more than leads. Fully Booked AI® delivers the systems, infrastructure, and replacement strategy they need to scale sustainably—and finally run their business with clarity, confidence, and control.
“What an incredible time to be alive—living it and contributing to some of the most powerful innovations this industry has ever had access to,” she adds. “I’m beyond grateful to be mentored, trained, and supported by the best of the best inside the HighLevel community. This isn’t about keeping up. It’s about building what’s next—for all of us.”
Mentorship and Strategic Partnerships
Central to Matkovich’s success is her belief in mentorship and strategic partnerships. Throughout her career, she has invested in top-tier coaching, working with experts from organizations like Eufora International, Pip University, Kerry Davis and HPSA to name a few.
In 2022, she took a bold step forward by hiring branding and business strategist Shannon Lavenia to help rebrand the business and scale Fully Booked AI® with clarity, confidence, and intentional growth.
“Mentorship isn’t optional—it’s the foundation,” Matkovich explains. “Every leap I’ve taken has been fueled by being around people who showed me what was possible.”
Her network of mentors has done more than help Matkovich scale—it’s shaped her into a strategic leader in one of the most competitive and fast-moving spaces in tech and beauty. Surrounded by high-level thinkers, performance-driven coaches, and platform innovators, she’s used that insight to position Fully Booked AI® not just as a service—but as a category leader.
A Vision for the Future
Looking ahead, Matkovich is poised to continue leading the charge for salon owners, med spa founders, and beauty entrepreneurs. Fully Booked AI® is more than just a tech platform—it’s a complete ecosystem that empowers business owners to attract clients, increase rebooking, and achieve long-term growth without sacrificing their personal lives. With her unique blend of industry knowledge, mentorship, and strategic foresight, Matkovich has created a product that solves real problems for salon and spa owners.
As she reflects on her journey, Matkovich says, “I didn’t build the software—I built the solution. I saw a gap in an industry that was being overlooked and decided to own it. I aligned with the right tech at the right time and created AI-powered systems that solve the real problems beauty business owners face every day.”
Fully Booked AI® is now helping service-based businesses scale smarter through the power of AI and automation. “I don’t just serve the beauty industry—I advocate for it. I want salon owners and med spa founders to know they don’t have to hustle harder. They just need the right system,” Matkovich concludes.
In a landscape where many tech solutions miss the mark for service-based businesses like salons, Michele Matkovich and Fully Booked AI® stand out as a shining example of how women can thrive in industries where they are underrepresented. Through grit, mentorship, and an unwavering vision, Matkovich has built a platform that is changing the way beauty professionals do business.
For more information on Fully Booked AI®, visit https://fullybooked.ai. Connect with Michele on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
About Fully Booked AI®
Fully Booked AI® is a full-service lead generation and AI automation agency built exclusively for salons, spas, and beauty entrepreneurs. Powered by the HighLevel platform and founded by former multi-location salon owner Michele Matkovich, Fully Booked AI® combines custom websites, Google optimization, and AI-powered automations to drive high-quality leads—and turn them into loyal, long-term clients.
More than just lead gen, Fully Booked AI® delivers the entire system behind the sale: real-time follow-up, missed call text-back, client nurturing, rebooking flows, and performance tracking—all prebuilt and customized inside your own branded platform. It’s everything a modern beauty business needs to grow sustainably, work smarter, and stay fully booked without burning out.
