I get asked the question all the time: “How long have you been doing hair?”
There isn’t a simple answer because, honestly, hair is my life. It always has been. My journey in hair is complex and deep, so if you want know why i bleed hair… keep reading!
My Journey started with this beautiful woman pictured below.
My momma. She’s been a hairdresser for over 38 years, and has been an owner and CEO of her own Cosmetology and Esthetics school in Provo, UT for over 12 years.
She has been my number one inspiration since i was a child. I watched her be a successful artist, educator, friend, and mother.
When I was little I would draw pictures of her, the hairstyle she had, the clothes she wore, and i wished i could be exactly like her when i grew up.
I am blessed to have a mother that is the best example and best friend to me. She is still obsessed with education. We took the picture above when we were taking a cutting class together in NYC.
After attending 2 years of college and then getting married at age 20, very young, i know! I attended my mom’s school in Utah. I felt an extreme amount of pressure to deliver and prove to everyone that I could live up to my mom’s legacy.
I was fascinated with color brands and formulating color in general. I dreamed of educating on a big stage with a big haircare brand one day…
I had NO idea how far this career would take me…but I knew I wanted to do hair for the rest of my life.
Below are a few of my first before and after shots out of school. I remember was SO PROUD of these pictures! Haha.
With the help of this brand new app called “Instagram” I was able to built my clientele rapidly by posting pictures of my work. Some advice I could give to a new student or hairdresser is to post before and after pictures of your work. They are so important because they show people what you really are capable of!
Before I knew it I was opening my own salon with my best friend, Kelcie. We needed room grow and be creative. We loved our own little space. We brought our puppies and the salon never felt like work!
I was obsessed with sharing my knowledge with everyone i knew. It was very fulfilling to me to share with other people what techniques has helped me and made me more successful. I didn’t care about the money, i really just loved how I felt teaching!
Kelcie and i would hold color/balayage classes out of our salon and travel to salon teams around the Utah Valley area.
I had so much fun with these classes but I knew I was ready for more in my business. So I applied for a competition called TIGI Inspirational Youth. A mentoring program founded by the founder of Bedhead and icon hairdresser, Anthony Mascolo. I was obsessed with everything TIGI. i used the entire color line and sold all the styling products in my salon. I wanted to by an educator for them, so being picked would be a huge opportunity for me.
I submitted my application and waited for months..
Then one morning, while i was still in bed, i got tagged in a post on facebook congratulating me on becoming a finalist. I would be flown to NYC to be mentored by the best in the company to teach on stage at the biggest hair show in the nation . I was in tears!
Pictured below are some pictures of my week in NYC at the TIGI Academy in SoHo.
I was so inspired by all the people, the photoshoots, the creativity and the willingness for everyone on the team to share their knowledge with me.
It was a huge undertaking to train all 10 of us to teach on a huge stage in front of 4,000 people. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. I was doing what i always dreamed of. There wasn’t any room for error!
The show was great, we all did amazing and pulled together a good show! But the second I got off that stage I wanted to do it all over again. I wanted more. The energy i felt was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I had a little taste of all the potential i could be.
So i went back to Utah, and I took as many classes as i could, and assisted at as many hairshows and events as possible. I sent an application and portfolio to TIGI to become a Colour Educator for the company. I was accepted and put into extensive training at the TIGI corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX.
Kelcie and I at the colour bar in the TIGI Academy in NYC.
Below was my first class i taught on my own with TIGI Copyright Colour. It was so much harder than i thought.
Education has changed a lot in the last few years. Influencers are now offering their own personal classes and are charging big money for people to come watch them work. There is nothing wrong with that. But i learned a system when i was trained to become an educator…which is to make the students of your classroom the stars of the show.
The difference between a good educator and an even better educator is one who can facilitate a classroom. A facilitator is someone who can get the students to guide the class on their own and help the lightbulbs turn on for everyone, no matter how long they’ve been doing hair. TIGI taught me this. Because their company was founded through education and run “by hairdressers for hairdressers”.
Once i went through color training i felt like i needed a bigger push. I had been in my Utah salon for 2 years and i felt like i had tapped out in growth. So in January of 2018 my husband and i pursued a bigger dream of ours, and we moved to LA.
We knew our careers would propel if we changed our surroundings and went somewhere where everyone was doing better than us. That for sure was LA haha!
And so… the opportunities came.
Shooting on location with Bedhead.
I have gotten more amazing experiences in the last year than i have in my entire 5 years of hairdressing. Hair Shows, Photoshoots, Classes, and Music Festivals. It was by far was the best and most challenging year of my life.
Filming with Bedhead.
LA is fueled by the film, talent, and fashion industry and the city arguable breeds some of the best hair colorists in the world. I wanted to learn from the best. I am lucky enough to work in a salon owned by a color icon of mine for many years, Alen M.
He is a celebrity colorist known for his classic techniques which create truly perfect results. I have learned so much about color since being in LA. and how to create really perfect hair. It’s exhilarating to work next to others that have the same goals and aspirations as me.
Below is some color work i’ve recently done since moving to California.
My newest aspiration is creating transformations in the salon with Color and Extensions.
I specialize in NBR™️ Hair Extensions which is a method using hand-tied-hair based out of Laguna Beach, CA. NBR is known for is pain free, no glue, no tape method and its natural look.
I custom color all the hair extensions myself before installing in order to get the most seamless blend.
Doing transformations is so rewarding because it can change a persons entire life… how they feel, their confidence, their relationships with their partners and children.
I love being apart of that process.
Below are some transformations I’ve done recently.
In order to book with me i require every client to fill out an application. In this application i you give me a little bit of information about your hair history and also submit pictures of your own hair and your dream hair.
This is necessary in order to give my my clients exactly what they want. After receiving the application I set up a free phone consultation to see if NBR is a good fit for you.
To fill out my application for NBR click here
To learn more about NBR you can visit their official website here
To see what a transformation with me in the salon looks like, watch this