Beto Sanchez is a 21 year industry veteran, originally from Mexico City and has been in the States for 11 years.

He's a style folio brand educator and is an ULTA design team specialist.

Today we're going to hear all about how he got to where he is and what he's thinking about for his future.

Welcome back to the Hairs Strong show.

My name is Robert Hughes and I am your host and today I'm with Beto Sanchez.

How you doing today, Beto?

Very good.

Thank you, Robert, for having me.

Very exciting to be here with all of you.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Well, so for everybody listening and watching, just to give you a little context, I met Bedos at Arbeto, at Beauty Gives Back.

And I got to hear your story, pieces of it because I was running in, you know, in and out doing interviews with other people.

But what I heard, I was very much like excited to when you said yes, you come on the show to share it.

So I'm really, really excited and grateful in that.

And Beauty Gives Back is an event that you all who are listening and following should definitely check out.

It's a very inspirational and really awesome event.

So.

Okay, so Beto, tell us and tell us about your, your process of getting.

I like to typically start with like, what was it like becoming a hairdresser?

Where did you go through school?

Did you do an apprenticeship?

A mix of the two?

Yeah.

I think being a hairstylist was not something that I ever looked up to or thinking like, oh my God, I want to do hair.

I knew that I like doing hair.

I grew up with my mom and my sister and they would let me play with their hair and I would style it.

And you know, my little sister, she's five years younger, so sometimes I would do like bright braiding and styling where the flat irons came out in the market.

I was like, oh, let's play with this.

Was obsessed with some like pop culture references like Britney Spears and see that, like super straight hair sometimes.

And I will try to recreate that.

So I had my real size Barbie dolls to play and do hair with.

But for some reason, being a hairstylist never sounded like something I wanted to do.

And to be honest, I think that happened because nobody in my family does anything artistic, artistry, creative related.

I think that I grew up really close to my mom's side of the family.

Everybody did banking and more like nine to five careers with all of that very like structured type of lifestyle.

And I think that my mom saw something in me where she was like, I think you should try cosmetology school.

And I was like, I don't know if I see myself as a hairstylist.

I.

I explored ideas about being an architect.

It's just that math and angles and all of that complex mathematics I think, that I was scared of.

I also thought about being a psychologist and really fascinated about the way human brain works and why we do things the way we do.

There were a couple other career options that I thought about, but to be honest, I was actually so confused.

And my mom noticed that.

So when I finished high school back in Mexico, I'm originally from Mexico City, I should say.

And when I finished high school, my mom was like, I'm not going to spend.

We're not going to spend a ton of money in a career that you don't.

You're uncertain about.

So why don't you do something in between right now and then that help you decide?

And I know you like hair, so let me suggest cosmetology school.

And I was like, all right, I'll do cosmetology school.

So I.

That was really the beginning of my career because after that, I didn't do anything else that was not hair related.

You know, the architecture and psychology sound very much like the perfect.

Like, I mean, you know, if you.

Unless you don't cut hair, maybe, maybe if you're just a colorist, but, you know, but even then, you know, cutting hair and listen to people talk to you about their lives and trying to figure out what, what they really want, you know, what.

What do you really want?

Like, how are you looking?

Hair?

That's awesome.

Okay, so.

So you go to school and then what happens after school?

Do you get.

Do you get a.

Do you work in a salon?

Do you just do hair mobily on the side also?

Like, were there an apprentice?

Was there an apprenticeship or anything like that?

Yeah, well, so when I.

Because I was not very convinced about being a hairstylist at first, when I started cosmetology school back in Mexico City, I actually was working as a customer service representative for a company with their customers here in the US So actually I think that's what helped me to practice English, which, you know, later on was.

Came in really handy when I moved here to the US But I was doing half of my day doing that customer service job and then half of the day doing cosmetology school, and I realized how much I liked it.

When I finished cosmetology school, I moved into a salon and I was being an assistant.

I learned A lot of things.

I always think that doing an assistant program is also one of the most helpful things that hairstylists can do.

So if you're a hairstylist, listening to the podcast and you don't know what to do right away or you're scared, do an apprenticeship like it's best thing that you can do.

Doing hair and experiencing what the salon environment is day by day, like in a real life scenario, it's completely eye openening and it really does help you to feel ready to take care of your own clients.

So I did that.

And fortunately, a few years later, there was an opportunity for me to open a salon.

So me and my sister partnered up and she was a little bit more focused on the nail part of the salon.

I decided to do fully hair.

My sister's actually a makeup artist, so she started also kind of like starting to test like what makeup trends were and how to apply makeup and all that.

And it's so funny because now she's a makeup artist instructor and she's leading all the programs for school in Mexico City about makeup.

She's doing really great.

And I focused on hair exclusively and I just liked it.

I just love that human connection.

I just loved how that communication, that connection that you have with your, with your client, with your guests in the salon, how it happens, it's kind of like intoxicating.

It's very tiring and very exhausting when you have long days.

But I think just having that feeling of I made somebody feel beautiful today, it just feels great and people are very grateful for it.

Fortunately, you know, all I've had probably 96% of my, my career, 98, 99% of my career, it's been all good experiences.

So it's always just been a good feeling to be in the salon.

And, and on top of that, I also feel the process is very relaxing, to be honest.

Like cutting hair, styling it, even doing a full set of foils, I find it relaxing.

So I think I did really find the perfect career for me.

Nice.

Love that.

That's very inspiring and exciting.

So when you, when you telling somebody to do an apprenticeship, do you have any advice for the person who's listening to this and be like, you know, maybe they're in school or just out of, recently out of school, or maybe they landed in a salon for an apprenticeship that isn't, you know, one of the big complaints that I hear from the students is that the salon owner, it says that they have a training program, but like they really don't and, or they're not consistent or whatever, and they're not growing at the same pace.

So do you have any advice for anybody when they're out there looking for an apprenticeship or an employer at that point in their career?

Yeah, well, I might be a little biased because as you might have learned in the event, I currently work for Ulta Beauty, and it's been the best job that I've ever had in my life for many reasons that, you know, we'll go into other details about my job with Ulta Beauty, but we do have an apprenticeship program that lasts three to six months.

And the really cool thing about that program and what I think that it works really well for hairstylists is because we, we really do grow our apprenticeship well.

Our assistant, slash apprentice, to really learn all the skills that they learn in cosmetology school, but in real world scenarios, and we do put a lot of emphasis, and that's part of my job with design team specialists from Ulta Beauty, is to create programs that really grow hair stylists and make them feel like they're learning things that they can apply at the salon the next day after they learn it.

And so we do that.

We also don't drag our apprenticeship program for like two years.

And then we're like, okay, well, we'll give you a chair and we'll pay you 10% of what you make, you know, commission.

It's, it's, it feels pretty, like, solid that in three to six months you learn how to do it and then we give you a chair and then you start making either hourly or commission, depending on your services.

But it feels like you can use it like very real life, very getting you ready to start your career without sacrificing two years just washing towels, doing laundry, and, and washing hair.

You know, it's, it's more preparing you for the real world as a hairstylist.

So go to Ulta Beauty if there's one nearby, and, and if there's not, it sounds like, and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like in a place you should be looking for some sort of structured program, because you said three to six months at least twice, which indicates to me that there's some sort of formal program.

There's not just like, bring in models and I'll work with you every weekend until you're ready.

It's like, it's like you're going to work on this and then this and this.

Is.

Is that right or no?

Yeah, that's.

That's right.

We have classes that we.

We have available through educational site.

So you can go to the salon in times when do you have a downtime or even.

Even if you're busy, there's classes that you need to finish before you start taking clients.

So we, like I said, we get you ready before we even send you out there.

And obviously there's techniques that you need to learn with a mannequin head.

You.

For example, for me, as a hairstylist, I have an assistant right now.

So on top of helping me mix and doing all the different logistics that I have to do when I'm double book or triple book, I actually do care about showing my assistant what technique I'm doing, helping her with formulation, helping her with, hey, stay right by my side so you can see why I'm cutting this way.

And I'm.

And I also have, like, really good communication with my.

With my guests.

So nobody freaks out about, like, having another person just being, you know, right next to me and explaining what I'm doing with the color, with the cut, or the styling.

So it's.

Yes, it's a program where we have structured classes that you need to finish before you're ready to start taking care of your clients.

Nice.

Okay, so moving on.

So you said you open a salon, and so tell us about the salon, how big it was, how many people did you have working there, and how long did you do that?

Because I'm assuming based on your timeline that you're still in Mexico City, so you haven't left for the States yet.

Yeah, Right.

The salon that I opened in Mexico City was named Posh Hair Salon, and it had three chairs.

And first it was just my sister and I.

We wanted to see how that would.

That would work.

And, you know, if one.

If we work well together, but also if we actually had the talent and the skill to.

To have people coming back to us, unfortunately was very successful from the beginning.

In fact, my mom was the key piece in helping for the salon to grow because she is a very organized person.

Like I said, all my family has that background of banking, so she's very organized, spreadsheets for life, and she's really good with money.

So she was basically just being the manager for the salon.

But on top of that, through her job, I always would style her hair before going to work.

So everybody would always compliment my mom.

She was the one that always had her hairstyle.

So many people would ask her, where'd you get your hair done?

Who does your hair?

So she was like, my son, and he actually has a salon, you know, in this area of the city.

So, like, she started bringing clients right away, which was really cool and really convenient.

And there was a lot of support from the family.

Word of mouth started spreading out.

So my sister and I got really busy with the salon really quick.

I feel like that was kind of like the confirmation of, like, okay, we're on the right track.

This is a career choice, and we're happy with it.

So, yeah, that was.

I was actually kind of like, putting a timeline, and that happened in 2009 when we opened that salon.

And I had it for about four years before I had to sell it when I had plans to move to the U.S.

Okay, so tell us about that sales process.

Like, what was that?

Like, can you give us whatever information you can and have to give us to kind of let us?

Because I feel like that's a conversation that I would like to have more often, is, how do you sell your business once you build it?

Well, this is kind of funny.

It was very informal, to be honest.

First of all, when I started making plans to come to the U.S.

i even talked to my sister, and I said, can you handle this alone on your own?

You'll hire your stylist, but you already have clients that will come to you.

She was not fully committed to the makeup yet in that part of her life or even her styling.

So she said no.

But at that point, I already had one of my clients who was a neighbor in the area, and I had my cousin interested in buying the business.

They knew that it was successful.

We had a set of clients, so they thought it was a good investment.

And I don't know if you've heard of or if anybody in the podcast is familiar, but like it, Mexico is not as.

How can I say it?

Not as formal when it comes to a lot of paperwork.

So there was really not a lot involved.

It wasn't really hard, honestly.

My cousin said, like, I will pay you this amount of money for your business.

Like, basically, I'll just.

You know, we signed a couple of paperwork, and that was it.

It was really easy.

Fortunately, he was already interested, and he was one of our clients, and he always saw that there was people there, so he was very interested.

So he kept us alone for a couple of years, and he had later on a little bit of trouble finding stylists to work with the schedules that he needed and all that.

So, unfortunately, this alone closed a couple of years after I sold it.

But it was honestly very easy.

There was just very little paperwork to be signed, and my cousin came up with a strong offer, and I was like, let's do it.

Nice.

Nice.

Okay, so.

And then what prompted you to come to the States?

My ex husband.

So I met my ex husband at a bar in Mexico City.

We fell in love.

He was visiting Mexico City for only about six months, but we fell in love.

We started dating.

He ended up staying longer than those six months.

So we dated in Mexico City for about a couple of years.

And then he had a really good job offer here in Chicago, so he moved back and offered that I moved with him.

And that was kind of like halfway through the salon life.

So I had the salon for a couple of years, and it was very successful.

I was really enjoying it.

It was a very cool project that I was very proud of, like, managing it with my sister.

My dad was helping too.

My mom was managing it, so I didn't want to just stop.

So we did it long distance for about a couple of years.

And then we decided that I was gonna move here to the US with him.

But the one thing that I also knew for sure is that hair was what I was going to be doing.

So as soon as I moved here to the US I went right back to cosmetology school, used that money that my cousin paid me for that salon, and put it all in my cosmetology school, and it was great.

I finished paying really quick.

So your license, wouldn't you.

You can get any credit?

Did you get any credit for the hours of already having already been doing hair at all?

No.

I think what really helped is that I had the experience of all those years beforehand.

But there you don't.

At least back when I lived in Mexico City, there was no official license to be a hairstylist.

They were like, when I finished cosmetology school, I got a diploma from the school, and I had a recommendation letter for the two years that I was an apprentice, and I started taking clients.

But that doesn't really matter as much because the US Board focuses a lot on the sanitation part and make sure that the salon is a safe environment for everybody and that you can see as many guests as you want in a day, and everybody's safe and everything is sterile and clean.

Because of that, you can't really transfer any sort of experience.

But what really helped was the amount of hours that I spent in cosmetology school here in Chicago because they put me on the floor as soon as I finished my tests.

And just time went by really Quickly.

So I picked right up that experience, and I put it in practice as soon as I was able to do it.

So I went to Stephen Papa George school here in Chicago, and the owner was really nice.

He noticed that I had a lot of experience, so he helped as much as I could to put me in photo shoots and give me those extra hours so I could finish the school really quick.

So thank you, Stephen, for that.

That was.

That was really great help.

Nice.

Nice.

Okay, so.

All right, so then after school, so you're.

You move, you.

You build a business, you fall in love, you sell your business, you make a move, a huge move, you go back to school.

School.

Now you got.

You got your license.

You're in the States now.

Now what are you.

Are you, like, just in school?

Are you working in a salon?

What.

How do you make that?

What's that next move in the next transitionary period?

Like, yeah.

When I was finishing my last hours of cosmetology school, one of my teachers recommended that I started searching for solons where I could either finish my hours because there was this kind of, like, program where you could work hours as an apprentice or as an assistant in a salon, and they will report back to the school.

So that counted towards finishing your hours.

And I found a salon nearby that I really liked.

And I went and I just said.

I literally just went to the salon and I said, hey, I'm in a school that is like a few blocks away, and I'm interested in being and assistant.

Like, what do I need?

What paperwork do I need?

So they book an interview with the manager at the time, and I had that interview, and he just said yes right away.

So I started probably like a couple weeks later.

And that's the salon where I started working as soon as I finished cosmetology school.

And I was in that salon for about a couple of years, had a lot of fun, learned a lot.

And actually, that's the owner of that salon pushed me to finish my program of being a wella master color expert.

And through that program, I met the instructors and they encouraged me to be an educator because they saw how much I liked the industry doing hair and how much I learned.

And I wanted to do that for other people and get them excited about the things that you can learn so they can make your salon time a lot easier and a lot faster and getting the results that you want.

And they invited me to audition.

So that's also how my WELLA journey started.

I feel like it was just the very one thing led to Another.

And.

But yeah, that's.

It was.

It was at that salon on.

It's not anymore there.

It's called Exo Studio, or it was called Exo Studio, but it was a good time.

Did you have to do an apprenticeship or anything or were you able to get right onto the floor?

I did.

And to be honest, my apprenticeship on that salon wasn't long because a lot of the people that I met at the salon in the school, they followed me into the new salon.

So the owner was like, why am I going to keep him as an.

As an assistant when he already has an appointment book half full?

So he gave me a chair probably, I would say just a few months after I finished and I got my license and.

And yeah, I started getting clients right away.

And.

And word of mouth is really the best way to get clients.

If you make somebody love their hair and you do a good job and they get compliments that will like people around them will ask them, where did you go?

And they'll.

They'll bring clients to your chair.

So word of mouth is.

That's how I started building my.

My book.

Nice.

Awesome.

Awesome.

So.

So you get into Wella and that really like that ex.

Kind of your career sounds like your career is like.

Has.

Takes a major turn there once you get with.

Well, is that.

Is that correct what you're saying?

Yeah, for sure.

There were a few things that I also never saw myself being an educator.

One, I feel like what I learned in cosmetology school in Mexico, while that was good knowledge to learn the basics of how color cutting and style works, I don't think the education was so in depth as I have learned through the brands here, which is something that I always talk about.

Here in the U.S.

you guys have, or I guess we have here, the biggest or bigger companies for coloring, for styling, hot tools.

And you really can get such good knowledge and such good education from them.

And I feel like once I was in the Wella, I auditioned and I got my job as a brand educator and I really get to understand in depth color, the chemistry, the application, how every single color line works.

I feel like I.

I just got really excited and I feel like my career promptly took that half behind the chair and half focused on education because I really liked it.

And I feel like also my excitement to share that makes my managers want to book me more to other salons because I get them excited and I feel like one.

I didn't know that I was so passionate about hair coloring and I would understand the way I Did.

And two, coming from a Spanish speaking country, English is not my first language.

I always felt very hesitant and very, I was second guessing my accent and if people would be able to understand what I was saying and things like that.

So I think I had to like really overcome that fear of feeling like I sounded different or sometimes stupid or silly or that I had to repeat myself for people to understand and just put myself out there.

And I under and understand that every time I teach a class.

What's really important is the message that I'm bringing and the excitement of helping other people learn what I already know.

So, you know, to make their lives easier.

And I feel like that's what I thought about many times and stopped thinking if my accent is really strong or if I sound a little different, you know, than, than Americans.

Well, I think, I think it's pretty awesome.

Like what you're talking about is like you're digging what I mean.

You're talking about a number of things.

So one of the things that I'm, I'm hearing you talk about is like the, the, the depths that one can reach in terms of their understanding about their craft is really going to be hard to match or challenge the depths that one can go if they're working with a brand.

You know, like if a brand, A brand has millions of dollars and, you know, tons of resources to do research and development and hire scientists and stuff.

So it makes a lot of sense.

And I think that's a really important piece of information.

I guess where I'm wondering is, I feel like this is like a great place to like ask you, like, what type of stuff you're working on now and what you're thinking about for the near future and maybe a little further out in the near future.

Yeah.

Well, I think that all that educational background led into me becoming part of the Ulta Beauty design team.

I joined.

I auditioned to be part of the design team and at the same time her status for the salon, because I met Nick Stinson in an industry event and we actually run into each other a couple of times.

We have this mutual industry icon that we both know, which is Sonia Dove.

And she introduced me to him and saying that I was a color educator.

And Nick has this thing about always putting the best teams together.

And the moment we met, it's almost like you're right away in a interview, like in a job interview.

So he's asking a lot about like color and what makes me passionate about it and what did I do with color.

So eventually I became part of the design team.

And I think that what, what got me in there and a key piece of the experience that I had was the educational background.

Because currently one of the things that we're working as a scientific specialist with three of my teammates and I is creating the programs, a program in particular called Transpiration.

So what we do is we are taking all the trends that are happening this current year, forecasting what's happening for the next year, and doing technical education about how to recreate it.

Because the people in the salon that see this images that my team and I create and the walls in every single Ulta beauty store, they want to know what's the formula that created that, what's the placement that you need to create that accent piece?

What is the type of texture that you cut in order for the fringe to lay in a certain way?

So my, my three teammates and I are working on that program really hard right now.

It's a really cool project that we, it's kind of like our baby because we created the first transpiration class last year.

It was very, very successful.

We got really great reviews from our hairstylists in the company.

And so we're working on the one for next year.

So that's what's taking a lot of my time right now.

And it's very, it's kind of cool.

And I think that's why it's such a proud thing for us because we really create this.

Starting from zero.

There was no previous program that looked like that.

And suddenly we're like, okay, how are we going to create the images?

How are we going to structure the class?

Obviously, even being a corporate salon with corporate rules, we have to even program our breaks at a certain time.

So I feel like it's helping us to just really be very.

Creating a class with all things being very thought of, including timing besides the content, and still working with my well up portfolio brands.

Part of the well portfolio is well at gh, Willa, Nioxon, Sebastian and so doing events and educational things for them.

And I'm working with a really big, it's kind of like a hairstylist recommendation type of campaign for ghd, which is.1 of my favorite brands that I work for is styling tools.

And I also believe that styling is like such a big thing as in a hair appointment.

So working for a brand that creates really amazing tools is something that I really enjoy.

Plus the perk of getting those tools and my door getting boxes every few months is just so beautiful.

But working with a big campaign and just that campaign with GHD is what do hairstylists think is so great about ghd?

Why do we recommend that not just for other hairstylists, but something that the consumers can also use at home?

So just, you know, and then at the same time, also, like, still keeping a.

A healthy salon book with appointments and with my clients.

So I feel like every week looks completely different than, you know, the previous one.

Even this week is.

Is every single day I'm doing something different, which I find it really cool, but working on so many projects at the time, and that's just how it usually goes.

So if.

If there's a lot of people that want to work for a brand and they want to like everything you're talking about, like, you're like, you're also course creation and like, structuring a day and like, thinking about, like, how long people's attention spans are going to be and like, do we need to change the method of learning and do we need to let them have a break?

I mean, all that is, I think it's so such a strong and powerful exercise for, like, most people to go through.

Just in general, I feel like it helps in so many ways, not to mention the fun stuff like getting the free stuff or just being on stage or being in front of a classroom and like, sharing your passion.

So do you have any recommendations for somebody who is really hearing your story and be like, this sounds so cool.

I want to do this.

Yeah.

I think the approach that I had when I started joining the educational part of my career, especially with Wella, is not to focus on the cool part of traveling or the free stuff that you can get.

I think truly you need to love what you're teaching.

You need to believe in what you're teaching.

And for example, with.

Well, I was just so amazed about understanding color and the chemistry and what different color lines do.

So I feel like the rest is just a second thought or a second thing.

But it's so important that you actually truly believe what you're teaching and that you're passionate about it.

Because what you will see in my social media, what you will see in other people, social media that work for brands, is that they're in a different city every day in, like, cool hotels or do this, like, really cool events, and we're in airports.

And trust me, that is a lot more exhausting that what people read.

People still come to me in events.

They're like, you live such a cool life and it's so incredible.

And I'm like, I'm also like, Most of the time just missing home and being tired of being in an airport, to be honest.

And I'm, and I'm saying this with full honesty, the reason why I still do it and why even if after a week long trip that you come home and you're exhausted, you don't want to know anything about hair or talk to anyone because you've drained your social battery, you know, with people in the industry and giving you all in classes and to the interactions that you have.

It's because I truly love what I teach.

I truly believe in empowering hairstylists with the knowledge that you can give them.

And so I feel like if that's the passion that you're seeking and that you're looking for, then definitely try to reach out to a brand that feels like it fits aesthetic, like it's a good connection and, and try to reach out to them, you know, try to learn a lot from them.

And I mean, what worked for me was actually reaching out to the people that led my trainings and let them know that I thought it was really cool what they did and how they got there and they helped me and connected me with the right people to get an audition with a brand.

So just put yourself out there, put your name out there, go to industry events, get to know people and, and if you're gonna do it, do it because you're really passionate about what you're going to teach.

Nice.

That's really good advice.

I love that.

Okay, and then, and then as far as, like, as far as somebody who is maybe working and do, working with different brands and like a lot of people talk about like make content and tag the brand a lot and that helps get awareness.

Like, is, is, is that still a thing or is, is it too saturated of the space?

Because I know, I know, you know, I know social media, the realities of social media are constantly evolving.

So can you tell us about that also, like, how has social media and what you do kind of evolved at all in terms of finding opportunities and growing yourself?

Yeah, I think it's a really great question because like you said, I feel like sometimes we get in this mechanical thing of like just tag all of the brands and tag, you know, use all of the hashtags where we're doing posts.

But if you're mentioning everybody, then nobody's seeing it or, you know, it's not, you have to aim to one specific brand and approach them.

But also it's almost like as you were saying it, I was almost visualizing showing up to a brand's desk in person and being like, hey, do you want to give me a job?

Or what can I do to post for you?

Right?

But then you have an incomplete resume or you just have like a piece of paper that is so wrinkled or like it doesn't have your information.

So I think that if you are going to do that and if you are going to reach out to a brand via DM or something more direct, because you really want their attention and you really feel passionate about it, I feel like there's some prep thing to do that you have to do.

You know, like if, if your Instagram is, it's pretty, looks nice, you're actually sharing important information.

The end results are beautiful.

If your content is working and it's pretty, then reaching out to a brand will actually help you because they'll notice your content and, and how beautiful you shoot your videos or your images and how you showcase their products.

But if you're just tagging them because you feel like it's what has to be done, I don't think it's going to really accomplish anything.

And the reason why I'm saying it too is because even working for a few brands and, and knowing in person the people that are behind, you know, running their social media, like, they love to be tagged, but they also won't respond to something that does not line up with their brands.

And obviously they will have an esthetic that meets certain almost like quality expectation, you know, So I think you, if you prep your Instagram to look like a nice, neat resume and then you reach out to the brand, that's probably the best thing that you can do.

Nice, Nice.

That's so good.

Awesome.

All right, cool.

Well, I think this has been a really great conversation with you.

I appreciate you taking the time to share your story.

And before we go, I wanted to know, like, what are you like when you think about the next, like, three years of hair?

Like, where do you see hair going in three years?

Maybe five, three to five years.

Like, do.

What type of evolution do you see happening?

It could be in anything.

It could be in tech, it could be psychology, it could be prices, it could be.

It could be design.

And then also, like, what.

What type of things should we expect to see from you as we pay attention to your career as you continue to do what you're doing?

That is a very interesting question when it comes to trying to forecasting what's going to happen with your head for three years.

One of the things that I would say, say is I really like how we have stopped putting such a strong gender label label to the things that we create with hair with cuts, with colors.

Like, boys wearing pink hair is not seen as like, oh, but that's a boy.

Why is he wearing pink?

You know, the cuts that we're doing, for example, right now, like flow cuts, jellyfish cuts, all of them are so gender neutral, gender fluid.

Just.

I like that.

I love that.

And I feel like we're definitely going to keep moving in that direction.

I love that people have that freedom and feel that for themselves with their hair into.

I would say I live in a big city, right.

I live in Chicago and in big cities like New York and la.

Like, I feel like you can feel free to wear whatever hair you want, and nobody's gonna look twice unless they're going to, you know, give you a compliment.

And they say your hair is really cool.

That's probably also, like, the very, like, positive mindset that I have.

But hopefully that evolves into, like, smaller towns where people are a little bit more conservative and seeing those hair colors and creations becoming more popular.

People embrace it and accept it a little bit more, or at least don't say anything negative.

They see something that they don't like, because at the end of the day, hair is just an expression of who you are.

And I feel like feeling free to do whatever you want with something that you're growing out of your own scalp.

It should be allowed and shouldn't be criticized or judged, you know?

So I would say probably, like I said, for trends, it's kind of, like, hard to know they change so fast, especially with social media being so big.

But I do like where this is going about stop genderizing haircuts, hair colors and hairstyles and allowing people to just be themselves and.

And expressing it through the hair.

Well, maybe.

Maybe it'd be cool to see some people in.

I don't know, in.

In con.

What's the word?

Historically conservative industries.

Maybe some CEOs or some board members wearing, you know, something more expressive and individual.

Individual, individual expression.

I think that'd be cool.

Or maybe even positions of government.

I think that that's.

I feel like for me, that's what we would need to see in order for people to.

Like, really?

Because I feel like we're.

It's evolving and I.

And I, and I.

And I'm on board with what.

What you want to see.

I want to see that too, I think.

And for me, if I was gonna add on to that, that's what I would like to see.

I Would like to see people in positions of influence and power in historically conservative and conservative, not like politically but like how you have to dress and how you have to wear your hair but historic like banking and, and oil and gas and government and stuff like that.

I'd like to see people like that in those positions to have pink hair and whatever, you know, do something different.

So what, what about, what about your personal thoughts about your own future?

What should we be watch looking at for.

For you?

Well, I think I'm at a point where we.

I've done so much in the last few years and I've gotten to places where I never thought I would be when it comes to leading projects and doing educational.

It's also a lot like it takes so much of my time to have a full career as an ultimate design team member, a full career as a brand educator, full career in the salon.

So I feel like right now what I've been focusing a lot is on not adding more to my plate than more like putting 100% my focus on the projects that I really love and that I really have right now.

I think that with, with this kind of like mental health acknowledgement of like what, what people are struggling with, sometimes I feel like it made me also look at like how much I can give of myself in order to, to actually enjoy what I'm doing.

So I used to be like a yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

I'll do any project, I'll travel anywhere, I'll make any schedule fit and work seven days a week.

And I do appreciate and I love, and I think that there's a point of every of some people's careers where they are willing to put that in there, that work.

I already did that for so many years.

And I'm not saying I'm slowing down, but I am just refocusing a little bit more and enjoying the things that like my personal time and my personal life and my dog and my partner in my apartment and things that are also not hair related that also require time.

I don't know exactly what would happen, you know, in a year, 2, 5, 10.

But one thing that I want to, I do feel like I've been putting a lot of focuses on making sure that I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now with work, not feeling so overwhelmed and everything that I'm putting out there work wise is with love and with passion.

And then I still have time to put love, passion and time in my personal things.

So that really has been my focus right now.

And, and I think that's something that you should probably, for all the people in the industry that also feel overwhelmed or, you know, like feeling like you're juggling too much, maybe just take a little moment and enjoy what you have right now and be a little bit more selective about the projects that you say yes to.

And because every time you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else.

So if it's something that is, like, personal important for you, maybe the yes has to go to the other side.

That's so good.

That is an incredible way to wrap it up.

I think that message is a great sign off message.

So thank you for that.

Thank you for your time sharing your story and your words of wisdom and your pathway to success.

And I hope to have you on the show again in the near future.

But for now, thank you so much.

Of course.

Thank you so much for the space.

I enjoy so much talking about this.

And just like we, you know, when we met in that event, like just having hairstylists understanding other areas than just how to create the perfect balayage, I think it's really important.

We're all humans and we all have a personal life and we all want career inspiration.

So I'm happy to share this story and hope some of these things help other hairstylists to grow their own careers as well.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much.

And until next time, I'll talk to you later.

All right, sounds good.

Thank you, Robert.

See you next time.