Jason Snyder is a 17 year industry veteran and the director of sales and education for Vemour, an extension brand manufactured and distributed exclusively for Aveda in North America.

Today we're going to hear his story, how he got there, and the lessons and relationships he's gained along the way.

Welcome back to the hairdresser strong show.

My name is Robert Hughes and I am your host.

And today I'm with Jason Snyder.

How are you doing today, Jason?

Hey, thank you so much.

I'm doing great.

I'm really excited to be here and to start our chat today.

Awesome.

Me too.

So for the audience, we, we got connected through, so I went to serious business, which is an amazing event.

So I recommend anybody listening or watching.

If you're interested in the business side of things, then you should definitely go check out serious business.

And I was networking there and that's how I got connected with Jason.

And so I'm excited for this.

We had a pre conversation and it's a very interesting story that I'm excited to share and I'm excited to have you on, Jason.

So thank you so much for taking the time.

Yeah, thank you.

You know, serious business is a really cool event.

It happens every year in January here in New Orleans, where I live, and we have the amazing opportunity to be a part of it.

Each year we get to have this big, fabulous booth and mingle with our existing partner, salon partners, and meet new people like yourself.

And it's definitely worth the trip, especially if you've never gotten to experience the city of New Orleans as well.

Nice.

Yeah.

And I love New Orleans, so it's always nice to, it's tough to balance the going out to, you know, for things and also make sure that I can be present and pay attention the whole time.

So I recommend booking some time to experience New Orleans before or after the event.

Advice?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, okay, so let's get started.

So tell us.

Let's get started with how'd you get into the industry?

Did you go to school?

Did you, did you do an apprenticeship?

Let's start there.

Sure.

17 years ago, after finishing college, I attended the Nevada Institute in the Tampa, Florida area where I grew up.

And so I went through hair school, as one does.

And hair came pretty easy easily to me, like the actual technique part.

And so I had a great time in hair school, met a bunch of wonderful people.

Upon leaving school, you mentioned, like an apprenticeship.

I wish I had had one.

I actually moved to an area in Florida where there were no aveda salons.

And so I did get a gig, like, at a salon right out of school, and a stylists had moved away, and so they just, like, slid me into their position with an almost full clientele, with a product, a brand, a product, and a color line that I knew nothing about without any onboarding.

And so, needless to say, I had a really interesting first year behind the chair where basically I ran late for a whole year and messed up hair every single day.

Well, that's interesting.

So you going into a salon straight after school with a book and having that ability to kind of learn through trial by fire, you know, I feel like that's what a lot of people would probably actually like, at least.

Yeah.

You know?

And had I experienced a little bit different level of support from that, from said salon or co workers, perhaps it could have been a nice experience.

But I really felt kind of thrown to the wolves.

Like, you know, I really liked, I really lacked that onboarding or introduction to specific.

I mean, especially, like, not knowing any other color line and just being like, here's a day full of color guests, and good luck in the bar back there, you know, so.

But, yeah, I think you're right.

I think people would enjoy that experience.

Now, however, you just brought up a really interesting point that I do think.

I do think maybe I'll retract my statement or at least amenda it, because I do think that, like, if you're thrown into a full book, yes, people might be excited until they feel like they're drowning.

And then when they don't have that support that you're talking about, then I do think they will leave that full book.

I really do.

I do think that, like everybody, I think, you know, kind of finding yourself up a creek without a paddle, you're still up a creek without a paddle.

And I do think people might jump ship and swim to shore.

Yeah.

And it lasts.

I lasted almost a year.

Okay.

Yeah, exactly.

There you go.

Okay, so you work there.

What happens after that salon?

So after that, I was sort of questioning my choices.

Like, is this really for me?

Should I.

Should I continue in this industry?

And so I sought out to better myself a little bit further education.

And so I contacted the people who I had met when I was in hair school and asked, you know, inquired what types of opportunities there were to.

To maybe learn more or do an advanced program or something like that.

And what ended up hacked by what I ended up sort of, like, falling into was a program that used to exist where you could go back to school to be a foundational educator at their schools.

And so training to basically teach the very, very, very beginning or intro classes at Theravade institutes in Florida.

Florida.

Nice.

Nice.

Okay, so let's just kind of add a little bit context here.

So you told me in our pre conversation that you went to school and studied something else before you studied cosmetology.

Can you tell us about that?

Yeah, of course.

I had the incredible experience of going to a private, international business school in Honolulu, Hawaii, which is where I graduated with my bachelor's degree.

And so I had a path that was leading me somewhere in the world of business.

And as many do when you graduate college, I sort of.

And especially because I had been so far away for so long, having grown up in Florida.

So I came home after graduation, and I was sort of like, what do I do with my hands?

Like, what do I do now?

And I had been doing things like cutting my buddy's hair on the balcony of my apartment with clippers, you know, while I was in college.

And somebody said, you know, there's this new place around town that you should check out.

I think you'd really enjoy it.

And so that's how I went and toured the Aveda institute, and I started, I think, class, like, a week or two after my tour.

Like, just, like, dove right in, and I was like, okay, here's the next thing I'm gonna do.

Nice.

Okay, cool.

So, all right, now we have that piece of information.

Cause I feel like that's gonna come.

That might come up later.

Okay, so you're thrown into a salon, you got a full book, but you're not getting any support.

Is that why you left?

Because you weren't.

You didn't have the support or there anything other reason?

No, that was totally why.

I mean, it was really.

I was miserable.

I was just, like, I had unhappy guests whose hair was not turning out the way that they had hoped because I didn't know what I was doing with that color line.

And.

And, I mean, I think everybody can.

Can agree that running behind during your day is not fun, and if you did it for, like, one year straight, every single day you're in the salon.

I was just kind of, like, scared of doing hair after that.

And so that's.

That is absolutely why I left.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Like, kind of feeling a sense of defeat or failure on a regular basis without anywhere to go to feel validated that you're doing a good job or maybe guide you in a way to give you some information.

I totally, totally get that.

Okay, so then you become.

You go you start working at an.

At Aveda Institute.

And where is that at?

This was in Orlando, Florida.

In Orlando.

And then you get the opportunity to kind of like to start training the younger folks.

Were you teaching cutting and coloring right away from the beginning?

Did they train you?

Did you get the support there to grow yourself so that you could provide to your new customer, the student?

Totally.

I think a similar story to you that you mentioned to me when we had our pre conversation.

I did star in what was called intro at the time, which was very much textbook classroom style learning.

And then I remember learning properly, and then teaching how to part a mannequin head.

This was how to hold a comb and things like that.

So, yes, I started off at the very, very much basics.

That support within that system was incredible.

I had a handful of mentors at my fingertips, and I quickly, somewhat maybe because of skillset, but maybe mostly because of just need of warm bodies, I quickly moved into teaching what was called the master's part of the program.

And so then it was sort of like the students who were about to graduate, and they were doing maybe 85%, spending 85% of their time actually doing live guests as if it were a salon floor.

And so overseeing that, I remember specifically, I will this.

I will attest this to why I am a decent haircutter.

This was, if you'll remember, when the posh spice haircut became a thing, you know, a graduated a line bob was, like, never heard of before until posh spice wore it.

And it, of course, wasn't a part of our curriculum, our cutting curriculum yet at the school level.

And so every single woman was coming and asking for this, and we didn't have time at that level of schooling to, like, actually teach the students this.

And so they would all cut, like, convex or a bob, basically, and we would have to go in and do all the graduation and everything dry after they would cut, like, the bob and blow it out.

And so that really made me a decent haircutter, just having to, like, bust those out one after another for a couple of months.

Totally.

Yeah.

And I'd like to do a little, like, plug here and see what you are.

Not plug, but make a statement here and see what you think of it.

But my opinion is that the cutters.

The.

Learning how to cut is, to me, all about sectioning, organization, and then the techniques of graduation.

And I feel like when you get those, it's like everything else.

And haircutting is kind of comes a little bit not, I want to say easy, but I.

If you can do those things, then I feel like you're going to be, like you're going to be good.

Yeah.

I mean, I could even simplify another, like, to another level and say, once you understand how to move and push hair or how hair pushes other hair, you know, those very, I mean, I shouldn't say simple, maybe that's incorrect.

But those rudimentary ideas, once those are captured, then all the other stuff is just playdead at that point.

Totally.

Okay, cool.

So you grow yourself as an educator.

You're getting support, you're training, and you're learning, you're growing, et cetera.

So how long are you at, in this space and are this season of your career?

Yeah, just a few years, as you know, and I'm sure anybody else would agree who's been in those types of roles.

They are, they wear on you like, it's a tough job.

And you don't always necessarily, it's not always, like, incredible pay, you know, like, it's long days.

And, you know, you've got 30 students in that class and you're hanging on by a thread because you've got one student who really is passionate about hair, and you're like, yay, I get to help this person with their, you know, something that they love.

So anyway, so it lasted just a few years.

And like I said, that those experiences of, you know, it's one thing to know how to do something, but once you can teach somebody how to do something, then you really become the expert of it, I think.

And so I was.

I had really improved my skill set, and after a few years, I was ready to sort of, like, relook at the salon, part of our industry again.

And at that point, sort of, like, serendipitously, I had a family member who was like, I would like to open a Nevada salon.

Jason, would you like to run sun salon or manage it?

And I said, of course, I don't know anything about managing a salon.

And they said, that's okay.

You'll learn.

And so I got thrown into yet another situation where I kind of had to tread water, keep my head above water.

And so then for a minute, I managed a brand new build out of a salon, which I had never done, and hired a team.

And this was a small salon, and I did that for just a few years, but it was a really cool experience.

And I can now, thanks to that, speak to salon leadership in a way that I.

That I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

So you said a family member, it.

Was an uncle of mine, yeah.

And how did he decide to, like, how did he arrive at this thought or decision?

He, um.

He really liked the products and had a lot of money and wanted to have his own store and had no.

And had no interest in being a part of the business or hair in general.

And so it was an interesting situation.

Do you think that if you weren't a hairdresser, that he would have done that, or do you think it was because he's like, I got this family member, you know?

Yeah, I think it was the latter, for sure.

That's amazing opportunity for you.

It was.

I can't say I had an a plus said opportunity, but it was nice.

Nice.

Okay.

Wow.

This is a.

This is a very dynamic and rich story of your.

Of your career so far.

Okay.

So after a few years of, you know, starting up and running a business, and what was your move from there?

Yeah, I really wanted to.

I had learned in working at the institute level that I really loved teaching our craft, and so I started to look for something that was more grounded in that.

And so I landed a gig, which I owe most of my, I don't know, industry knowledge to, which was the title was creative director.

And I sort of played salon owner for a group of salons in the Tampa, Florida area, also Aveda salons.

And so.

And this salon owner, I will forever be grateful to them and give them lots of credit.

They understood that to have somebody who was solely responsible for helping the stylist grow their business behind the chair, that wasn't also behind the chair.

You know, I remember during a very beginning interview, he said to me once, just so we're aware, you don't make me any money.

You cost me money because you're not behind the chair producing.

And so as long as you help those who are behind the chair producing grow their business, then you can keep your job, kind of thing.

And so.

Oh, my gosh.

No pressure.

No, not at all.

And so, yeah, we had three locations at the most at one time, and something around 60 ish stylists across, you know, across the board or what have you.

And my sole responsibility was to recruit, hire new talent, put them through our mentor or training program, and then also, you know, one on ones with the.

With all stylists, you know, on a monthly basis, help them grow there, their business, help them, you know, under help them or understand what they're like, sort of next steps are in their career and help them get there.

And then every once in a while, I got to fix the hair of an angry guest.

They were like, well, let's have our creative director do this for you.

And so, which I actually really enjoyed because, you know, it's fun to win someone over who's like, you know, very, like, unhappy.

So I still got to have my hands and hair in that fashion at that point.

And I did that for about six years with that group, that salon group.

Nice.

Okay, so how did you meet?

How did you discover or come upon this opportunity?

So the.

At the time, the salon owner was working for the distributor, so they were like the Aveda, we call them salon development partners, but they were like the Aveda rep for my uncle salon.

So I was meeting with them on a monthly basis to talk about the success of at the salon, and I just let them know, like, hey, if you hear anything, I'm looking.

This is.

And I described the type of work I was looking for, and he was like, actually, I'm looking for the exact same thing.

So it just kind of worked out nicely.

Interesting.

So how did your uncle take it when you said you were leaving?

He was fine.

Okay.

I didn't mention that he was far.

He lived far away from where the salon was in a different state, and this little passion project kind of.

What's the word?

It kind of fiddled out, you know, like, it fizzled out.

I guess maybe with the energy is the word I was looking for.

And so soon after that, you know, the salon was sold, and it was no big deal.

No big deal.

Gotcha.

Okay, cool.

All right, so one, I'm curious to know, what kind of challenges did you experience?

You know, one or two is totally cool.

I'm sure there's probably more than one if you're starting a business from a build out and a few years of that.

So let's.

I would like to start there.

Yeah.

Because I'm sure some people are wondering.

It's like, well, like, what was that?

What was that story?

You know, more depth, but maybe you can give us a little bit of something like that.

Sure.

I was young, in age, and in experience of the industry, or specifically in managing contractors and construction work.

You know, I mean, like, I was not.

This was not something I had done before.

And for about six, six to nine months, my.

My job was to show up on the job site and just, like, make sure what was supposed to be happening was happening.

And so things.

If you've ever dealt with any kind of building homes or commercials or what have you, but, you know, the.

Lots of, you know, the inspectors not showing up when they're supposed to or failing an inspection because of something so small.

I mean, we had, of course, an engineer or an architect, like, draw the plans for the salon, including plumbing, and.

But then when the contractor actually, like.

Or the plumber, whomever does that actually, like, installed the plumbing, they installed them something like six inches off from what they were supposed to.

And so then.

And it went unnoticed by everyone.

And then the shampoo bowls arrived, and they could not be installed correctly, and we had to, like, reopen up the foundation of floors that had just been done.

And so.

So, you know, I think if I were to.

And I have advised a few people, like, I'm still no expert on this, but I think.

And, you know, it's almost as simple as, like, quadruple checking everyone and not being the only person to have eyes on the project because, you know, things become kind of muddied after you stare at them for too long.

So, you know, having a business partner or somebody who, like, double checks your work and their work and the contractors work, I think, is.

Is pretty invaluable because that was a nightmare, and it probably set us back a few months from opening.

Jeez, did you all have to pay for that, or was that their fault?

And they paid for it?

You know, I wasn't super privy to that type of information at the time, so it wasn't my.

It wasn't my checkbook, so I'm not sure.

Gotcha.

Okay.

All right, cool.

Well, that's good.

That's some good information.

You know, I like that triple check, but also.

Or quadruple check, but also have an under set of eyes.

That's.

That's a new piece of advice that I've heard.

Okay, what about while running that business, considering it was, like, your first go at it?

Any.

Anything.

Any lessons learned or anything like that?

You know, it was.

It was the first time that I started to understand what the.

Like, truly, at the simplest form, like, culture of a salon space and team, because we started from scratch.

It was we, you know, we kind of.

At the beginning, we had no.

No laurels to rest on, so we just had.

We hired, like, all of these people who came from all different walks of life and were in different times of their experience in their.

In our industry.

And it was a lot to manage because we had no preconceived or pre developed, like, systems in place or actual culture in place to decide if said person would fit the culture or not or disrupt the culture or not.

And so I would say for the first year, it was quite chaotic, and so I think having a clear, even if it starts with a mission statement or having a clear understanding of, like, why you're there every day, what your goal is, what is it, you know, is it to give a guest an incredible, you know, what?

Like, what's the deal?

Like, what are you doing?

Why are you there?

And then making sure you're super transparent with the people who you invite to join you in that vision.

I think it sounds simple, but it's not, and maybe the most important thing.

And so if so, the advice for somebody that's about to get embark on this journey who's hearing you, and they're like, oh, yeah, that makes so much sense because people come with baggage and habits and behavior that might clash with other people that you're hiring that have different habits and behavior.

So your advice, one piece of advice, I heard Washington, you know, make sure you understand your mission statement.

And any, what, any other advice that you think or, like, if you could do things differently, you'd start with a mission statement, like, would you, what could you have done to maybe mitigate some of that for sure?

Great question.

I think I would have as simple as spent more time with the people that we brought on board prior to bringing them on board.

When we were looking at a salon of eight, eight stations that were all empty, and we had opened, you know, six months behind a plan.

And so we had this project that was bleeding money.

I think we were just, we were like, do you have a clientele?

Okay, cool.

Come work.

You know, like, that was like, that was the interview process, basically.

And so I think, you know, once you've got a small team in place, having someone shadow, which is what I think is super cool about your, your new app that your website and app that you've developed, is, you know, just being able to, like, put someone into the space and see how they react, see how the customers react to them, see how the rest of the team, whether small or large, react to them and just really listen to those, those cues and not, you know, you almost have to put aside, are they this incredible?

Maybe they're incredible.

Technically sound hairdresser.

Maybe they're coming with a full clientele, but the day to day, day in, day out, sort of like, I don't know about emotions, but interactions with the people who they're going to be with are almost more important sometimes.

Nice.

Love that.

Oh, my gosh.

Love that.

Okay, awesome.

All right, so that's for everybody who is thinking about opening up their own salon, and they have never done it, and they're about to, you know, start with, you know, if you don't already have a team and you have to do a build out, that was for you.

Okay, so the next, next one.

So you join this company and you become the creative director, you know, and you operate like you have lot of the duties that the, an owner would and you're there for.

You said six years, right.

Okay.

You would you share some of the similar stuff about that experience.

Like, what kind of things did you like?

If anybody's thinking of scaling their business and maybe, you know, going bigger than, you know, you had the experience of one location, then you jumped right into multiple.

You must have seen a difference there and maybe have some thoughts or advice or something.

Absolutely.

So firstly, not having to do with the multi locations, but having to do with having to deal with such a large number or my opinion at the time, a large number of stylists was the first time I started to really understand, in order to help them grow towards a goal, I really needed to understand what motivated them.

And I think that this is more important now than ever where, because we could at one point assume that all, all employees were motivated by making more money, and that's just not necessarily the case anymore.

You know, some people now are motivated by, you know, working less and having more life, and some people are motivated by experiences that don't necessarily cost money, but cost time.

So we would have, you know, our month, our monthly and quarterly one on one.

We called them hopes and dreams meetings.

And it was things like where we would be, like, in the next year, like, what's your, like, what do you want to do outside of this?

Outside of work, you know, and it might be like, we help so many people, like, purchase their first home, you know, and we would, you know, it would be like, oh, I really want to own a home and I can't afford it right now.

And so we would, like, look at that and then sort of work backwards and be like, well, here's what you need to do for the next year at work, which breaks down to this, a month, which breaks down to this, a day behind the chair.

And let's meet at the end of every week and see if you, if you got to that goal.

And if not, you know, like, how do we get you there?

So just understanding from a, from managing people that are motivated by different things and that not everybody cares about a contest where they win $100 gift card or a price increase or.

So that's the one thing I think that I can say.

And then the other thing for multi locations and just growing is you can't be everywhere at once, but you almost need to try to be.

And then in lieu of yourself, you have to have incredible leadership and management in each space, and you have to let go of some of your personal cultural dreams for your business, because three salons will undoubtedly have three different cultures, and you can't try to make them all fit into the same sort of cookie cutter image that you have from a lot of people open up with their first baby salon, and they think they're, it's like having, getting dogs or having children.

You know, like, the first one was so great, so I decided to get another one, and the second one's a nightmare.

So I think, you know, just understanding that you gotta let go of some things and, and really find good, good, good support for your, for your people who have the same vision as you do.

Okay, so you're at your position for six years, and so what's the next?

What happens after that?

Yeah, so at the time, I was.

So the owner of the salons was still working really closely with the Aveda distributor of the state, and they had decided, you know, if you're familiar listeners, if you're familiar with the Aveda network, the people usually who own salons, who are partnered with Aveda, or, or stylists who started there and have stayed with that brand, or guests who are super loyal to the brand, it's like a love situation.

I mean, like, they take it pretty seriously.

And so the salons, the salon owners often don't love to have to go outside of that relationship to find types of services.

And so for a great example is a Veda corporate does not offer, like, a smoothing treatment or a keratin treatment or something.

So they're, you know, owners are forced to go find one somewhere else.

And anyway, so this also was true of the hair extension domain, and this is now, you know, ten ish years ago, and wherein hair extensions were really, like, kind of feeling new to the, to the industry.

And so the Aveda distributor decided that they were going to bring into fruition a brand of hair extensions that made sense for the Aveda.

And that is, I can say very simply, that a natural aesthetic, you know, maybe a little bit more mature of a guest who isn't trying hard to look glamorous, but wants to look nice.

And the brand has come a long way since then, but that was then.

And so they approached me and said, hey, we have this idea.

And they knew that I had had a history of teaching and that was something I really loved and, you know, did well at.

And so they asked me to write the curriculum, the education curriculum, for said new brand of hair extensions.

And so I did that.

And also, it was a first.

And now, having written lots of curriculum, I've learned a lot.

But it's a tough thing to do, to consider all learning types.

And how do you keep someone interested and engaged and teach them something that brand new without getting frustrated?

Anyway, it's really fun, but it's also daunting.

And so I wrote that curriculum, and I would go on the road and on the weekends and teach salon, these hair extension classes, and then I would go back into the salon during the week and run the salons.

And I did that for a number of years.

And as this brand of hair extensions, which is called, the more it stands for volume and more as that brand grew, I grew with it.

And I went through many roles, like, I was an educator, and then I was a lead educator, and then I was a sales manager, and then, and now director of sales and education.

And so just about four or five years ago, I moved from Florida to New Orleans, where I am now, and started working exclusively with that brand and left the salon.

So I haven't worked in a salon in a while, and now I run a group of salespeople and a group of educators and am responsible for the success of this brand of hair extensions that's exclusively used in the Aveda network in North America.

Nice.

Okay, so when you say you left the salons, that's the six year stand as creative director.

Those salons.

Okay, so.

And you left, you said five years ago?

Yep.

Okay.

So.

All right.

All right.

And how long did you do both working for Vermont and working for the salons?

About four.

About four of those six years, yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

What was.

I mean, that sounds.

Well, writing a curriculum sounds like a lot of work.

I worked with the woman who wrote the curriculum at the school that I taught, and it was intense, and it's like, so much work.

So you wrote the curriculum, and then, and then you went out and taught it, and then you grew with that company all while you were running.

Like, how?

Tell us a little bit about what, what the.

What the day in the life is like for the Jason Snyder of that time where you were doing both?

Yeah.

Well, he was six years younger than he is now, and that helped a lot.

He wasn't 40 in his forties yet, and so I would truly be in the salon during the most busy times.

So, as you would imagine, Tuesday through Saturday ish, work at the salon on a Saturday until maybe three or four, leave directly to the airport, fly to wherever I was going, get there very late, midnight, one in the morning, what have you.

You wake up the next morning early, teach all day, usually teach Sunday, and teach Monday, and then rush to the airport, fly home, get home super late, and then back in the salon the next morning.

And now, you know, I have the privilege of mentoring people who do this.

They're behind the chair and then travel on the weekends.

And luckily, I learned from a personal vantage point that it's important to protect their.

Their energy and their sanity.

And so we do things like make them, you know, like, we don't let them teach a certain amount of weekends in a row.

We make them block out personal time, things of that nature, because you can only do it for so long, and you have to love it.

And even if you love it, you still will get burnt out super easily.

And so.

And if I.

If I were being really, really honest with myself, I think at the time I was using it, maybe towards the end, I was sort of.

I was sort of done with that project in that group of salons, like, mentally.

And so I was going away and doing other things as much as I could to try to, like, figure out what was next.

Gotcha.

Okay, that.

So I like that.

That, Pete, that.

I think that's a really good piece of information.

So, I'm sorry.

How many weekends a year or a month were you teaching when you were doing it?

I was doing it probably two to three weekends per month.

Okay.

And so you had maybe one or two weekends a month to do to yourself.

And what about during the week?

Like, did you have any days off during the week, or were you at the salon most of the time, like, between traveling and, like, stuff?

Yeah, I was.

You know, I had, again, to the person who owned the salon, to who I owe a lot of grace to, was.

Was lenient, and.

And I was able to kind of flex my schedule a little bit and use certain days for admin days and end and.

But, you know, at the end of the day, one took from the other.

So I wouldn't recommend someone, you know, like.

Like, right now, what we ask of our education team is that they work one weekend a month, you know, and it goes in, ebbs and flows, and if then they're all behind the chair, otherwise full time in their own aveda salons over.

All over the US.

And so, you know, it ebbs and flows.

So if there's a period of time where they're like, hey, for the next couple of months, go ahead and just like for the next two months, like book me as much as you like, we'll do that for them.

And then, you know, we pump the brakes sometimes for them and say, hey, it looks like, you know, now you've worked five, five weekends in the past two months.

Let's take a little break.

Wow.

Whose job is that?

It's a little bit of mine.

It's a little bit, I have a really incredible partner and their, their official title is Salon Liaison.

Her name is Jennifer and she is the czar of our education calendar.

And so she will really keep an eye and she'll call me up and say, hey, so and so is working three weekends in a row.

Is it okay with you if I like block that?

Like tell them they can't work the following fourth weekend?

Absolutely.

Do it.

So, wow.

Protect their peace a little bit, you know?

Yeah, I mean, I would think that that would take a human touch.

I was like, I wonder what kind of automated system could be built to manage that.

Yeah, it had to be probably pretty intelligent and pretty expensive if even possible.

Right?

Okay, so, all right, wow, this has been, this has really been exciting.

And so now you're full time with the more sales and education.

Tell us what that role entails in terms of like, you know, day in the life or high level overview or something like that.

I mean, I know you talked about a, but like specifically, like how many people do you manage and the sales side, like what does that look like?

Yeah, absolutely.

So we, I consider us, I mean the brand is now eleven years old and I still consider us pretty small.

So we work with, you know, just under like 1000 Aveda sponsors in North America, which maybe sounds like a lot, but there are 5000 of them and so lots of opportunities still.

So, you know, truly I have, I have a director of operations who's incredible at systems and efficacy and dealing with our vendors and things like that.

I have an executive director who is my boss who is great at holding me accountable for my tasks.

And then I have a team of people under me that flexes but is 25 ish or so total.

And altogether we run this brand for North America.

And for me, day to day is, it's important for me to be on the road still in salons, talking to stylists, also either teaching or shadowing my educators, teaching so that I can continue to understand how our curriculum is working and what needs to be improved upon.

So I usually travel, I would say, you know, seven to ten days out of the month.

And then the rest of it is, I'm here in my home office in New Orleans, and then the days at home are very, I always tell hairdressers, I'm like, it's not fun job, it's not cool job.

It's like, you zoom calls with, with our finance department and trying to defend our budget, and did we make our monthly sales goal?

And so I like that because I have that part of me, I have that part of my brain that enjoys that.

But nothing, nothing.

There's nothing better than getting it back into the salon, feet on the ground, and hearing from hairdressers like this.

What's going on?

Like, what's new, what's cool, what are, what hairdressers need, what is our industry?

You know, because I know a lot of our competitor brands, when it comes to the hair extension industry, are not owned or ran by hairdressers.

They are often purchased by holding companies.

And, you know, and so I think it's important for us to keep that communication and to understand that, you know, the success of our brand is really to communicate and work from what we would say, what we would call from the art artist up, you know, as opposed to focusing on the salon owner down or what have you.

Nice, nice.

Okay, cool.

Well, this story, I mean, this all sounds really exciting and not complex, but intricate.

And, you know, a lot, a lot of moving parts, a lot of people, it sounds like there's a lot of people in your world that help you maintain everything that you do.

So we got relationships.

We got challenges.

We talked about overcome what I overcome them, the importance of those.

So I guess, to wrap this up, how would you like to sign off?

I was thinking, like, if somebody is interested in having such a dynamic career, which I feel like, you know, we talked a lot.

We go and talked a lot to the students at schools, and they really, they.

The whole multiple revenue stream thing and, and, uh, and being way too bored with the thought of doing the same thing every day forever.

Uh, maybe I'm thinking, like, that person, I would like you to say, give, like, a piece of advice or words of wisdom or, or, or concluding thoughts and then anything else that you would like to add to sign off with.

Yeah, awesome.

Thank you.

I think, man, this is, this is so easy.

Easily said and hard to do, but not burning bridges.

I mean, like, we are in our industry is a small world, and every instance that you get the chance to connect with somebody, I know you're doing these brunch events that have been growing.

And somebody may think, a young hairdresser may think that's not a space for them that they should be interested in, or why should I have to network with other hairdressers?

I'll just be on my social media and build my clientele and have my salon suite, you know, but if you want to do different things in life and, you know, I talked to, this is, again going back to, like, when I managed hairdressers in the salon space and now helping to manage, or, I don't know, mentor our educators.

You know, some of them have been behind the chair for 15 years, and their bodies are not holding up like they used to.

And so sometimes out of necessity and then sometimes out, of course, boredom, like you said, it's time to seek other things out.

And being open to, what does that look like?

You know, like, I know so many hairdressers in the world think that they're not in sales, but they are.

And so keeping in mind, you know, that education is sales and sales is education, and those lines blur really easily.

And you can be incredible at both if you know what you're doing and why you're doing it.

But keeping those relationships strong, don't.

Don't let your mentors get away from you and, you know, take every opportunity you can.

Go to the hairdresser, strong brunch, go to serious business, even though you might think it's not what you need right now.

You'll find some.

You'll walk away with something.

Go to the trade shows, if that's.

That will ignite your creativity for the next year.

Go see what's new.

Go be around creative types.

I think just an overall open view of the opportunities that our industry can bring to you is super important.

Important.

And so often we get real, like, strong tunnel vision.

So that would be my advice to that.

To that person.

Nice.

Awesome.

I love this.

Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you, and I thank you so much for taking the time, and I'm sure somebody will have gotten a lot of value out of hearing your story.

So thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, well, until next time, we'll talk later.

I look forward to it.

Thanks.