TAYLOR ANDREWS ACADEMY - ST GEORGE

Nicholas French

Last week our students and staff were able to attend a class featuring Nicholas French at our West Jordan location. Nicholas French has won several North American Hairstyling Awards. He also works with Matrix out of their New York Global Academy. This class was such an inspiration! For me who has been in the industry for 8 years now, I needed to be inspired about hair again. And for the students who are just starting in the industry, it was something to keep them going.

Nicholas first started with a unconventional way of cutting beautiful seamless layers.

As you can see here, he was teasing the hair and then all the left over hair he was just cutting off. The entire class gasped the first time he did it, and the model took it pretty well (as you can see in the picture). The haircut turned out beautifully, but you would have to try this on someone that completely trusts you with their hair, otherwise I think the client would freak out!

 Next he did some dresswork. Here are some pics from the class.

 

 

 

NEW YEAR ~ NEW GOALS

Well we made it to 2009!!! It is finally here my favorite time of year. Only because I really love to set goals and achieve goals.

This week at our staff meeting we had our staff bring a summary of their 1 year, 3 year, and 5 years goals. I think it is so important to do this every so often. The thing is most people have no idea, and thus go nowhere.

It is time for you to make a DREAMBOARD! What is a dreamboard? It is pictures, words, and whatever else you would like to add that compiles your goals and dreams. I have made several Dreamboards over the course of the last 5 years, and in the last 5 years I have accomplished incredible things. I decided I would make a DREAMBOARD for my blog. So here are some things I want in 2009!

     

      TRAVEL                        BABY

     

HEALTH

                                Growth

                              

                                                                                         Friends (not the tv show)

        growing relationshipsMONEY TREE (WHO DOESN’T WANT A MONEY TREE?)

knowledge   

DESTINATION REJUVINATION

This week I had the pleasure of attending a retreat called Destination Rejuvination in Laguna Beach, CA. This retreat is something that cannot be put into words, it is that amazing. Every woman needs to treat themselves to something like this at least once a year. I have been lucky enough to attend it twice this year and both times have returned to the real world with a new outlook on life.

  Mary Wilson (on the right) is the woman who put this enitre retreat together, she is incredible and I am so happy she envisioned this destination. Her son Tyler (in the middle) visited us at the retreat a couple of days and I had the pleasure of having a great conversation with him over lunch, and he is such an amazing 11 year old. Ann Mincey (on the left) is Redken's Global Communications Director (she is the happy Redken lady). The retreat is based off of Ann's book "You Are a Star Right Where You Are" which I would recommend to anyone and everyone. It is a book based on realizing we are all stars and we just have to create more balance in our lives to shine brighter.

I got to meet so many new and wonderful women, and was lucky to have some of my own staff and other Taylor Andrews staff there too. This was such a beautiful bonding between women from around the country. And again hard to put into words.

                      This was one view from the great Surf and Sand Resort where the retreat was held at. This is one resort that everyone needs to visit. The staff are so genuinely friendly and helpful, I wish that my staff could see and learn from them. Not to mention that our rooms overlooked the ocean, and at night they would turn down our beds and turn on relaxing music. We would sleep with our door open to the balcony and listen to the waves crashing. I love this place!!!

I am so grateful for the richness in my life. Including my husband who always supports me in everything I want to accomplish, my family who made me who I am today, my staff who understands my vision and helps me in making my dreams come true, and of course my students who without them I would be nowhere. They inspire me every day to become better in many ways and I truly love them.

I want to especially thank Cassi, Jaclyn, and Christie who came with me and made the trip even better. I am so lucky to have all of you in my life. Thanks!

Beautiful Southern Utah

  Last weekend me and my husband and a couple of our friends visited the national park - Zion. I just had no idea how beautiful these canyons were. And the best of all is they are right in our own backyard. While we visited the park I realized how many people from around the world come to beautiful southern Utah to see Zion. We were the minority who spoke english. From what I saw most of the people were from Europe. Which just blew my mind that I have lived here in St George for a year and a half and I've lived in Utah my entire life and never visited something that people travel thousands of miles to see. It made me realize how truly blessed we are to live in such a beautiful place.   

Update

Life has been crazy since July. Let me catch you up on a few things. Later in July we attended the NAHA's (North American Hairstyling Awards) in Las Vegas. We did not have any nominations ourselves, but we did have over 200 students from Taylor Andrews Academy's. Which was incredible in itself. We are already working on NAHA nominations for next year. My husband is determined to get a nomination in Salon Design of the Year. He is already remodeling things to help make it perfect. That's why I love him.

July was an incredible month for me personally, because my husband finally moved down to St George full-time. He left his career as a firefighter, and has now joined our team at Taylor Andrews as the Business Director. Everyone loves having him around because he has a different perspective on things and that helps us in so many different ways. He has taken many of my responsibilities so I can focus on signing up students, and making a difference in the school.

Then August started and wow, it came and went. During August we went to the park and played "Shot in the Arm". It is a team building game that proved very beneficial in helping the students understand they are all on the same team trying to get to the same goal of graduating and starting an amazing career.

We also did a photoshoot in August with Abbie Warnock. I had personally never shot with Abbie, but had seen some of her work and loved it. We ended up loving her high energy and creative abilities, and we got some incredible photos. Thanks Abbie!

 

 

 

Now that we are halfway through September. Jami our Student Services Director has moved to Salt Lake to help open the new Orem Taylor Andrews Academy. She will be greatly missed by me, our staff, and students. But we know she will do an amazing job up there.  Thanks for everything Jami!!!

 

........FINALLY!

Hello - I have been meaning to put together a blog for quite some time, and finally it's here. I want this to be all about the best industry in the world BEAUTY!!!! For those of you who are part of this industry you know exactly what I am talking about, and for those of you who are not, you will! What is the beauty industry all about? Well lets start where I did - Beauty School! I went to beauty school in 2001 - 7 years ago. I had my choice of several not so great schools, but that didn't stop me. I picked one based on how soon class was starting, once I had decided to go to beauty school there was no stopping me. My one year and 3 months during beauty school was quite life changing. First I married my amazing husband, and next I met some of the most amazing people that still inspire me to this day! Looking back now, I never knew how much joining this industry would change my life. I just wanted to be a hairdresser. So that is where I started. I worked as an assistant to the first person that changed my life in this industry, Jen Steadman. I was not a normal assistant or what most people would call shampoo slave. Jen taught me everything so that I could be successful in the salon. This was my first great step to where I am now. While I assisted with Jen I started building my own clientelle. It went great, and by the time I graduated my assitant training program my salon owners had asked me to be the Bumble and Bumble network educator for our salon. And now I was onto the next great step. I got to travel to New York City to the Bumble and Bumble U for an entire week, that is where I learned how to educate. I then got to travel back to NYC to learn more about the product line. I educated in the salon for several months. That is when I was first introduced to Taylor Andrews Academy - it was December 2003, I was a guest artist for their students. The Creative Director for Taylor Andrews was one of my former instructors during beauty school, Allison Price. She asked me if I would like to instruct one day a week at the school. That is how I began working with Taylor Andrews. She then persuaded me six months later to leave the salon where I had built a great clientelle and work as a full-time instructor for Taylor Andrews Academy. Although it was such a big decision, it wasn't too hard, because I love teaching more than anything I had done in the salon. When Taylor Andrews Academy opened their second location in Layton, Utah about a year later, I was promoted to the Artistic Director of Taylor Andrews West Jordan. After a couple of years I just wanted more, that is where the conception of Taylor Andrews St George came about. My incredible husband supported me in the decision to open our own Taylor Andrews Academy in St George, Utah. We opened our school one year ago! It is now a fully running Beauty School, we have courses in Cosmetology and Esthetics. We have the most amazing staff that anyone could ask for, and our students are equally amazing. I feel like the luckiest person in the world. And that is what this blog is all about!...........FINALLY!