MBA
It’s that point of the year again. The North American Hairdressing Awards Ceremony or NAHA is here. Before we kick off the celebration, get to grasp our finalists for this year’s competition. MODERN SALON recently spoke to the North American Hairdressing Awards or NAHA finalists. These uber-talented stylists invested considerable time, talent and effort into their entries. Click the name of the (Bryan Nunes, Beth and Ian Weber, Tina Morschauser and Gretchen Brown, Matthew Morris and Marvin Gutierrez, Susan Haise) you wish to meet.
Don’t forget to tune in on July 14, 2013 at 10pm EST for the EXCLUSIVE live broadcast of the 2013 NAHA Awards Gala at modernsalon.com/naha. And you’ll want to join the conversations on twitter with the hashtag #NAHALIVE.
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Bryan Nunes
Blo
What did you do in case you figured out you were a NAHA 2013 finalist? Who did you tell/call first?
“I had set a reminder on my phone for April 30th at 12:00pm, every week before I submitted my entry, because I knew the announcements will be made then. As fate would have it, i used to be teaching an in-salon class to our associates in our Blossom program and missed the alarm completely. However, after I picked up my phone during a break, I had an alert that a fellow PBA member, Kitty Tierney, tagged me in a post on Facebook. Although the alert gave not more details, I knew the importance of the day and assumed what it was about. I taught a number of the day without telling anyone as i did not like to disrupt the category. There has been something quite satisfying in enjoying the instant for myself for about a hours. The word got out quickly so i did not really need to tell anyone. It’s amazing how big the spotlight is on NAHA and that i feel privileged to have Blo named as a finalist for a second time.”
Describe your inspiration, vision and theme to your NAHA entry.
“The foundation for entering comes from a want to dissect all aspects of my business and identify areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The entry process for the MBA provides a looking glass opportunity for me to spot areas that we will improve. i locate it more difficult to lift my awareness about these areas without slowing down and reflecting on the entire different aspects that make up a successful business. I’m extraordinarily pleased with our team here and feel a responsibility to share that for them.”
How has entering NAHA made you an easier hairdresser?
“Competition makes everyone better. Competition under this kind of spotlight challenges a degree of accountability. It challenges me to maintain moving forward. This can be a great thing.”
What year did you first enter NAHA? Who helped or inspired you?
“i used to be lucky enough to be named a finalist last year on our first entry. The class was the foundation. i really like the business side of items in addition to the creative side. I’m glad that NAHA continues to feature categories that fall in keeping with the strengths and passions of everyone that make this industry strong. So far as help goes, everybody who has ever worked for this company has contributed in some form to this entry. There’s something to take from everyone.”
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Beth and Ian Weber
Studio Be Salon
What did you do after you discovered you were a NAHA 2013 finalist? Who did you tell/call first?
“Our management team was experiencing a bit sleep deprivation the night before in anticipation. Looking ahead to the finalist announcement was almost agonizing, we need to have clicked refresh at the website no less than two dozen times. Being that we were the last salon to be announced in our category, it was almost surreal to work out our name and photos appear at the screen. i need to assert that we handled it like true business professionals, but i might be lying if I said there wasn’t lots of jumping up and down. Here is something that we worked so hard for, so it was amazing to determine that work be recognized. The very first thing we did is share the scoop with our guest, team, family and friends via Facebook. Probably the most core elements of our culture is celebration and we typically don’t hesitate to share that celebration with the folk who support us everyday.”
Describe your inspiration, vision and theme on your NAHA entry.
“Our inspiration is and has always been our Studio Be family. Our team of excellent professionals inspires us to be the most efficient that we will be. We recognized immediately that even the accomplishment of being chosen as a finalist is a lot more than a victory for the business side of our company. If it wasn’t for our brand ambassadors putting our systems into practice, we wouldn’t have this honor to celebrate. Beyond that, our vision is pretty simple. We have now always been obsessed with changing our industry as an entire. We wish to raise up individuals to become not just great hairstylists but in addition, strong business-minded professionals. Because of this it’s such an honor for us to be recognized for the salon MBA.”
How has entering NAHA made you a higher hairdresser?
“Speaking for our entire team, it may honestly be said that the muse and education that comes from both NAHA and the PBA as an entire is invaluable in making us better in every way. Seeing the absolutely astonishing work created by this year’s professionals has both inspired and pushed us to continue improving. Being a finalist alongside the superior hair salons in North America, has encouraged us to set our sights way beyond what we thought can be accomplished.”
What is (and when was) probably the most NAHA-worthy work you’ve ever created for an exact paying client?
“This can be a great questions because we’ve got the honour of building MBA, NAHA-worthy work everyday. Our passion for customer support drives us to providing the absolute best guest experience to each single client. Our wonderful team of brand name ambassadors is inspired to regard everyone to a similar consistent NAHA-worthy service whatever the situation. This permits us to have passion when serving our clients and drives celebration even from small daily victories.”
What year did you first enter NAHA? Who helped or inspired you?
“Here is our first year. Our entire team helped and inspired us to create our NAHA submission. Each person in our salon family plays a task in developing the systems and culture that we’re bring recognized for and we couldn’t have done it without their help.”
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Tina Morschauser and Gretchen Brown
REJUVENATION SPA, INC.
What did you do if you discovered you were a NAHA 2013 finalist? Who did you tell/call first?
“i discovered out that we were nominated for NAHA by a Facebook status, a fellow colleague had mentioned it. I had actually just set to work and was sitting by Gretchen, my business partner, and screamed, “ Yeah baby!”
Describe your inspiration, vision and theme in your NAHA entry.
“Rejuvenation Spa was in a position to show consistent growth even in the course of the downturn of the economy. We believe a part of that success is that we double shift, double book and provide all of our stylists with the tools, excluding shears, had to be ready to move fluidly from one station to a different. We’ve also instituted the HeadMapping color system founded by Walter Claudio, which helps to eliminate waste of color and creates a systemized team method to haircolor. The culture created is one where all team members are conversant in all team and individual benchmarks, and what has to be achieved for continued success.”
How has entering NAHA made you a closer hairdresser?
“Filling out the entry makes me look at our business systems and operation with a good tooth comb. i spotted in a short time where we excel and what areas we’d like improvement on. We bring the appliance process with us to our yearly planning retreat to determine what areas we have to talk about. I even have a niece who works at Starbucks and a chum who works at Southwest Airlines, so i’m constantly asking them questions on their handbooks, systems, operation procedures, customer support policies and coaching. We applied to NAHA in 2010,2012 and 2013 and were nominees all three years.”
What year did you first enter NAHA? Who helped or inspired you?
“Rejuvenation Spa have been nominated as a NAHA MBA finalist in 2010, 2012 and 2013. The business has also been named the Salon Today Top 200 fastest growing salons for the past 11 consecutive years and was an international Salon Business Award winner within the Team Category in 2004.”
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Matthew Morris and Marvin Gutierrez
Matthew Morris Salon and Skincare
What did you do once you came upon you were a NAHA 2013 finalist? Who did you tell/call first?
“My manager, who had uploaded all our entries, called me over to observe the video during an ideal busy day within the salon. As we watched, i used to be thrilled to peer our salon was nominated thrice. People started gathering from the salon around us and everybody watched it many times. We posted it on Facebook immediately. However, it was bitter-sweet, because I knew friends that entered some amazing image, who weren’t nominated.”
Describe your inspiration, vision and theme to your NAHA entry.
“Honestly, we just followed the directions for commercial, wearable men’s hairstyles. I pictured styles that were exaggerated, but could easily be seen in the street.”
How has entering NAHA made you an easier hairdresser?
“Entering NAHA heightens your attention to detail. In case you think it’s perfect, it is not. NAHA does you a favor by pushing yourself and making your work better.”
What year did you first enter NAHA? Who helped or inspired you?
“I first entered NAHA in 2005, and won Editorial Hairstylist of the Year.”
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Susan Haise
Neroli Salon & Spa
What did you do if you happen to discovered you were a NAHA 2013 finalist? Who did you tell/call first?
“We celebrated and recognized our leadership team. 70 hairstylists were invited with the corporate, covering hotel and NAHA ticket costs.”
MS: Describe your inspiration, vision and theme on your NAHA entry.
“We all know how hard that is to run a salon and spa and our inspiration, vision and focus was simple – giving real strategies that experience real results.”
MS: What year did you first enter NAHA? Who helped or inspired you?
“Considering it is a new category, our first time entering was 2011. Your creative business leaders are my inspiration to me.”
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