Although I’ve always found great satisfaction in helping clients feel beautiful, confident, and empowered, there was a time when I felt isolated and uninspired. I wanted to connect with other stylists and work for bigger things, but I didn’t know how.

Then two events changed my perspective. First, my daughter Stella was diagnosed with leukemia. My salon community stepped in to help, organizing a Cut-a-Thon fundraiser that netted over $30,000 for our medical expenses. I was amazed by the power of the salon community. (And I’m delighted to tell you that Stella made a full recovery!)

This helped me understand our power for local action, but a second event shaped my global ambitions. In 2015 I traveled to Havana to learn about the Cuban salon industry. There I met Gilberto Valladares (“Papito”), founder of Artecorte.

Artecorte Salon has reached beyond the beauty industry, leading community-based projects for neighborhood beautification, professional training, and start-up businesses. Papito attracts talented and ambitious people to participate in Artecorte projects, and everyone works with a deep sense of purpose and fulfillment. I have joined several Artecorte projects: hairstyling education for deaf students, fashion shows in remote villages, and even weekly dance parties for neighborhood senior citizens.

Today I am working with Artecorte on a collective art project for barbers and hairstylists around the world. I am collecting used shears for a giant scissors sculpture expressing the unified spirit of the international stylist community. The “Scissors for Cuba” project is helping me spread the word about Artecorte, and inspiring stylists to think about the untapped power of the global salon community.

Scissors for Cuba is just the tip of the iceberg:  I will be working on more projects with Artecorte in my capacity as North American Outreach Coordinator. Our goal is to expand this network of industry connections, building an international organization to take on even bigger goals in the future.

In addition to my work with Artecorte, I continue to teach through my 3 To Be Me Concept Salon. The “3 To Be Me Concept” is my own technique for client consultations; I developed this concept early in my career and have been teaching it to other stylists ever since. Our beauty schools often do great work teaching techniques and even business management, but they rarely offer meaningful instruction about how to communicate with clients. My goal is to fill that gap.

In addition to these salon-based projects, I am active with childhood cancer organizations including Be The Match; Children’s Healing Art Project (where I am a board member); and my own holiday tradition Rockstar Stella Gives Light.

I know I can make a difference with my energy and commitment, along with my gift for energizing people around me. I plan to devote more attention to education and grassroots organization in the coming years, and I want to inspire other stylists to do the same. When beauty industry professionals work together, we can accomplish real change in our communities, and in the world!

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