Coral Pleas along with her son and business partner, Travis Scheuer, of Cutting Loose Salon hosts Sarasota area Intercoiffure member salons and partnered with top cosmetology school educators for an open discussion. Other Salon owners in attendance include: Terry McKee and James Amato from Nuovo Salon Group, James and Christine Griffith from James Griffith Salon and Desmond and Caroline Behan from Yellow Strawberry Salon LWR.

Schools represented were: Fashion Focus Academy, Meridian College, Manatee Technical College and Paul Mitchell School.

This collaborative event came out of the idea of partnership between top salons and schools to best prepare new talent on the reality of working for a salon that has a structured continuing education and mentorship program. What is the limit to achieving career and income goals? Why work in a commission based salon?

Throughout the evening each salon owner presented to the school leaders the real income potential that is possible when a graduate chooses a salon that invests time and money on further education. Also, the ease of having marketing, reservationists and other benefits such as paid vacation, healthcare and 401K.

Coral Pleas ended the presentation by sharing The State of our Industry from Steph Fox of Talent Match. The analysis was recently presented at the Intercoiffure Spring Atelier.

This led to a lively group dialog with the school leaders sharing tips for these Intercoiffure owners to gain the attention of their students. It turns out that many graduates can be intimidated to interview fresh from school at a high end salon. Tina Black of Paul Mitchell School, shared the relationship needs to begin early in the students’ education. Owners and recent graduates should consistently visit the school, interact with students and create a comfort level. Tina further suggested to frequently book services with students and get to know them on a personal level as part of the recruiting plan.

James Amato co-owner of Nuovo Salon Group “When a graduate accepts a position at one of our salons, it’s like getting your Masters degree”

All agreed that the statistics published regarding income potential for talented and highly educated stylists was far too low. Getting out the message on real income potential when a stylist commits to a further education salon was a priority. Coral Pleas stated her commitment to “raising the level of excellence in our industry”

This group is dedicated to future gatherings for developing this plan for the continued growth of the profession.