Crafting a Career in Cosmetology: Insights from Professor Stephanie McLemore

In today’s episode Michelle interviews Stephanie McLemore, Assistant Professor in the Cosmetology Program at College of DuPage, to explore the dynamic world of cosmetology. Stephanie shares the wide range of career opportunities available in the field, the essential skills needed to thrive, and how students can get started. Learn about the hands-on training, industry insights, and supportive community offered through the College of DuPage’s Cosmetology Program. Whether you're curious about the beauty industry or ready to take the next step, this episode is packed with practical tips and motivation to help you shine.

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Transcript

00:00:01:13 - 00:00:03:21
Unknown
Welcome to the Career Ready podcast.

00:00:03:21 - 00:00:12:18
Unknown
Learn about resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn, interviewing and all the things you need to be career ready with the Career Services Center at College of DuPage.

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Unknown
I'm Michel Malik, your host for today's episode.

00:00:15:17 - 00:00:35:11
Unknown
In addition to learning about resources and the job search process, an important part of being career ready is understanding career paths to help us explore the field of cosmetology. I have Stephanie Macklemore with me, who works as an assistant professor in the cosmetology program at College of DuPage. We're excited to have you on the podcast today.

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Unknown
Stephanie.

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Unknown
Thank you for having me.

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Unknown
So we wanted to start off with our first question and ask, can you share a short introduction or as we like to call it, your elevator

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pitch for you and your program?

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Unknown
Absolutely.

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Unknown
Well, my name is, Stephanie J. Macklemore, and I am an assistant professor or aka instructor, you know, to the students at the cosmetology program here at College of DuPage.

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Unknown
I

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actually have been in the field of cosmetology

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Unknown
for a very long time, like 100 years. I love that, and no, that's what I tell my students. So I've actually graduated in the cosmetology industry in 1991, and so I can now go on later about the experiences that I've had in the industry.

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Unknown
But cosmetology is my passion. The beauty industry is my passion. And I will tell you a lot more about myself, because when I tell you I have a ton of experience that I can share with my students, is still excites me. So today, and we have an amazing cosmetology program and how I started teaching there. I am alumni to code, and I was in my advisor session with, I believe Dana is wonderful.

00:01:59:12 - 00:02:21:25
Unknown
Yes. And she found out, you know, just through conversation that I had a cosmetology instructor's license and I was working on an associate's, degree program, just in general studies. And she was like, well, what are you waiting on to take that math class? She was like, get over there and take the math class and get over there and help our program chair.

00:02:21:25 - 00:02:39:27
Unknown
Her name is Mia Boyd, and help me out and become an instructor. Once you have that associate's degree, because that's one of the requirements. And I haven't looked back since. We have an amazing and I say like we're leading in the industry now, we are very popular and we have a huge waiting list for our program.

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Unknown
Oh that's exciting.

00:02:40:28 - 00:02:51:06
Unknown
Yeah, I love that. And I love how you were able to find out about that position through Dana and it just goes to show how having those connections is really important.

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Unknown
Absolutely, absolutely. And I would have never known I

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kind of heard about the cosmetology program, but had I not did the necessary, like being a responsible student going to my advisor.

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And Dana developed a relationship with me

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Unknown
as a student and my advisor and found out dug a little deeper about my career path. And she was like, wait a minute, you're a cosmetology instructor. She's like me and needs your help over there. And I didn't know that you needed an associates degree to teach there, which it all lined up.

00:03:23:01 - 00:03:45:14
Unknown
And I've been working in the cosmic program since 2019, and as of 2023, I became full time faculty in the fall, on a tenure track. So congrats. Yeah, it's a lot, you know, like a lot of of, elevating in my career in promotions. And it's just been crazy amazing.

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Unknown
And I think it's great, too, that you still have knowledge to share with students, and your guidance is probably so valuable to them.

00:03:52:21 - 00:04:11:16
Unknown
Oh, awesome. Yes, absolutely. And that's important to me as an instructor. The, the path that I've taken, whether it was successful or not, I'm able to help them stay on a good path to success. Based off of my experiences in this industry.

00:04:11:16 - 00:04:19:28
Unknown
Yeah. And I think some of the challenges, too, that we face in our career paths also teach us a lot about ourselves and maybe what we like or what we don't like.

00:04:20:01 - 00:04:41:22
Unknown
Oh my God, yes. And we could talk about that because I just taught we have a class called Salon Operations. And in that class, we have in the curriculum, our curriculum was, you know, designed a redesigned by Miss Boyd, and we have vision boards. Oh, I love that. I taught. Right. And that's one of my favorite things to do.

00:04:41:22 - 00:05:06:00
Unknown
I like affirmations, I like making vision boards. I like kind of glancing at them and seeing that I'm like knocking out the goals and I'm tackling the world and getting all my visions, coming to fruition. And so the students did an amazing job. And like you said, with having experience, I'm able to tell them like, this is doable, right?

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Unknown
You got this. Or even if I don't know it, I may know someone from networking and I can point them in the right direction. So it's been amazing.

00:05:16:09 - 00:05:22:25
Unknown
Wonderful. Thanks for that summary and I'm excited to learn more. Yes. You're welcome. Thank you for asking.

00:05:22:25 - 00:05:29:01
Unknown
our next question is can you talk a little about the cosmetology field and the different career paths it can lead to?

00:05:29:01 - 00:05:47:10
Unknown
Absolutely. The Cosmo metallurgy field is multifaceted, and there are a plethora of career paths you can take within the beauty industry. I'll talk about my personal journey. I have done hair for.

00:05:47:11 - 00:06:09:09
Unknown
Okay, there's a finger wave story. Do you know what finger waves I was? I think I may yeah, please enlighten okay, so it's from the 90s from like the 26, 1926 era, the flapper era. And it kind of just comes back around and we have to teach it, and it actually really frustrates our students, which is hilarious to me.

00:06:09:16 - 00:06:37:13
Unknown
But they eventually, before they leave, they get it. But it's something that they try to run away from. And I always tell the story. If I hadn't learned how to do finger waves, I wouldn't have never got my first opportunity to work on motion pictures or feelings. The movie industry, that was really, really at one point, I'm sure it was kind of slowed down, but at one point in the 90s, late 90s, early 2000, there were a lot of films.

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Unknown
And think about like the movies like Chicago Fire, like, you know, those sitcoms and series, a lot is filmed here in our city, and we don't know it. We have a big movie industry, here in Chicago. So I knew I got that first job because my coworker said, you know how to do finger waves. My aunt is a key hairstylist on this movie, and I want you to come in, you know, join us.

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Unknown
And I'm like, are you serious? So I tell them that I said

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Unknown
I got to work under an Emmy nominated hairstylist on my first movie that I did hair for, and it was because I knew how to do finger waves and it just took off from there.

00:07:18:00 - 00:07:30:28
Unknown
So also furthering my career. I work for a big beauty brand company, and I'll say the name because I'm really proud of it. For years, I traveled as a national educator for L'Oreal for their

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Unknown
multicultural

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division, and I learned about the products, I taught consumers about the products. I even taught their call center about how to use these products.

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Unknown
So there are so many like we go through it in our curriculum where you can work on a movie set, you can work on a cruise ship, you can you can be a color is, you know, specialize in hair cutting. There are so many opportunities in our industry. I've done R&B videos before. So the students love these stories, and and they.

00:08:06:04 - 00:08:11:00
Unknown
And that's how you to gain respect in the classroom. Because not only

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we have these opportunities available, a lot of our teachers have so many different experiences, and we make up a great team of experiences. And then we, you know, share with our students and we see them do some amazing things when they graduate.

00:08:25:25 - 00:08:28:26
Unknown
our school is very affordable.

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Unknown
if someone is looking to go to beauty school and they look up and compare our program to private programs, we are extremely affordable, which I love because it's already a struggle trying to go to school and become this professional that you desire, and you have to manage your life at the same time.

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Unknown
We also have

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great

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onsite professional girls that are very experienced in our career. We have an excellent reputation which I love to be a part of with the dedicated instructors, and we also

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Unknown
have convenient class time, which makes it very easy for you to go in the daytime or in the evening time.

00:09:17:03 - 00:09:25:24
Unknown
So you just have to pick one that works for you. If you are interested in coming to our cosmetology program here at Colby.

00:09:25:24 - 00:09:28:22
Unknown
Yeah, I love the variety in your industry.

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Unknown
Like I didn't even think, okay, you could work on a cruise ship. I never thought of that.

00:09:33:16 - 00:09:48:09
Unknown
We we actually have a couple of students, this recent graduating class, one of our students is going to work for Disney. Oh. That's great. She's moving to Florida. She's going to do here for the resort, for the Disney, franchise.

00:09:48:09 - 00:10:14:16
Unknown
Yep. So that's amazing. It seems like there's lots of opportunity. Lots of opportunity, lots of opportunities. You could be a wedding, hairstylist, like, you know, special occasion up do's. So it's just so many things you could do if you want to specialize in nail technology or if you want to pick, hairstyling only, or if you want to become, and, you know, popular in the skincare industry.

00:10:14:18 - 00:10:37:07
Unknown
We do have a student that also has her own skincare line. Oh that's great. So these are things that you learn about, we we test products and we talk about them. We do, balance testing. So they, they're open to a lot of different things that they didn't even think about before they graduate. And then you just watch them just flourish in the industry.

00:10:37:07 - 00:10:39:10
Unknown
Yeah. It seems like it opens up their whole world.

00:10:39:10 - 00:10:45:02
Unknown
It does, it does. And it's exciting to be to be a part of the journey. Yeah.

00:10:45:02 - 00:10:57:25
Unknown
So going along with that, what skills or strengths do students gain while completing the cosmetology program or even after they've graduated? And you hit on some of those points? But if you'd like to, say a little bit more about that.

00:10:57:25 - 00:11:22:09
Unknown
Absolutely. As you could tell, I'm very passionate and most hairstylists are very passionate about this industry. And we're underestimated, because most of the time if you go tell your parents, like, I want to be a hairstylist, they're like, why? But then you get out and you get with a great school like our school, I love our school, by the way.

00:11:22:11 - 00:11:50:05
Unknown
You get what the great school. And you learn what the possibilities are, and you then share with your family and then they become your biggest cheerleaders. And that's what we find in a program. So the biggest skill, Michel, is your soft skills, learning how to communicate properly. So we have five people skill, practices. We do a lot of role plays.

00:11:50:07 - 00:12:13:24
Unknown
So learning first how to treat people. Well, how to understand what service means, how to protect people. Because you have clients that experience hair loss. You have clients that have some things going on with their hair or their skin and they don't know. So it's you have to be very empathetic and you have to be a people person first.

00:12:13:26 - 00:12:39:24
Unknown
And then you have you learn cutting skills, you learn how to foil. We just did foils in chemical class, and the students were excited because they were timed and they did 50 foils in 30 minutes. So you learn all those practical skills. But I think the most important skill set is to have the best personality and learn how to deal with people and respect

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Unknown
your client and respect their privacy, and learn how to work with your team and learn how to build with your team and be a team player.

00:12:48:01 - 00:12:52:04
Unknown
So I think that's the most important skill set

00:12:52:04 - 00:13:00:22
Unknown
for sure. So it sounds like the collaboration piece and also communication and customer service that's like the foundation of the industry.

00:13:00:22 - 00:13:10:02
Unknown
1,000%, 1,000%. And and we have a great team, which I miss. Boyd again, I'll mention her because she's really amazing.

00:13:10:02 - 00:13:16:05
Unknown
We really respect her and she's doing some great things with our program, and she has

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Unknown
formed a really good collaborative team.

00:13:18:16 - 00:13:36:00
Unknown
We're very cohesive and we all speak the same code, love language. So then that goes to the student and the student then, respects us as well. And we just have a really good time in that program. I love to hear that. Thank you. Thank you.

00:13:36:00 - 00:13:41:23
Unknown
Are there any different experiences or opportunities you recommend that developing professionals seek out?

00:13:41:23 - 00:13:50:12
Unknown
So what I like about College of DuPage is cosmetology program is we have our internship program,

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Unknown
which is rare. I've worked at another school before and that was not a thing. And so coming here and learning how to do the internship program, I'm one of the the instructors that teaches, internship.

00:14:04:16 - 00:14:20:28
Unknown
This is the best experience that a student can get, which is the real life hands on experience. So they have to find their own salon to work in. And the faculty advisor, which would be the instructor, would then

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Unknown
communicate with the salon owner. And they have to come up with these learning goals. So it caters to the different types of salons.

00:14:29:12 - 00:15:00:19
Unknown
So let's say if it's like a Great Clips where they do mostly cutting your learning goals are going to be, specific to haircutting and then also managing the reception area, managing the front desk, managing retail products, you know, just learning about how Great Clips operates, in front and behind the scenes, doing sanitation, shampooing the clients. Or let's say it's a salon that specializes mostly in color techniques.

00:15:00:25 - 00:15:28:03
Unknown
So your learning goals, again, are going to cater to whatever type of salon that you choose. I love this, they have to spend 150 hours real time in the salon, no more than eight hours a day per state law, but they get so much more hands on experience than being in the classroom, and then they feel comfortable when they graduate.

00:15:28:03 - 00:15:54:21
Unknown
They've already had a taste of being in the salon, and most of them end up staying at the places that they choose for internship. And then alongside of that, we as a cosmetology program. Now we have this database of amazing salon partners that then some of them become our advisors for the program. So we have this like established relationship, with our salon partners.

00:15:54:21 - 00:16:04:13
Unknown
And it's just amazing for the students. And I wish all schools would do something like that. Like it's I didn't have that right. I didn't have that. It's just like,

00:16:04:13 - 00:16:14:18
Unknown
graduating from, you know, your four year degree program and then you spent time like, let's say if you chose marketing, doing your internship in marketing, why is that a rare thing?

00:16:14:18 - 00:16:29:29
Unknown
But Cody has it, and it's the best. I mean, it kind of like reiterates everything that they've been already taught in the classroom that our instructors, you know, we have taught. And so that that part is just incredibly amazing.

00:16:29:29 - 00:16:36:26
Unknown
Oh, yeah. That's that's such a great opportunity just to apply, like you said, the skills in the classroom to a real world experience.

00:16:36:26 - 00:16:38:00
Unknown
Yes, yes,

00:16:38:00 - 00:16:49:18
Unknown
what about with your program? What are you doing in the program here at College of DuPage to prepare students for the field? I mean, you talked about a lot of wonderful opportunities, but if there's anything else you'd like to add, we'd love to hear it.

00:16:49:18 - 00:16:53:15
Unknown
Absolutely. First of all, when we are

00:16:53:15 - 00:17:14:21
Unknown
when the students are close to being finished, at the end of the program, we get them ready for state board testing. That's a priority because you can't you may do your search certificate program with us to, you know, go through 1500 hours. That's required by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation.

00:17:14:23 - 00:17:42:00
Unknown
So you spend that time with us. And then at the end of your senior year, we do license review, which is again, very rare, not common at all. License review is designed, again designed, Miss Boyd, she handles our, our curriculum, which I think like this is genius. So they'll spend the next, eight weeks through the summer getting prepared to take that license review.

00:17:42:05 - 00:18:15:11
Unknown
So we give them a lot of practice testing, real testing. And they also do their hands on practicals so that we test them out to make sure that they are ready to graduate. And so it's really serious and, and and also helps, you know, iron sharpens iron. It helps to build their skill set up so that we know that their comfort in and what we do have a salon floor that's open when the students become phase two, which is our senior program, and they do get hands on, we service guests.

00:18:15:11 - 00:18:35:21
Unknown
They can come in. I wish, I don't know if I should say this, but I wish and hope we we come or the main camp is so that they could get more, you know, more hands on because we have so many students on the main campus. So that would be amazing. But I love the fact that internship is offered to them in license review, because it does.

00:18:35:21 - 00:18:48:06
Unknown
It gives them salon ready and it gets them ready to be a licensed, cosmetologist as well as you can earn your associate's degree in cosmetology here, so. Oh that's great. Yeah,

00:18:48:06 - 00:18:57:26
Unknown
yeah. And I think to having that, like, test preparation is so valuable. I know if I was taking a test, I would be really nervous about it, you know?

00:18:57:26 - 00:19:04:26
Unknown
And I'm sure the students just want to prepare the best that they can. So the fact that you provide them with those resources and tools is amazing.

00:19:04:26 - 00:19:06:02
Unknown
Yes, I love it,

00:19:06:08 - 00:19:26:03
Unknown
Before they get to license review, they are so stressed and is always asking the teachers, all of us. It doesn't matter. They'll stop you. So what is it like? So what's next? So what is next? Right? It is like, calm down. We got you. Okay, so when they by the time they get to license review, they're very nervous.

00:19:26:03 - 00:19:42:29
Unknown
But when they're done with internship and license review, you just see a whole different student. And then they're career ready. So it's it's amazing. It's incredible to watch. And it's a it's a repeated cycle. So we're used to it. It's like been here before. So it's amazing.

00:19:42:29 - 00:19:46:26
Unknown
Yeah. And I've also I've never been to the salon but I've heard really great things about it.

00:19:46:26 - 00:19:48:16
Unknown
So I have to stop in because you

00:19:48:16 - 00:20:11:19
Unknown
please to I'll put the disclaimer out there. We are closed for the summer for the license review, but when the fall comes, you have to come. And we do everything we do facial oils, waxing. You know, we do like facial waxing. We also, of course, cut color perms. We do everything a full functioning salon does.

00:20:11:19 - 00:20:14:03
Unknown
So yeah. And the prices are

00:20:14:03 - 00:20:22:09
Unknown
minimal. So if you're if you're on a budget you need to call. That would be wonderful. Yes.

00:20:22:09 - 00:20:31:05
Unknown
I was also curious. Is there anything else that you would recommend to students or even young professionals who aren't in the field yet to prepare for the industry?

00:20:31:05 - 00:20:36:02
Unknown
Absolutely. To come to Cod and come to see all the like.

00:20:36:02 - 00:21:10:06
Unknown
This is a world where we have, you know, access to social media and YouTube and everybody thinks they're a hairstylist or a makeup artist or whatever nail technician without the license. I say, if you're passionate about something, go get the credentials, because with that paper in your hand, you can climb mountains. I wouldn't have been able to get the experiences I have gotten in our industry if it was not for me going to school during the time and learning the proper way.

00:21:10:08 - 00:21:32:19
Unknown
And it's it's not it's not easy. It's not hard, but it's not easy. The student comes in thinking like, oh, I'm just going to do hair. Then they find that you have to know a little bit of math. You have to understand what Worf one fourth inch parting is, or one eighth inch parting. You have to understand how, to do chemistry.

00:21:32:22 - 00:22:00:15
Unknown
We do anatomy because you have to understand and know how the body operates. In order to perform a service, you have to study diseases, and you have to know how to avoid communicable diseases so that you can keep your clients safe. So it's not just I'm going to go in, learn how to. It's sometimes it's difficult to some students don't know how to do a break, but when they leave they know how to do a basic three strand braid.

00:22:00:19 - 00:22:08:24
Unknown
But there is so many things, that come with our industry and come with getting a proper education. So that's what I would recommend.

00:22:08:24 - 00:22:09:09
Unknown
Get

00:22:09:09 - 00:22:29:12
Unknown
your education. Be legit in this world and you can go anywhere you want. Go to Hollywood just you know just get the education in. You'll see why you did it. And then you'll love that you made that commitment and that sacrifice to do so.

00:22:29:12 - 00:22:39:12
Unknown
And our last question is how can interested listeners find out more about the program? You've done such a wonderful job talking about it, and now how can they contact you if they're interested? Oh,

00:22:39:12 - 00:22:52:04
Unknown
I love that. Thank you. Please, just go on our website. All the information is spelled out if there's like a Q&A section with which will probably answer most of your questions.

00:22:52:06 - 00:23:19:16
Unknown
We have, program advisors. We have our, faculty chair, which is Miss Boyd. Her email address is on there as well. So you could just reach out to us, you could email, you know, every, every bit of information is on our website. So we would love to have you. We are an amazing program. And I would say we are top in the industry because there's the buzz out.

00:23:19:20 - 00:23:41:06
Unknown
The buzz is out there still about us. So, we're doing some great things. And also we have the last part is we do we do field trips, we go and we have, like, top industry leaders come to the school to do demonstrations or we will go to them. We have all camp this field trip where we go to this place called

00:23:41:06 - 00:23:49:14
Unknown
Professional Salon Concepts. And it's like this big arena and they learn, new hair cutting techniques. The whole

00:23:49:14 - 00:24:11:09
Unknown
class, body received mannequins and different tools is part of of giving them, you know, more. So it's it's an amazing program and, and we give a lot of exposure. So and we get you ready and we also do career symposiums where we teach you how to interview, teach you how to do the elevator pitch.

00:24:11:17 - 00:24:21:21
Unknown
So I've, I look as you could tell, I love our program. I'm super impressed. And I'm very happy and thankful that I worked there.

00:24:21:21 - 00:24:28:18
Unknown
And it sounds like you all have really great partnerships to the fact that you can do all of those things with your students is amazing.

00:24:28:18 - 00:24:34:10
Unknown
It is. Yes, yes, we have a ton of partners in I think, we're we're growing.

00:24:34:10 - 00:24:40:26
Unknown
So like I said, we have a waiting list. So we're growing. Yeah. That's exciting. Yes.

00:24:40:26 - 00:24:55:13
Unknown
Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. I had such a great time talking with you, and I wanted to thank all of our listeners today, too, for tuning in. With today's episode, there are no listener questions.

00:24:55:13 - 00:25:08:10
Unknown
However, if you do have a question in the future, you can submit it to Career Podcast at KOD Edu or on social media at Com Career Center. And you may hear the answer in a future episode.

00:25:08:10 - 00:25:17:13
Unknown
Special thanks again to Stephanie for joining the Career Ready podcast today. We hope you now have a better understanding of the cosmetology field and what it has to offer.