Continuous learning is essential for creativity and growth

In this episode of Artists, Icons, and Entrepreneurs, hosts Lulu Benavidez and Sue Krokonis Hanson interview the renowned hairdresser and educator Sharon Blaine. They explore Sharon's remarkable journey in the hairdressing industry, her innovative educational approaches, and her commitment to continuous learning and creativity. The conversation highlights the importance of technical skills, the influence of mentors, and the various career paths available in the beauty industry. Sharon shares her insights on overcoming challenges, the significance of sharing knowledge, and the need for professionals to adapt and evolve in their careers. In this engaging conversation, Lulu Benavidez and Sue Krokonis Hanson discuss the importance of finding the right salon environment, the necessity of continuous learning in the hairdressing industry, and the challenges faced by younger hairdressers today. They emphasize the significance of strong foundational skills and the need for experienced professionals to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. The impact of COVID-19 on education and the upcoming educational events are also highlighted, showcasing a commitment to fostering growth and development within the industry.

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Transcript

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (00:01.454)
Peace.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (00:10.68)
Welcome to Artists, Icons, and Entrepreneurs, the podcast that dives deep into the stories of trailblazers who shape our world. Our co-host, Lulu Benavides, is a seasoned entrepreneur in the beauty industry, is a photographer, artist, and the proud owner of Lulu's The Salon in Galveston, Texas. Our other co-host, Sue Krokonis-Hansen, is a visionary in the entrepreneurial world with years of experience in business innovation and development. Together, they bring you insights, inspiration, and the journeys of remarkable individuals who have made their mark.

And with that, let's get started.

Sharon Blaine is one of the most acclaimed hairdressers and educators globally today. For more than five decades, she has honed her craft, perfected her skills, and shared her unrivaled knowledge with thousands of hairdressers worldwide through workshops, seminars, online platforms, and her highly acclaimed

Sharon's innovative and unique education programs cover the entire spectrum of long hair expertise from stunning bridal and celebrity red carpet, hairstyling to editorial and avant-garde dressing. She is recognized for her exceptional creativity through stunning photographic imagery published worldwide and has received numerous prestigious accolades and achievements. These include winning Hair Expo Australia's Educator of the Year award and an unprecedented five times and being honored twice as a recipient of the Hair Expo.

Australian Hall of Fame. Globally, has been recognized at the International AIPP Awards for her stunning photographic collections and her skills as a highly successful business owner at the Global Salon Business Awards. In 2022, her outstanding service to the industry was honored with a Medal of the Order of Australia by the Governor General, one of Sharon's proudest moments to date. Rarely has a hairstylist captured the hearts and minds of her students as Sharon Blaine has.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (01:59.221)
testimonials and stories about how Sharon's education has impacted the lives and careers of hairdressers worldwide, flood and daily. And her education calendar is booked solidly years in advance. All testament to her unwavering reputation as an outstanding and highly respected educator and mentor. Innovation is at the heart of Sharon's skills and mindset. She has pioneered many unique techniques and tools throughout her career. And even after five decades in the industry, she continues to revolutionize the way stylists learn,

access and absorb education. has developed a range of online and offline educational resources, including digitized versions of her highly acclaimed bootcamp workshop. Over 180 tutorials translate into seven subtitle languages, four books, DVDs, and hair padding. These resources are extensively used as training tools for colleges and academies worldwide. The renowned Sharon Blaine Bootcamp has been hailed as

Best value and most comprehensive hairdressing short course offered globally today and continues to enthrall its students with every delivery. Leading international platform educators, Hollywood stylists, Europe's key creative teams, top American TV celebrity hairdressers, as well as the best bridal, makeup, and session stylists in the business.

all experienced the bootcamp phenomenon and loudly praised the content, professionalism, and creativity of this unique educational experience. If that wasn't enough, Sharon's dedication to the future of the industry has resulted in a brand new education offering aimed at reimagining

Australia's hair apprenticeships and advanced training certificates. Known as the craft that elevates formal qualifications to new heights with its first ever coalition of respected global masters sharing their finest skills with the stylists who will propel this industry forward for years to come. Sharon Blaine is undoubtedly one of hairdressing's most recognized and esteemed icons.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (03:49.261)
Respect and longevity set her apart, along with her desire to leave a legacy that continues to ignite passion within the hearts of our future generations for years to come. Some notable awards are the Medal of the Order of Australia, 2022, 2024 International Hair Legend Awards winner, Educator of the Year, AHFA, 2023, winner Business Educator of the Year individual, AHIA, 2023, two-time inductee Hall of Fame, Hair Expo Australia, five-time educator

of the Year, three-time Education Business of the Year, two-time Business Performance of the Year, seven-time Finalist Hairdresser of the Year, Harris Ball Australia, and 2015 AIPP Awards Finalist for Infinity Collection.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (04:39.981)
Welcome to artists, icons and entrepreneurs. Another episode. my God. And this time all the way from Australia. Can you believe that? So it's a day ahead of us. So I'm here with my co-host Sue Coconis Hansen and together we're going to be interviewing Sharon Blaine. Sharon is a wealth of information. my God. I can't believe that we actually got her to consider us for us.

to interview her. So Sharon, how are you? Well Lulu, I'm absolutely fine. I'm absolutely fine. It's around eight in the morning here. And I believe it's around six for you the night before, which is always very strange to get your head around, isn't it? Yes, yes. I kept Googling it and trying to make sure that I got the right timing. And one of the guys does the reading of your bio. His name is Jonathan and he says,

just have a world of clocks in front of you the whole time and then you know what time zone they're in. was like, God, more stuff? More stuff? So I've had the pleasure of taking some of your classes. Yes, you have. In various places. And I am always impressed with the work that you turn out.

I think we did a class in New York where a photographer was there. Yes. And we shot some models. in the email you sent all the participants, you had also said to come with your own ideas and you kind of briefed us on everything. So you know me. Well, I know myself. I'm always

you know, do all this research, I put it on PowerPoint, I put music behind it, and I was the only one that did that. I know. Yours were, and you know what, as you speak, you remind me of that, and that was so impressive, particularly as we had quite a lot of younger hairdressers who didn't do much at all. And I really thought,

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (06:58.989)
Wow, you're so much ahead of the game. In fact, I wouldn't have been able to have done one of those, Lulu. So hats off to you. well, I've learned so much. know, we made petals. It took two freaking days. You took us to an awesome, what was it, a fabric place. And then I showed my children some photographs of that. And they told me, mother, do you know that dog is very famous? And that whole fabric place is famous in New York?

That's where they, people go to do the runway though. What was the runway? Project Runway. And lot of the different shows go to that particular fashion store. And I must say, every time I go to New York, without a doubt, that's instead of going to a famous coffee shop or a restaurant, that's one of my go-to places. Can you elaborate on some of that? What you did? that was Moodz.

moods fabrics in the fashion district in New York. And I think there's about five floors of it. And you know, it's always been famous for being able to purchase pretty much anything that's been produced in the haberdashery, the fabrics, the different types of textured fabrics and things like that. you know, designers, young designers, people who are, you know, sort of studying fashion, that is the go-to place to, well, not to research, but you

If you can't find it there, you probably can't find it anywhere. And that would be right. Yeah. Right. Right. And I always feel it was a great thing to do because I think we don't think outside the hair arena when we're creating images. And I love the idea of people realize that there's so much more than just hair. As long as you make your images look like they're hair like images. Yeah. You can use lots of different material to create different.

you know, different effects. Yeah. Do you want to say something Sue? Well, I was just going to say, I've known Lulu since we were both children and she's gone to a lot of great classes. I have never heard her more pumped up, her creativity more stirred than when she came back from your class and

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (09:22.963)
It just made me excited to interview you. But in reading your bio, I had to ask, how does a nice gal from Australia wind up being a worldwide superstar in the area of not only creativity, but education and photography? look, you're so kind, Sue. Thank you. You know, I started

And I've got to say it, I'm going to have to clock up 60 years in the new year of being in this industry, which is pretty wild considering I started, you know, such a young age. I think the thing that keeps me going is always challenging myself to be better than what I was yesterday. So even when I do a collection, I always look at what I've done in the past and I'm the most critical person of anything that I do.

I can find just that one little thing in a hairstyle that I'm thinking that's going to bug me forever while people can't even see it. But I think probably that's the perfectionist in me. But I love being able to challenge myself with anything at all. I sent, just on a side note, I sent a photo to Ailey, my assistant in Estonia recently, and it was actually a lamp. And she's one of these girls.

We connect so well because we both have this passion for creativity. And I sent this lamp to her and I said, I think you could make this in hair. And that's the way we tend to work. Ideas come from so many different mediums. And your eyes are always open. And I feel sad for people that don't have the opportunity to see how beautiful our world is and what opportunities are just standing there in front of our faces.

But you know, you can look at something and think, can I make some care? And then you sit down and challenge yourself. And I think those challenges of what kept my longevity and my creativity inspired to do what I've done over these years. So did you start working in a salon and then was the next step competitions? Tell us a little bit about how. So I started in a salon and I was fired for my first job after three months.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (11:42.381)
Because I was told I was never going to make a hairdresser. So, you know, I was wasting their time and my own time, which was devastating for me. But I think those words have continued to ring through because I'm saying them again to you now, this many years later. And this woman was not going to think that she had me. I wasn't going to stop. So those were great fighting words for me. Some people may have taken them to heart and gone away and never did what they never followed their passion.

But for me, I was going to prove her wrong at every corner. from there on in, always watch in the country town. It was always very difficult for training. I never, be completely honest, I don't have any trade certificates. In Australia, you actually need to find a job to be a hairdresser. And you are then signed up for a four year apprenticeship.

And within that four years, you're supposed to go to college for one day a week over two years. But in the country town, the hairdressing was not offered at the local college. And because I was very young, it would have meant that I would have had to travel probably four hours on a train to get to the city to do my study. And of course, my parents wouldn't allow that. So I did my training on the job. But I can't say it was great training on the job. There wasn't.

Although in one sense the only good part about the next job I got was that he was a wig maker. So the very, very early years I was actually able to see how wigs and wefts were made. And he would do that at the back. And I must say I actually did a little bit of weft making in my very, very first year of being an apprentice. But I married very young. So I left that job and married at 19. And then my husband at the time

we moved away from the town that we were in. And it was very difficult to get a job. And it took me seven years to get my hair licensed. So you sit for an exam when you think after four years, you sit for that exam and they either pass you or fail you. It took seven years to get that license. But I worked in a country town, many country towns in our early marriage times. you know, that one.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (14:00.845)
very well so I took myself off to London. I actually asked my dad for a loan so he gave me $10,000 and I promised I wouldn't lose it and I bought a little rundown salon and decided to go to Sassoon's. So after I bought the salon and I started to get a little bit of money behind me I then went off to London and studied continuously for many many years. would go, this is sort of my pilgrimage on an annual basis to Sassoon's.

So although I'm very renowned for my styling and my creativity, I would actually say my cutting skills back then, not as much now, but probably pretty much top of the range as well. So I then decided that I really loved teaching. And I think with the teaching comes a lot of learning. So obviously I continued to learn. I learned to be a good teacher, but I loved competition. So competition was my big thing in my early career.

And I started to compete in local competitions and actually won my way, believe it or not, to compete in the World Supreme in New York at the beauty show, the New York beauty show at the Jovitz Center. So I came all the way from Australia with my little model and we competed there and I think I got like ninth. And I continued to compete and I continued to come back to New York to compete in that competition.

And I also won my right to compete in the European Championship. So I've done very well then. my god. We love dogs on the show. my dog. But yeah, so my competition days, I got to work with Anne Gray. So I decided I wanted to be better and greater at competitions. And Anne and Gary was alive at the time. And I came into Huntsville, Alabama.

I think on three different occasions. actually had to take a bank loan to come. And I was so proud and I always loved Anne and still to this day have a very close connection with Anne. But I think she was the one that put me on my track of doing good classical technical hairdressing. And I think being very strong in my technical skills.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (16:23.231)
It was very sought after, the skills that I had and people wanted to learn. So we started in Australia with education and I devised a class called GroupCat and I was only talking about it the other day because I decided that at that time that I couldn't teach people what I wanted to teach to them in couple of days. felt everybody walked away excited with what they'd learnt. I walked away feeling like I hadn't done enough. And I thought if I could have people in a room for four or five days,

I feel like I could actually give them pretty much everything that they needed to know to get on the road. So I devised a boot camp and you know 70 boot camps later have been, I have done them around the world. So when we did the first boot camp, we had it videoed, we did it, I did so much work. my God, I think six months I practiced to train and I wanted to teach people the basic skills from the very beginning.

to what it took to be a good, strong stylist. And I honestly tweaked it as we went, but it ended up being, so the last group camp I did was in New York, 23, and that was, we had a double back to back group camp there. And we ended up with, I think something like 40 in each class over two weeks. And they traveled from all around the world.

We just attracted so many people. think people just thought if they didn't do boot camp with me, they hadn't done their time. Believe me, I wondered after the event whether they actually wish they hadn't had because they were seriously knocked into shape. it was a... When I got on that plane to come home, I thought I have nothing left in the tank. I felt like my tank had run dry, but the success of that was...

just phenomenal and I just love to see people learn. I think too much in education today people are afraid to share everything they know because I think they feel that if I share too much these people will be better than me and I won't have a day job. But I look at it this way, I've been at it for this many years, you're going to have to go for this long to actually get that good.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (18:38.889)
It's not an overnight success, believe me. It takes a lot of practice. It's been a very long focus and it continues to be. It doesn't stop, even today, know, this many years later. If I'm doing a live, last week we had a video crew come over and I did six new looks on mannequin heads for my online class because we had two new looks every single month to the online subscription. And you know it's...

probably 10 days to design new looks, get them prepared and practiced, ready to put on set to do this video content. So you never stop. I think people think when you get to you've come of age, but I don't believe you ever come of age. No, no, no you don't. And that's the beauty about you Sharon is that you said that one of your mentors was Anne Bray.

Well, I remember when she was doing a class for a quash, you know, everybody would go out to dinner and she was in her room practicing, practicing what she was going to teach the next day. And that's what you do all the time. You go back to your room and you practice. And, but you also tell the, your, your, ones that taking your class that, you know, in order to get great, you have to practice. You've got to practice.

You can't just come to the class and think you can just walk away and be great now. And you know, I can only give you so much and I can stand there and hold your hand and I can give you feedback and you know, sort of coaching. But I think until you actually continue to do it, and I gotta say, think it's, I think the number's about five times. So I feel like I do something and it's bad and then I do it again and it gets a little bit better.

until I get to about five times the repeat, repeat, repeat, I have to be, yeah, yeah, now, now, I think that's good. I think that's right. I know how my hand has to sit. I know how I have to direct the hair. I know which comb is the best, which spray, how much spray. That's what I think. So, you know, don't try to be everything. Don't try to create everything all together. Select something and work on it until you've perfected it and then move on. But I think if you do that with your basic skills,

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (21:04.971)
then the evolution of creating new ideas, new tools. That comes up. Right, right. I feel sometimes when I look at younger designers today, they want to rush things, meaning they want to get into the creative phase before they have those really solid technical foundations. You can't be good creatively.

if you're not good technically first. And I hear you sort of saying that because and you're, you know, that's, that's terrific. One of the things that, that I wanted to ask you was, mean, it's apparent you're a lifelong learner. And I would assume that is why you're a lifelong share. Cause when we really learn something and are confident, we want to share it on

Certainly Anne Bray. I I think the whole world is in love with Anne. I'm just curious as to who you're getting inspiration from these days. look, I think the likes of Eugene Solomon, Sam McKnight, Guido. I'm very much a follower of the designers for fashion shows.

So the minute the fashion shows are on, whether they're Milan, New York, London, wherever they are, Paris, I am absolutely glued to every runway show, know, clicking through, seeing who's done the show, looking at their work, trying to behind the scenes, screen grabbing different little snippets along the way. I think those people are the leaders. They're like the mature hair designers of our world.

and we just take that shore and break it down for the masses, I suppose. So there might be just one way they've done a fringe and I think, my God, that's so amazing. And I'll just stand there and work. How can I do that fringe? I'm not always trying to recreate or copy, but look at it. How can I utilize the angle and the flow of that hair into something that could be now into the mainstream arena? Because I like to create

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (23:25.997)
images that are useful for people to do in the salon or whether they're doing a bride or a red carpet event. That's what I want to water down that, what they do and bring it into the real world. Because a lot of the looks on the runway aren't always 100 % wearable, but when they're tweaked and manipulated to use the friendly techniques and what's running as a trend.

I think works very, very well. But they are the people, the editorial session stylists are definitely the people that I absolutely love. Devour. Yes, long stop. And you do a lot of those shows right now, don't you? You know what, I've stopped doing shows now. I really find that lining up and doing that. I think I probably...

You know, you go through your stages in your career of things that you must do. you know, I've had, for example, we spoke about Project Runway, it's going back some time now, but I headed up Project Runway, the TV show in Australia. You know, then I wanted to do runway shows. So I was happy to be on anyone's team. And I headed up a lot of these straight designer shows, and I got a chance to work backstage with you all. But to be honest, it's not necessarily

I don't feel like I need to have that on my criteria, on my, you know, not my curriculum, my CV. I've done it. You know, I like to do things and, and just move on. What's my next new thing? I mean, my next new thing, I want to work in opera. I want to work and do wigs for opera and ballet because I haven't done that. And I want to really move a little bit further into movies because I got a chance to work on a lead in a movie through lockdown and

And then of course I just wound up my classes again. So, you know, it's hard to do everything, but I seriously would love to start working more on movies. So, you know, there's all different aspects of our industry. And I don't think a lot of young folks realize that there's more to our industry than just working behind the chair. We have a phenomenal industry. We have a lot of beautiful career paths. And if you're super skilled at what you do,

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (25:51.073)
The door will open for any direction you wish to hit. And I'm blessed to have that knowledge because I know that knocking on doors isn't so easy. It's so difficult for me to get in the door. Probably my age might be the only limitation. We're all the same age. my god, I don't like it. don't like it. You know it's...

what you were talking about in terms of just growing and doing things. I think a lot of times that the burnout factor in our business is tremendous because you can have really good hairdressers that love this profession. But after 10 or 15 years behind the chair with the same clients, the same routine, the same type of environment, they just, they,

it's no longer fun. And that was part of when Lulu and I talked about was not only to be able to put the spotlight on people like yourselves who've done so many wonderful things, but to also let people know that there are so many other avenues they can take those skills. Absolutely. mean, Anthony Robinson is going to be the first one to say, if it's not working, you need to change.

stuck in an environment and you're complaining about burnout and it's boring and it's all of that, the only person that you have that you need to fix is you because you don't, no one's telling you to stay there. No one's forcing you to be on, you know, I think you have to wake up, get out of bed every day and choose the path. You're going to be happy and miserable. You know, what path are you choosing? If it's not working, you need to change.

And you know, I ran businesses, I've got to say I've worked in many salons because if it's not working, I need to find an environment that is working. And I always say to these young folks who are very quick to say, I don't know, I don't, I wanted to be a hairdresser and you know, just didn't like the salon. It might take five or six salons to find your tribe. You don't always fit in the mold of the salons that we're working in. And if you are unhappy in that salon,

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (28:13.261)
then that's not your tribe. You need to find the salon environment that fits and the one that you're comfortable and you want to show up every day with a great attitude. I have a great thing and I used to say, I used to think about it with my staff when I run salons. There's a use by date on a bag of, you know, on some meat in the freezer, Yeah. Use by dates on your, you know what? And there's a use by date on a lot of hairdressers that sit in those salons day after day.

whinging and moaning, but they have nothing about freshening themselves up. Even salon owners are holding onto people that are not doing their salons in any way by having them in the team. So we are responsible for our own destiny. Nobody else turns the lights on. We have to turn our own lights on. And I guess I'm a bit of an old philosopher in many ways on that respect, but

I don't like, you know, when people say, I'm burnt out or I'm tired or I just can't do this. I think, my God, I just put your big girl pants on and get out there. You know, that's so true because I, you know, you constantly, constantly learning new techniques, new ways of doing things. And, and I take, for instance, yesterday I did a photo shoot. You know, I think I'm a photographer. So yeah, this

God calls me up that I shoot with. So we did a frickin photo, you know, photo shoot. I did the hair. I do the hair. I don't do the makeup because I let her do the makeup because nobody wants to come and play with me. I play by myself. So anyway, so the photographer is my daughter's photographer. He's a wedding photographer, but he likes to shoot with me because we both get creative. And so I did this braiding, a frickin braid, you know?

And then I saw that Allie's puss is braiding hair. After that, after what I saw. then it clicked on me. go, my God, I could do so much braiding. Anyway, I just put two pigtails on her. I got some monofiber hair and I did that. So I'm constantly like you and like Sue and we're what, 70 years old and we're constantly learning. You're fricking

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (30:38.177)
busy, we're so busy. And I don't know if you know this, Sharon, but Sue owns a company for people that have hair loss. And also she's coming out with a new hair topper too for people with hair loss. know, that's an avenue. I love hair toppers. Our big thing was to design a system that women could wear.

for five to six weeks at a time, day or night without causing any damage to the hair that they had. And it became a passion of mine. It was like the fifth stage of my hairdressing life because I've done different things. But I wanna pick up on this note because we're laughing and kidding about our age. But in a way, I wanna put a challenge out there to those...

people in the beauty industry younger than us, because I think we were a pretty gutsy group of people. Sharon, you were going to Sassoon, Lou and I were traveling everywhere we could, could go. And today, I feel like a lot of young people are afraid to put themselves out there. They want to take a class online, but

to have to travel out of town or be in a class with people they don't know or pay money to take a class from somebody don't know. They're kind of timid about it. Yeah. Yeah, they're afraid that I believe they are afraid that they will show up as, you know, their lack of skill. And of course, in this, younger people are so switched on to the social media.

Influences that are influencing them, but you know the one thing I'm going to just keep saying this and I know I'm probably going to get shot down Influences are not educators. Sometimes they're not even hairdressers That's correct as well but when you look at the arena of hairdressers or people that are doing posts on Instagram or YouTube Or tick-tock for example that is showing hair. They're showing like it's like a performance to them

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (32:56.895)
It's a two-step performance. So they're showing you what they need to see. And unfortunately, these young people are caught up in that. And they don't see the real facts to find the color. One minute it's black, and the next minute it's beautiful shades of gray or a beautiful blonde. And they don't see the process that it went through. So I think they think there's a quick way of doing things. And I think that's...

They want it now, they don't want to wait, they don't want to have to it. Also, think they've become, I think COVID forced us to really consider online education as being the way to do it. I think people of our age are still, we still, we love the interaction in the classroom and we are still attending, but the young ones have been more, they've more got into what's online.

different markets for education now and we've learned that as well. That's why we have online and that's why, you know, I've always done the hands-on as well. Right, and that's, that's, I didn't mean to put down hands-on online because we do online as well, but it's that you're progressing to a place. So if all you ever want to do is get on TikTok and watch 30 Second, that's not actually...

That's entertainment, that's not education. And it can create something in you where you want to learn more, but it's not the end of the line, it's the beginning, you know? Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I do think as they developed, if they actually stay in the business long enough, they actually realize that they seriously need to get better skilled at certain things. And that's when I feel like they come to my class. Yeah.

You know, and I'm actually excited. I look at the people that sign up for me now, and they're not, they are youth. They are young. And I'm so thrilled that they actually wanted to go out there and learn. But there's still a lot that don't. But it depends, you know, on their career path. If they say, you know, I really want to do editorial, I want to do celebrities, I want to do...

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (35:16.555)
runway shows, they actually will not get in the door with the current skills that they think they need. No one's going to get in the door being able to use a straightener to curl in. It is so much more than a straightener with a curl. So if you don't know anything past that way of manipulating the hair and getting movement, then you're not going to get much further. So you do need to take classes. And you really probably need to, if we have any newbies in college here,

Just don't do harder rollers when they teach you that in the class because although you don't think it is something you need to know, if you have a great vision for your future, it will be something that you'll be throwing at. You'll be throwing that job to do somewhere along the line. If you're looking at movies and you're gonna work on wigs, you're gonna have to do sets. You're gonna have to learn how to create this type of hair and how to use those tools. So you may think it's old fashioned, but it hasn't.

it has a place in our industry and we continue to have a place moving forward. You're so true, you you've got to have that foundation in order to move forward. And if you don't have the foundation, can't, there's no way that you can move forward. And you're left handed, aren't you? I certainly am. My right hand is only for show, although I must say.

I must say when I broke my right hand, everyone was saying, thank God you left handed. I bet me tell you, I do need both. my God. Well, and, know, just thinking about, I think again, stylist is not going to go from being a good salon stylist to being a red carpet stylist.

but you might start by doing more creative bridal work and then doing more photography with bridal work. And, you know, I think that there's that there's just so much that that is out there. And I always say, find out who's doing it the best and learn from them. Why do you want to go to a class that's cheaper or somebody that's nearer? No, find the best and go to them. And absolutely that would be you, Sharon.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (37:37.325)
look, I don't know how many more of Sharon's classes she's to be able to attend. I don't think anyone understands the back end of doing a class, believe me. Travelling with 90 kilos of luggage is no fun, particularly in age. But look, I am so blessed to have really taught individuals throughout my time that have gone on to be unbelievable in their field.

bridal or red carpet, you know, I can name so many of these people that have attended my class and driven themselves to be the best and they're now offering classes. So I love to see that my students are now the teacher. I feel like I've left a really great legacy of my skills along the way and obviously as long as I can continue to do so that will be something I will do. But I think that's what we as

I want to call ourselves a matriarch, that's very daunting and old fashioned. We must leave a legacy. We must hand on our skills to the next generation. And yes, some are going to be open to receiving them, but some of them won't. But those who receive them, hopefully they will then continue to pass through to generations. Because if we don't continue to pass our skills on, you know, our skills

Our schools die with us, but our industry never grows. Our industry is what is so important to me, the heart of our industry, and we don't get a good wrap as hairdressers. In our salons, there's some very, very successful salons, but overall, if anyone's gonna dish out on anyone on social media, it's gotta be hairdressers, isn't it? Yeah. That's so true, that's so true. You know, I think the last class I attended with you was...

around, it just happened, COVID happened. It was in January. It was in January. I went to your class in LA or right outside of LA. then COVID hit in March. Yes, then we went to New York. actually before New York even opened, the Academy, the Moroccan Oil who are hosting our event.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (39:54.829)
We actually are getting a directive from International that we're going to have to close the Academy. But I had the class. So I got this on the Friday and I'm like, God, we've got a class in New York on the Sunday. What's going to happen? anyhow, they actually closed the Academy the day I walked away after that. And also, it's quite a crazy story. I mean, we all have a COVID story to tell. But then we went on to Salt Lake City and we set up the following weekend on the Sunday and everything.

was being locked down there. And my niece on the Saturday night, so we set up on Saturday for the event on the Sunday, my niece on the Saturday night who's in travel sent me a ticket overnight. So when I woke up to do the class in the morning, she said, here's your ticket, you need to get to Dallas now, this is the only flight I can get you on before the borders close. So I never even did the Salt Lake City class.

I had to leave and then we were locked down for two years in Australia. two years? Two years we could not do an international flight without government approval. Wow. Wow. So the first flight I did after two years was going back to Canada and, you know, honoring my students who had booked for, there was two, there was a double class booked for students. So I went back to honor that class. And I'm, I love to this story. I don't know.

I never had an experience like this in my whole time of being an intergenerator. But walking back into that room, because apparently people in Canada were for lockdown and tried to leave as well. And all those individuals that came to that class was so emotional, because all of a sudden they're now connected with like-minded people. And I could not hold down the emotion of actually being in a class with people again.

I didn't realise how much students validated me and my work. You just do what you do, but you actually do it because they actually validate your needs as well. And it was quite a deeper level of thinking, but goodness, it was an overwhelming class. And I've got to say, probably one of the best classes I've ever done, because I think we're so desperate to learn. was so desperate to do my job and everyone

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (42:15.309)
appreciated everybody and we're just like best friends after that class. Wow. was just a real, really cathartic sort of experience for me. Can you tell our audience what classes you have coming up? Maybe different types of classes you're doing, where you're going to be? God. Now you're putting me on the spot. Because to be completely honest, I haven't booked any

future on hands-on classes. I'm struggling with a few personal things health-wise, so I'm really holding back on announcing anything. And what I do have, I decided that if I can't go to the masses, that the masses will come to me. And I am actually in the stages of being able to announce on the 14th.

15th September in Sydney, Australia, I am actually creating a three-day massive educational event that is bringing international artists to Australia, as well as Australian artists, as well as Noise. Now, I don't know if you know Noise. Noise is a crazy, crazy hair show that travels all around the world from

China to Russia and everywhere in between. I'm actually this noise event at this particular event next September. I'm bringing in some of the best in our industry who are technical hairdressers. And my goal for the whole event is there will be no influencer educators on the stand. They must be technically skilled and known for their technical skills.

So I have cutters, colorists, avant-garde. I've got the best in business that I've lined up to present over these three days. And we're actually going to be doing packages as well as accommodation and packages. So I would like to think within probably the next month, if anyone thinks Australia's their go-to place, particularly if you're looking in America, this would be a great opportunity because the dollar is so bad.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (44:39.041)
that you will be getting this price pretty much at like 40 % off because you'll be paying in your American dollars so it's a very cheap seat for you guys. But look, I put all my energy into this. I'm working really hard on it. And I feel that this could be the way of the future with education. Bringing lots of like-minded people into one location and offering

this great technical experience over three days. That's my proposal. That's what we're working on. And we're at the stage now where I probably, I'm still alive after we worked out the budget. So that's good thing. When we're still alive, if we don't sell tickets, that will be another time. I feel super confident that people will embrace this new way of education.

And it's just bringing all these top people to Australia and giving you a three day experience of everything you would ever want to learn from the best in the world under the one roof. you know, brands do this, but you know, I'm just, I'm an individual educational brand, not a

product spread. It's very different from someone like myself to be doing this. I've got this dog that has decided to be on the table. think I'm going to throw him outside, but if I see him outside he'll bark. He's cry, you need to behave. So decided he wants to eat the buttons off my shirt. So if anyone is interested in that, we will be posting obviously over the next few weeks all the information, the ticket sales.

and everything like that. And I really feel excited to be able to welcome internationals to my class, to my event, because Sydney is probably the most beautiful city. was lucky enough to be doing a bride on the 37th floor overlooking the harbour on Saturday. And the sun was shining and it was blue and it was beautiful. And I thought, I have travelled the world. I have seen the best of every city in the world.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (46:55.871)
and nothing takes your heart more than the city, the harbor of Sydney. And the hotel that we've decided on is just a walk to the harbor, it's a walk to every beautiful part of our city, and it's going to be in spring, so it'll be spectacular weather, but not so hot that it's going to cook you. So yeah, I'm very excited for what we're doing. So that's what's happening. And of course, my online, I have

the online subscription but we've just go we haven't even launched yet it's sitting there waiting to come out I have a new funnel on online and it's called I want to call it Sharon and friends but that's a bit corny but I'm bringing in my friends who have done fabulous video content and they will be featured on my on my site as well we have cut and color and makeup and barbers and all different aspects of styling so I have

A lot of my friends that have created content and you'll be able to jump onto my online show and play an education and actually purchase their material through my three cycle. So yeah, so I think that's really nice to do as well. It's good to be able to introduce some really fabulous educators. And you know, I just want to promote them because I really want to promote everybody who I think inspires me that should then

go on to inspire others. It just makes us a better industry overall. Yeah. And we want to promote this as well. So please keep us in the loop. Send us any information. We want to be planning the way. we definitely will. We might see you girls down under next September. yeah. I'm going to buy my ticket now. Sharon, you have

been such an inspiration and everything that you're doing, your online classes, the event that you're going to put on. my God. I can't hardly wait to see it and hear it. I honestly, I am not even able to sleep at night on many levels. Yes. know, maybe financial ticket sales, but what I'm not able to sleep about is the amount of seriously amazing people that

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (49:19.981)
have agreed to do this. Yeah. Yeah. my God. I picked up the phone to all these dream people that I want. then they said yes. Like, wow, you know, and I'm already now started to get my wishlist for the following year. So I would like to think it might be something like an annual event. Yes. Yes.

God loves an optimist, Yes, and you are definitely that. I'm always going to be like that. So where can people find you? On SharonBlaineEducation.com or SharonBlaine.com. So either either, you can hit either direction there because I think you'll find me there. And you'll find obviously the online there, you'll find our shop. that's also, we will have the link to the hair event.

We were just today, today, today, we'll be getting the graphic, the first lot of graphics coming through for the design. You know, I'm dying to see what the graphic company comes up with from the design aspects because that's very important for us to have design. And today we're obviously working on sponsorship as well. Yes, corporate sponsorship, I know nothing about it.

And one of my colleagues on the weekend said, Sharon, you just have to pick up the phone to these people. I'll give you money. said, I might be able to pick up the phone, but I don't know if I could ask them for it. How much money are you asking for? A truckload, thank you. You know what? An event like this doesn't come cheap. No, no. You know, you've got three days of hotel, we've got commitment to rooms, we've got food every day, we've got a meat and green cocktail party in the evening.

hosting the Joyce event in a separate location and bringing flying and accommodation and food and my god and of course we've got to think about the lighting, the sound, the microphones. Unfortunately I have a fabulous producer that's over all of this. She sent out a brief for the audio brief and I didn't even know what she was talking about. So that was the number one problem for me, thank god.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (51:38.059)
I've always been the greatest believer, surround yourself with people who know more than you. That's right. That's what to do. Well, and we will certainly be encouraging this. can see Lulu and I may have to volunteer to be tour guides, a few of ours. There's a couple of dozen that come to mind right off Well, absolutely. If you have a little group, a groupie set that would come with you.

Please reach out and we will definitely have our travel person set up a beautiful little itinerary. We're looking at getting some bridge climb. You know you can walk over the Harbour Bridge, don't you? Yes. No, I didn't. Yes, you can. And you can walk right to the very top part, not just across the bottom. So that's one of the big things for tourists to come to Australia. And there's some beautiful

know, tourist things that we have here. So I would imagine people would come for the three day event and maybe make it a five or a week. Yeah. definitely. Going to up to the Barrier Reef, which is Australia's most iconic area for the most beautiful coral and things like that. That's where a lot of tourists go. And they also head to the Red Centre, which is where Uluru is, which is that red rock out in the middle of nowhere where people just feel that they gravitate to.

So, you know, people have the vision of wanting to do some cheery things around. We have an agent that will be managing that on their behalf. So, yeah, it's pretty exciting times. You know, it's wild. I can't believe I've signed up for this, but anyhow, I'm so far down the track, I can't turn around and go back now. Well, thank you so much, Sharon, for, you know, this interview. You are a wealth.

of knowledge and your drive is unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Thank you so much. Any closing words, Sue? Well, I just feel so lucky that there are people like you who are willing to put the time and energy in to give back to our profession and who are always striving to make it better and to help people. And when

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (54:00.725)
you're doing something that involves the best of the best. How can it not be a fabulous experience? It's just, It's been absolutely great to talk to you. Lulu, your smile is infectious. thank you. I always loved you in class. And I remember so many times we've sat down and chatted about so many things. And it was just such a privilege for you to invite me on. And, you know, I think the one thing that, as I said, us is the

Elders of the industry, if we don't give back, who will? So we have to encourage that through the generations. Make our industry strong and great and keep it great. Otherwise, know, it's a role we play. I think if one realizes that role is giving back, it will be there is no reason why we won't be sustainable for many, many, years to come.

Thank you so much. Thank you. See you in Australia. Yeah.

Lulu Benavidez & Sue Krokonis Hanson (55:09.099)
Wow, what an episode that wraps up another exciting edition of artists, icons and entrepreneurs. Thank you so much for joining us. We hope you're leaving inspired and ready to chase your dreams. Don't forget to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode over at youtube.com slash artists, icons, entrepreneurs, as well as Facebook at Lulu Benavides on IG at Lulu Benavides at Evolve Hair Solutions as well. And don't forget to visit our website at LuluBenavides.com.

and evolvehairsolutions.com to stay updated. Until next time, keep dreaming big, creating boldly, and making your mark on the world. Thanks for listening and take care, everyone.