STRENGTH THROUGH QUALITY - Fellowship for British Hairdressing

TC What does your role as Chairman
involve?
KA Good question. Of course it involves
chairing meetings, but it is far more than
that. The role is to support the President
and Council in the strategy of the
Fellowship. I have to ensure the traditions
are upheld but also empower people to
make changes and progress. I have to
ensure that the administration and the
finances are on a firm footing and the
organisation can support the activities.
TC I’m keen to increase our membership over
the next two years – how would you like to
see this happen?
KA We have always said we should
represent the top 10% of hairdressers, and
whilst we have a healthy membership we
do not have anything like the 2500 to 3000
that would make that 10%. Increasing
membership is always best done by
recommendation. If every current member
of the Fellowship introduced one
worthwhile new member that would set us
on course to achieve our target. I also see
new young members through the ClubStar
initiative as being a great way of recruiting
new members in the future. It also seems to
I felt that the Fellowship needed
to adapt to the current market
conditions, and I heard that you
were trying to move things
forward, so I thought it was time
to come back and help things
move forward in a positive way
me that all F.A.M.E. Team members,
Project X members and Colour Project
members should automatically become full
Fellowship members. We just need to look
at changing some of our rules to make this
happen.
TC Education and motivation is close to my
heart, what do you think the Fellowship
offers over other organisations that make us
stand out?
KA Fellowship offers something quite
different. In principle we offer the
opportunity to see all the great masters of
our craft demonstrating to our members,
we offer insight into what makes the
“Greats” tick. We then offer lots of education
for young hairdressers, through Project X
and Colour Project. These offer unique
opportunities to be taught by the biggest
names in our industry, do photographic
shoots, appear on stage both here and
abroad. Where else can you have access to
so much talent - only through membership
of the Fellowship?
TC Project X is really gathering pace as a
Fellowship stable. Where would you like to
see this going?
KA Continuing on from what I have
previously mentioned, I believe we could
easily run two Project X groups, maybe one
for youngsters and one for more
experienced people. It’s great that the best
of Project X will usually move on into the
F.A.M.E. Team.
TC I’m talking about opening up the
Fellowship to the consumer media,
what are your thoughts on this?
KA I think this is the
next change for the
Fellowship. We need to
bring clients to our
members. We need the
press and the public to
recognise that we have
the countries best
hairdressers in our
organisation, so why not
use that to everyone’s
benefit? Hopefully in
two years time we will
have started to achieve
that public recognition
through the consumer
media.
TC If manufacturers want to get more
involved, what can the Fellowship offer them
in return?
KA Manufacturers are a key sector in our
industry, they are incredibly supportive of
the Fellowship and their sponsorships really
help us to put on the type of events and
activities that our members want and
demand. Without their funding we would
be unable to put on all the events that we
do. In return I believe the manufacturers
like to have association with the Fellowship
because it gives their clients the opportunity
to appear with their icons. I do think we
need to explore more ways in which our
manufacturers can participate in the
Fellowship and ensure their voices are
heard.
I see us being
a very successful
partnership, with
you having all the
creative ideas and
drive, and me
supporting you
and ensuring the
organisation and
finances are in place
TC Who do you admire in the industry?
KA You! Plus I have been very lucky to have
worked with some of the greatest names in
our industry. It would be impossible to
name all the people here that I admire.
I admire you all for different reasons. But
the people who were the most inspirational
for me were Annie Humphries, Tim Hartley,
Nicky Clarke, Trevor Sorbie, and Tony Rizzo.
TC How do you see us both working together
as your time as Chairman?
KA I see us being a very successful
partnership, with you having all the creative
ideas and drive and also being the public
face of the Fellowship, with me supporting
you and ensuring the organisation and
finances are in place so that we can achieve
all our goals and objectives.
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