September 28, 2020
Allison Stock Zandi-K Salons Stylist, Educator, and Director of Talent and Education
Denver, Co.
The magical ways of the internet is what brought Allison into my life!
I was gearing up to start my interviews, I had a few people in mind that I FOR SURE wanted to interview but there was a huge part of me that wanted m o r e connections than just the stylists I knew.
But, how do I get other stylists involved in this that I don't know? I tried getting my community of people to tell their hairstylist about it but the project was still too new and I had no portfolio of what I was attempting so it was difficult to get people to commit.
However, there was one thing I knew that would be successful -- posting in an Aveda Education group that I am a part of on Facebook that has 35,000 people in it.
It was a scary moment, I never post in large groups like this and especially with my little idea?! Ahh! What a bold moment for myself to face and overcome. All my training of putting myself out there took me to this moment of courage to hit “post.” Almost immediately, Allison responded to my post being the first person. She was also the most enthusiastic and committed person from that group as well!
Allison believes that education is really important. She is a huge stand for it as she has educated for Paul Mitchell and Aveda. Though I have never met Allison in person or been taught by her, my impression of her is that she is a great example of leadership. She speaks from her heart and has deep passion for what she does. Having strong leadership like this around me is something I have always appreciated, grown accustomed to, and perhaps on some level taken for granted. When faced with someone that has poor leadership skills I am often shocked, disappointed, and mind blown as big parts of me expect the very best quality from people that find themselves "on top." It's something that I am constantly trying to balance as I remember that they are "only" human but I also want and need to hold them accountable.
A few years ago I was having issues with a leader in my community. I kept being disappointed because they were suckinggggg at fulfilling my expectations of who I thought they were supposed to be for me. I was continuously mad or pissed off that they said this, or they didn't do this, or they were showing up in all the wrong ways.
One day after dealing with this for quite some time, I sat down with myself to have a little chat. My method of internal processing all the things that I need to process is quite elaborate and I am unable to put it into words. However in the end what basically happened was this:
I pointed the finger and said as I imagined this person, "You aren't the leader I think you should be!"
I looked into the figurative mirror and saw me looking back at myself.
"Ohhhhhh sh*t, I'm not the leader I think I should be." I said back to myself. It was an embarrassing, yet humbling moment I had with myself. A moment of self discovery and "Aha!" I am grateful for the impeccable leadership I seem to surround myself with. If I can be half as amazing of a leader as so many of you, I’d be stoked.
In addition to the importance of education, Allison and I talked about mental health. One of the big things it seems that Allison got from the shutdown was that she wanted to learn more about helping people with their mental health, specifically her clients. Because she deals with people all day and has an eager desire to help them feel good, showing up in this way with her clients is something that she values.
Allison believes that kindness and education really help the world. Beauty to Allison has so many different forms, identities, and definitions. Similarity to me, she believes that beauty means many different things and can show up in many different ways. She loves that she can do hair with just her hands and it can change someone's world. Beauty to Allison is healthy relationships. Beauty is her dogs being excited to see her. Beauty is natural.
She considers herself as a "natural" stylist, she loves to encourage people to wear their hair naturally and to learn how to be okay with who they really are. The beauty industry to her is is making people feel good. Whenever she would ask students why they came to do hair, they said because they want people to feel good.
That is truly what we get to do.
One of the most amazing things to me on the grand scale of being a human is that we are put here for a reason. There are so many different ways we can look at this -- having purpose or making meaning but the fact is is that we are here. It is always so cool to me when I get to talk to someone that is fulfilling that deep calling within them of what they are supposed to "do." I especially love hearing the journey of how people get there too.
Allison didn't seem like she would be the type of person to be a hairstylist to her friends and family. But she was getting her hair done one day and thought, "Well this would be really fun!"
Check out more of Allison's story in this episode with the amazing and beautiful Allison!
Love and gratitude,
Jillian
Creator/ Founder of The Beauty Project
Allison's Beauty Statement: "Beauty to me is being kind to yourself.
The beauty industry means to me that we get to help with people’s self esteem. Also, this industry is exciting and creative.
What I would like people to know about the beauty industry is that it’s irreplaceable.
I am beautiful because I am a real person and I am really good at relationships."
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