Doing What She LOVES!

Profile by Ren Lopa 

Nina (left) and Amy Madera

Parents want what is best for their children, which is to see them succeed and live up to their full potential. Nina Madera graduated from the Summit Salon Academy and has now been working as a Level 2 stylist at Shear Art Salon & Spa in Tampa, Florida for nearly two years. Her mother, Amy Madera, knows there is money to be made in the professional beauty industry and is extremely supportive of her daughter’s career path. She did, however, have to overcome some preconceived notions of what to expect.

Read on to discover how Summit Salon Business Center’s foundational business principles have helped salon companies build work environments with great culture, strong community, clear career pathways, and never-ending educational opportunities.

Nina’s Journey

“When we heard Nina wanted to become a hair stylist, we were excited for her,” Amy explains. “She had been doing friends’ hair for proms and special occasions for sometime, and we knew she would be good at it. We did not try to change her mind, because we knew it was an industry where you could use your own creativity and do what you loved.” A family friend who was a booth-rental hairstylist and making more than six figures a year accentuated this positive mindset. Knowing Nina’s ambition and hunger for success, Amy had no doubt that this could be Nina’s story too.

Nina attended the Summit Salon Academy in Tampa, Florida and it was here where Amy and Nina met Joanne Powers, the owner of the academy and of Shear Art Salon & Spa. “I was very impressed by the school environment that Nina had,” Amy explains. “Joanne is an incredible woman and I was very impressed with her ability to handle any situation that came up in order to keep a positive culture in the school.”

Because of this positive experience at the Summit Salon Academy, Amy began to understand that the professional beauty industry is not what it used to be. “You always hear horror stories about salons,” Amy says. “I had heard about girls acting really catty to each other and being really mean and cut-throat at other salon companies. Plus, I had heard that salons take a lot of money out of the stylist’s paycheck. Hearing these kinds of stories made me think that booth rental was better because you work on your own and are in control of all of your money.” Through watching Nina’s experience and the way that the educators and administrators dealt with issues of this nature, however, Amy began to realize that it doesn’t have to be that way.

For Nina, the decision to work for a commission-based company, as opposed to booth renting was clear. “I wanted to work with a family,” Nina explains, “I wanted to be able to work with people I could ask questions of and learn from. I had also observed Joanne Powers at school and had heard her speak. She is a woman of power, strength, and love. I could tell that she genuinely cared for her stylists and that was exactly the kind of boss I wanted to work for.”

Shear Art Salon & Spa is a premier salon that has been in business for nearly thirty years, is Redken Elite, and has been ranked among the top 200 salons in the country. “It was exciting for Nina to be able to get a job at a premier salon upon leaving the Summit Salon Academy,” Amy says. “Now I can see that Nina has the potential to earn six figures by year seven in her career, and by being a part of a salon company, she has access to other benefits like paid vacation, free education from the premier artists in the industry, health insurance, and access to all new products and color lines within Redken.”

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Summit Salon Business Center is changing the conversation and paving the way for salon professionals of our future. Interested in learning more about the Summit Salon Academy or how Summit Salon Business Center can help you? Click here.