“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Søren Kierkegaard
As this amazing year comes to a close, we took a moment to look back at what made your heart sing.
Not surprisingly, you loved posts about our hair heroes such as Vidal and Ann Bray, and our profile on the incredibly talented family of hairdressers, and our friends The Teals. Our plea to “just do it” in our post What Are You Waiting For stuck a cord with you, as did our super easy social + digital cheat sheets and stories. These were your favorite blog posts of 2012.
It has been an awesome year creating and sharing our passion with you, thank you for being here with us and taking the time to engage with our form of art. It matters. You matter.
(shared with LOVE + GRATITUDE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few”
Shunryu Suzuki
Meet Nicoletta Gauci, an international stylist and educator who has had her eye on her dream since beauty school, which she just graduated from in 2008. Fearless, beautiful, focused and talented are just a few words to describe Nicoletta. There is much we can learn from the beginners mind.
Nicoletta has already had a career many dream about. She sat down with us to share her thoughts about the power of the social web and how she is using the space to shape her career and achieve her dreams.
Passion Squared: What are your current goals as a stylist & blogger?
Nicoletta: I want to be able to continue doing what I love, which is styling hair and creating art while collaborating with other people with the same passion or varied passions that accelerate and enhance mine and visa versa.
Passion Squared: Which social platform are you focusing on to reach that goal?
Nicoletta: I have primarily been using Facebook, Hairbrained, Pinterest and Instagram along with blogging through WordPress.
Passion Squared: Why those platforms?
Nicoletta: Through Facebook I have been able to connect with current and future clients, friends and other industry professionals using my network that already existed before I decided to make a brand page. I feel like it is the simplest way to connect with your current audience and build connections with people you would normally not have access to by showing them your brand via your page and posts.
To grow my name within the industry I have chosen Hairbrained, communicating through images. Hairbrained serves as a direct feed to hairstylists and other industry professionals, which is sometimes hard to get at the beginning of a career.
I’ve created a blog which is now more of a platform to share all my other social media sites I use that acts as an interactive place for my followers to write about trends and give them how-to’s.
Pinterest and Instagram are similar but seem to be more so for obtaining connections outside your immediate circle of influence. Instagram is like a virtual shareable scrapbook and Pinterest is a shareable dream board deepening your connection and reach.
Passion Squared: What did you do?
Nicoletta: I have used Facebook as a place to share my new and up coming work and Hairbrained to do the same but for images, which really focus on the hair, most importantly I always credit the whole team so that everyone benefits from the posting. Pinterest I use more so to communicate my aesthetic both in my personal style and in hair and I often create boards targeted towards certain projects. Most recently I have begun to use Instagram as a live feed to the daily going-ons of my life in the beauty industry.
Passion Squared: What have the results been?
Nicoletta: I started my Facebook in March 2012 and through networking have reached 350 likes, my blog, also started in March, has about 1000 followers which I now feed my Mastery by Esani entries and other social media posts onto. Hairbrained had been fantastic for me to extend my reach to other hairstylists and stay hopeful that my eye is on the right path. My Pinterest has also had a great flow of traffic and has increased the level of communication with the teams I work with. Lastly, Instagram, my latest addition and addiction has grown by about 200 people in 2 months and has increased the buzz within my own network as to the work I am doing.
Through this self taught experience I have been able to take on the role of Social Media Design Leader at The Mastery by Esani and create added value to my career.
Passion Squared: Any other thoughts?
Nicoletta: Use your social media platforms to inspire and lift people up. We have the power to change the way a person feels or thinks with one image or quote posted online…change it for the better.
To catch up with Nicoletta and experience her passion around creating art and sharing it with our world, jump on over to her social pages and say hello.
“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”
Napoleon Hill
Meet Danielle Valiente, a super passionate salon owner, stylist, Paul Mitchell educator and blogger taking the social space by storm to get closer to her goals and dreams. Danielle is such a great example of delivering value through engaging content on social platforms and as she adds value, she is getting the attention of the likes of eHow and Lucky Magazine. Danielle took some time out of her super busy schedule to share her thoughts on how she is using the social web to empower herself and her community. Enjoy.
Nina: What are your current goals as a salon owner/session stylist, etc?
Danielle: My current goals as a salon owner are to continue building our brand and salon team. I set goals every year and work hard to reach them. As a session stylist, my goals are to continue to grow my portfolio, my contributions to Lucky Magazine and my video blogging.
Nina: Which social platform are you focusing on to reach that goal?
Danielle: Do I have to pick 1? Currently I use: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube as my main platforms. They each offer a little something different for reaching my audience.
Nina: Why those platforms?
Danielle: I’m focusing right now on building my YouTube presence. I love sharing education and information with people, so I’m using YouTube to bring my blogging education to life.
Nina: How did those platforms help you get closer to your goal?
Danielle: Currently I am one of Demand Media and eHows video talent. Every few months I create a series of how to videos that help hair stylists and the general public learn to do specific techniques related to hair styling.
Nina: What have the results been?
Danielle: eHow just added me to their YouTube page and within that day I already had hundreds of views.
Connect with Danielle on the social web and see all the cool stuff she is doing to build her brand.
