It’s turning out to be a pretty great year for one Bunbury hairdresser who recently returned from a global conference after being handpicked for a styling team during the event.
Afreya owner and manager Clarissa Mitchell has been busy since first embarking upon a career in the hairdressing industry almost 10 years ago.
After completing her apprenticeship in Melbourne and discovering the holistic brand Aveda, Ms Mitchell has gone from strength to strength.
She recently returned from the Aveda Congress, which celebrated 40 years of the brand and 20 years of the event held in the U.S, where she was picked out to help with the Australia team for presentations.
“We’re aligned with the global brand Aveda, which is very earth conscious and focused on the planet,” she said.
“Their mission includes inspiring beauty and wellness in everybody – inside and out, it’s not just about making people beautiful on the exterior but the interior too.
“I really like the ethos of Aveda and I think that it’s something that we as hairdressers from any company should follow, it’s not about competing it’s about everyone growing together and feeding off each others knowledge.
Ms Mitchell said going to the congress helped to encourage passion around communities as well as hair.
“This was the first time in those 20 years that Aveda Australia had been invited to present on the main stage, so that was a really big coup for us.
“They had a team of five people presenting and then another team of five supporting – I was lucky to score myself a position as support staff backstage.
“So that was really cool just seeing how they do it, having the opportunity to meet people who are leaders in our industry that are really humble, kind people that just want to tell you everything and impart all of their experience and wisdom with no arrogance.
“It was a really nice opportunity to see people internationally and how they operate but also see Australia performing on that level and holding their own.”
Ms Mitchell said she was excited to share what she had learned with her team.