Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hair stylist? Like you got into this industry to make big things happen?
Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you aren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer.
Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit, just working in your business and start working on it, join us here, where we share real success stories from real stylists.
I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hair stylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt Seva: What is up, you guys? Britt Seva here, and I’m so excited to have a little company with me today on the podcast!
Today, I am interviewing the amazing Monaè Everett. Monaè is a stylist herself, educator, and author. And this is what I’m most excited about: she’s written an incredible book called Get Out of Your Own Way.
When I talked to this amazing woman, it was one of those times where I thought, man, it’s so rare I meet somebody who I feel like is from my own heart. Her views on life and on business and on how to achieve everything you want are so aligned with everything I believe in too.
If you’ve enjoyed listening to any of my podcasts, get ready because you’re going to absolutely love Monaè. So without any further ado, let’s get right into it.
Monaè, oh my gosh. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here today. We were joking before we went live that it took a month to make this happen. It was all on me and I’m just so beyond excited to finally have you here. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Monaè Everett: Oh my goodness. Thanks for having me. I know I am really stepping up in the industry if I am on the Britt Seva show, so I’m excited.
Britt: Well, the feeling is so mutual. I’m just diving into your wealth of knowledge and everything you have available to share. I just know the listeners are going to absolutely love this interview and I’m so honored to have you.
So I always love to start by having my, my guests share how they got here. Why did you choose cosmetology? What did your teenage years look like? And why did you choose that joining this very best industry on the planet was the right path for you?
Monaè: I was so opinionated as a child. I’m not going to pretend that I understood beauty, but I always had something to say about stuff. You know, those E! red carpet shows were not a thing when I was a teenager. So I would look through magazines and always have an opinion, and I think people thought they would shut me up by saying, “If you can’t do better, you shouldn’t say anything.” And I was like, I think with a little training, I could do honestly.
So I wanted to go into cosmetology. I was so blessed that my high school had a vocational center, so I am a huge advocate of vocational centers, but I could not join my sophomore or junior year (how you’re supposed to because it’s a two year program).
My grandmother colluded with the school counselor and they decided that my grades were too high and cosmetology is only for dumb girls. So they said no cosmetology for you.
When it came time, I could graduate my junior year with all these advanced classes. I didn’t have enough electives. So then they were like, “Okay, actually remember that cosmetology thing you wanted to do? It’s open for you now, girl. Now you can do so.” They thought I would only take the one year and go to college and be done. But I ended up going back to cosmetology every day my freshman year in college to get my hours assisting in a salon and to pass my cosmetology exam.
Thank God I passed the first time because Lord knows what would have happened. I never thought those stories older people told about being broke in college was funny and eating the ramen noodles and not being able to go anywhere. So I was like, “Okay, people pay for beauty. Let me learn this. Let me get my skills up and be able to support myself,” because I knew my mom would not be able to. And this pandemic has really drawn attention to that, cannot support a full-on adult in another household.
I just loved beauty. I thought I would stay in the communications world, but by the time I graduated college, I was like, “Here’s your degree, Mom. I’m staying in beauty. I love this.” I found behind-the-scenes work and working with celebrities and show work and things that I just had never heard of.
So I stayed in the beauty industry.
Britt: You are absolutely incredible.
Now, something that you said stood out to me, because I agree with your mindset on the fact that the whole broke college kid thing doesn’t have to be the reality. The living on the ramen noodles. And what it comes down to for me is you seem wildly driven. It seems like that was something that was within you. I mean, from a very young age, do you—
Monaè: Driven and outspoken? Yes!
Britt: Yes and I love it! Do you attribute that to anything specific? Like, were you raised by strong women or is there anything that you could say this is why I’m so driven or was there a pivotal moment that caused that drive to be ignited?
Monaè: Oh, so many pivotal moments. Yes, I was blessed to be around many strong women. I am one of five. My mom had like two sets of kids: me and my older sister, and then there was a big age gap then there’s my brother and my twin sister. I was about seven or eight years older, which was just old enough to be more of a parent than a sibling, so at a very young age, I understood what it was to do the things that you say. Like you can’t tell your younger sibling to pay attention in school, get your work done, don’t stay up all day on the video game if you’re doing that.
I knew that I wanted to have a better life than my parents and grandparents. There are just so many things that have stopped people from achieving their goals and I was very familiar with older people who had so many regrets on the things that they weren’t able to do.
I had a lot of goals and I just didn’t want to be grieved and sad and full of grief. Like I saw some of the other people, they were inundated with the everyday life of caring for others and paying your bills and they were not able to follow their dreams. And I just felt what a sad existence to fight with that daily. I very much believed that you stand on the shoulders of those who came before you. So I hope that by achieving my goals and my grand achievements would make them feel that their sacrifices were worth it.
Britt: Oh my gosh, I resonate with that so deeply, Monae. I’m actually very, very similar. My younger sister is nine years younger than me, so it was very much the same thing. I had to set a good example. I was very much a part of raising her and I do think that there’s something about that that caused me to be more driven. And to what you said, I looked around at the life that my parents had created and my grandparents had created, and I knew I had to be the catalyst for change. I just so deeply resonate with what you share.
How have your siblings or your parents or anybody now said, “Wow, Monae, you did it.” Do you feel like you’ve been appreciated for your accomplishments?
Monaè: No, I would like to, but I realized some years back that the more you give, the more that’s expected. They have no comprehension of the struggles I had at times because I worked for them to not see it. It’s kind of the catch 22. On occasion they may notice, but only like if I do a celebrity they really like, but in general, and it’s difficult because I don’t know, maybe I’ve overheard conversations. Like my mom will say she’s proud of me, but it took many years for them to get it.
I remember before my dad dying a few years ago, he was like, “Babe, I told all my friends, I showed him your magazine. We are so proud of you. It took you so many years to become this high, noticeable model.” “Dad, I don’t model.” He was like, “Yeah, but you’re in this magazine.” “Daddy, I did her hair.” And like, they just can’t com—like, what does that mean? So he’s showing his friends and his friends were like, “That doesn’t look like her, but you know, these models.” By this time, he was not in the best of health so I was like, “Yes, Daddy. Yes. Thanks. Absolutely. I carry your genes. This is why I’m a model. You’re right.”
Britt: Oh my gosh, Monae, I love it. And I think that gives peace of mind. I hear from people all the time, “I wish my family would acknowledge everything that I’ve accomplished” or “I wish others would see my value.” Sometimes that’s just not a part of the package. And it sounds like it was just in such a good place with it.
Monaè: But you know, I could say that, but then I try to keep myself in check for things like,I go by my middle name Monae and my family hates that. Especially extended family. And then one day I’m like, “But it’s my middle name. It’s not a big deal.” Like they think I made up Monae. It’s on my birth certificate. Then I’m like, “But how many of their middle names do I know?” Then I get upset that they didn’t notice X, Y, or Z that I did, then I’m like, “But I wasn’t at their job when they got promoted,” right? A lot of them, I don’t even know what they do. So sometimes I gotta bring myself back. Like, you’re not that fly. The world does not revolve around you. It’s cute. You did hair and it’s great, but it’s not world stopping. I did not run for president.
Britt: Although we support you if you did. However, I can appreciate that. That’s for sure. My, father-in-law, same thing, like trying to classify what I do. He was like, “Hey, listen. I was on social media the other day”— which I really wish my father-in-law was not on social media videos. And he was like, “I saw this video of a woman cutting an avocado and she was preparing an avocado. Is that something like what you do?” And I was like, “That’s it, you finally nailed it. You got me, you got it.”
A lot of people try and educate or try and become a celebrity stylist, or try and find success because they seek out acknowledgement from others. And I just really appreciate you opening your heart and sharing that because if that is why you were chasing, often that’s an empty victory. I think it’s important to remember: you got to chase big dreams for yourself.
Monaè: Yeah. Or you’ll get that major celebrity and you think you’re ready and you’re going to show the world what you can do. And all they want you to do is brush their hair straight back. That’s it.
Britt: Mmm, you’ve been there.
Monaè: Yes!
Britt: Okay, so I want to take a step back again for a second. We know that you’re a celebrity stylist now, however, you also touched on something again that I want to go back to. You mentioned that you did go to a university. So do you also have a degree beyond cosmetology?
Monaè: Thankfully I have multiple degrees and I only say it like that in this surrounding to let people know you can achieve the things that you want. So I have two degrees in communications. What are they? Mass media and criticism and public relations. So mass media and criticism is TV, radio, things of that nature. It sounds really fancy. And my minor was sociology. The study of groups. I just love groups, obsessed with twins, love everything.
Britt: I love that. And do you know, looking back, why did you choose those as your majors? Did you know you’d be an influencer? Did you know you’d want to be a speaker and you’d want to be an author and you’d want to be a powerful woman in this time that we’re living in? Did you always know that?
Monaè: I didn’t know. I think I wanted to be a singer and one day I had to come to grips with the fact that I couldn’t sing and it was really difficult. So I wanted to stand in front of people and talk. I love the power that singers command when singers sing. Everybody stops and looks. So then I moved on from there and decided I wanted to speak, and I realized that like a lot of people, I really struggle with public speaking and I would get up and speak even though I was shivering. But I had a lot of bad speech impediments growing up.
For me, public speaking is more than just getting the word across. It’s the ability like, oh my God, you can actually do what you were told you would never be able to do. So it is hypnotizing to me to be able to convey something to someone and they get it. I just love public speaking.
Britt: Hmm. I love that. And first of all, I really relate again, because in 1994, I fell in love with ice skating and told my mother I was going to be a professional ice skater. And she said, “Babe, you’ve never ice skated a day in your life.” So you’re not a singer, I’m not an ice skater, but it all worked out in the end, so that’s very good.
So tell me, do you feel like if somebody did not get a degree in public relations, public speaking, is this still a craft that you’re learning to improve upon today? Is this a skill that you’re still working on every single day?
Monaè: Absolutely. I don’t tell anybody about this degree in PR because in PR, you need so many contacts and I don’t have them. So like who cares about the degree? It’s nice, but it doesn’t help me right here and now.
Communications is great because I love that the world has become so digital and we’re doing a lot more podcasting, which is very similar to radio. Or when I do a look and learns, very similar to TV or lives and things like that, I find that I’m probably a few years ahead of other people because I’ve been doing those exercises and speaking in front of crowds for years.
But now all of these things can be learned, especially in the beauty industry, because what I learned 20 years ago is wonderful. However, right now, can you work in this technology era? Can you work with your camera or work with yourself? Do you know how to email people? Do you know how to hyperlink? All of those things are things that we’ve learned now that didn’t even exist those years back.
Britt: So true. So true. The world’s evolving so quickly these days. Now you touched on something. You said that you don’t have a little black book full of public relations contacts. You’re not in. How did you build your celebrity clientele? It’s not like you have Beyoncé living next door. At some point you just started making really powerful contacts. So what did those first few years evolving and starting to build that editorial or that celebrity clientele look like?
Monaè: Okay. So there’s two parts of the industry. There is the print side and there is the film side. So I’m dropping a little gems. Every question that’s asked is like you always have to step back 10 steps. I didn’t even know this at the time.
The film side is when you want to do TV, episodics movies. The print side is photo shoots, runway shows, at red carpets, ad campaigns, things of that nature. So they’re all in one side and that’s the side that I live in.
I would work at a salon and I would tell people this is what I wanted to do. I was in Northern Virginia, right outside of DC and I would meet like a random girl who’s like, “Oh, well, I’m doing a runway show” or “I’m doing a show at a club or I’m doing a photo shoot.” And I say it in quotes, because now I’m very aware they’re not real photo shoots, but you start somewhere. You have to have imagery. The images would come from photo shoots or from when they take an image of the girl at the end of the runway. So you get that image and then you start to trade up.
So this girl who is probably, I don’t know, someone you would not call them a model. A term we call them as a moodle, so she’s more of a moodle, but she might be friends with a model, then she introduces you. So it’s the same word of mouth, just like being in a salon.
But you go from just doing small little gatherings or small runway shows. I remember doing runway shows in a club at midnight and it’s like, man, no one comes to the club for a runway show at midnight, but you start there. And so she might invite her friend who’s more of a model who will say, “Oh, who did your hair?” and go from there.
Then you stack up and build. The reason I told you about the two different areas is because little did I know there was two different areas so I was working in the print section. You need those runway shows to get the red carpets, to get the celebrities, to get the editorials, all of those aligned in the same way. People think you can just do one and get to the level you want. They all aligned.
Britt: Hmm. Okay, you hit on something that always hits me in the feels because I do believe we’re living in a time where a lot of people aren’t super interested in doing what I call paying your dues. Where you’re going to have to do some 12 am runway shows where literally nobody’s coming, you’re going to have to do some moodles who call themselves models. That is a part of the process and sometimes I’ll explain that to somebody and they’ll say, “Well, it’s different now.” Do you think it’s different now? Or do you think you still need to cut your teeth?
Monaè: Absolutely not. No, it’s not different at all. You may cut your teeth differently, but it’s not different at all.
Like I tell people, I started my career in the DC area. At this point was before we had so many apps for cheap hotels, so I would catch the bus at 2:00 am from DC, arrive in New York around 7 am, on set at 8:30 am, work the entire day and come back home and sometimes come back again later that week ‘cause I didn’t have $300 for a hotel.
None of this has changed. I still go out of my way to allow out-of-town assistants. Like my main assistant comes from Philadelphia because I remember what it was like being outside of New York and no one would give you a chance. No, it’s absolutely the same thing. And sometimes she comes in for completely free shoots and sometimes when I’m able to, I will edit down her shoots or give her advice or things of that nature because of it.
This is why I offer so much education because people are simply not open with the education and it allows the younger generation to truly believe something is going to be given to them.
I remember an influencer—and if you know her name, that’s not important—who launched the campaign to work with a particular celebrity and that celebrity acquiesced, they worked together. She provided the services and it was nice. It wasn’t amazing. It was nice. As soon as that celebrity found out this influencer’s friend was more well known and a better artist, she switched because this influencer was great at doing one particular look, but there’s so many things that happen. Sometimes you’re given half the amount of time. Sometimes you got to do it on the move. Sometimes attitudes don’t mix. Sometimes you gotta know how to work with whatever hair or makeup product they already have on. And if you’re an influencer and you have not done the schooling and you have not done 10,000 hours of work to master it, you can get caught in a lot of different situations that you’re just not able to prosper it.
Britt: Okay, this is huge. You touched on something, I didn’t know we were going to talk about, but I’d like to if we can: the influencer market is tricky and I’ve had quite a few stylists say, Oh my gosh, so-and-so just DMd me and asked if I would do her hair free for six months in exchange for blah-blah-blah XYZ.
Now I have my take on how to handle that. I’d be curious from you. What should stylists be aware of or keep in mind if you know someone with 200,000 followers slides into your DMs and is asking for a hookup?
Monaè: Okay, this is the labor side of me. I see this from every angle and I’m going to answer it multiple ways.
If you are in a salon and you need to get your clientele up, I have never heard about them asking for six months free, but I will say, I have told hair stylists to find a muse who will allow them to do whatever you want to to their hair and take photos and stuff and they repost you. I’ve never heard of the influencer asking them for six months, but if that will work and that would really build your clientele, maybe talk them down to two styles or something if that’s what you want.
If you need clients in your chair, do what you need to do to get clients in your chair. If you are a celebrity stylist or that’s where you want to go, if you solely decide to do that person once or twice and get the imagery, I get it. Don’t make a habit out of it and be clear that more than likely, they’re never going to want to pay to hire. You have some form of contract because some of these influencers can be sheisty. I have had influencers who, while I was doing their hair, took pictures of all of my products, posted it to their Instagram, and never tagged that it was me Saying like, “Oh, this is why I use this. This is why I use that.”
Make sure at bare minimum if your exchange is to be credited and tagged that you do that. I would shy away from any long term thing, like six months. And also if it’s six months there, if they’re coming to you with the terms, they’re probably telling you how they want to look and that may not work for you. But I like to be really honest. I remember the first time doing an influencer and she was major, but not as big as my celebrities. Oh my God, my average Instagram posts was doing like 70 likes and I did her and got 900.
Britt: Wow, wow.
Monaè: I got a very small amount because it was a photo shoot for a magazine. But honestly those 900 likes and taking me up 400 followers was more beneficial.
I would like to say never do it for free, but free does not exist. Everything has a cost. Figure out the cost and the time and if you’re making money from it. You cannot live off likes so don’t do this a whole lot. There’s nothing wrong with every now and again. Make sure you take really, really good print pictures. Do not trust those influencers to give you photos. What you’re selling and what they’re selling are not the same.
Britt: A hundred gold nuggets and that this was huge. And what’s resonating for me through everything we’ve talked about in the last few minutes here is that, especially when you’re starting out you’re working for exposure, opportunity, experience, those few photos, starting to get that repertoire, building that portfolio. And to what you said, there’s a cost to everything and sometimes the money doesn’t hit your pocket immediately. There is that dues paying process, but really thinking through where is my value in this? What is the value I’m getting? What is the value I’m receiving and making sure everybody ends up in a good spot in the end.
Monaè: Absolutely. And if you have that influencer coming in, you better work them. I’m telling you, you better have them crying out at the end, “Do we have to take more photos?” Actually we do and I need you to tag it this particular way and I need a swipe up so that they can go directly to me. And I need you talking about how much you love coming in. And I need some video while you’re here.
Britt: I want to give you the biggest high five for saying that, because I don’t know what it is. I don’t know why in our industry we get scared. “I didn’t want to ask them to do that.” “I didn’t want to say too much.” We cower down like we’re not supposed to know our worth and stand up for what’s right.
Monaè: It’s tough. And I’m going to be honest, people will sell you a dream. There are some celebrities that won’t let you take pictures. When I first started 20 years ago, you would never ask to take photos. Now, some of them are super into it, some of them aren’t. They literally wield that power to decide that.
It doesn’t work that way if you have entered into an exchange with an influencer. They are paying you in publicity. You better get your dollars because let me tell you something. They probably made that agreement with five other people in town too.
Britt: That’s right. That’s right. Totally agreed.
Okay, let’s go back 20 years. Let’s go back down the fork in the road and tell me, so you had to decide you were first doing more print or more celebrity based. Which track were you on at first?
Monaè: I was on the print track and I didn’t even know it. The print track includes celebrities, so I was starting off doing a lot of runway shows, just me styling 14 people. Then the occasional photo shoot and I always put those in quotes because it was really like me, a makeup artist, a model, and a photographer. None of us knew what we were doing. We were throwing sh*t at the wall trying to see what stuck and what worked. Then I would get the images and you just try to work and decide. I felt like there was really no one I could go to to talk to about this. I didn’t know any celebrities. I certainly didn’t know any celebrity stylist.
I remember someone in a salon telling me about it is how I got interested. I would go to like Craigslist and Model Mayhem and apply to do hair styling. Then reality shows became popular and I would see them show up with their glam squad, their hair and their makeup. And I was like, “See, it exists! This is what I want to do.”
Really taking those word of mouth referrals, making someone really happy on a shoot and then they refer you to the next person to the next model, to the next entertainer, to the next comedian.
I even say, if you live in a small town, those first ladies of church hold a lot of influence. It’s about styling whomever other people would look at and say, “Oh my God, Monaè, you do her hair? I’ve got to go to Monaè to get my hair done.” Because those people, you don’t know if Beyoncé’s cousin goes to your small town church and if Beyoncé slid through for Thanksgiving, she might need someone to do her hair.
Britt: I love that.
Monaè: You’re working into people’s network and building your reputation. I do a lot of lives and stuff about the importance of building your reputation, as being someone professional, someone timely, someone who moves quickly, and works smarter instead of harder. And they will start referring to you as long as you have told them these are the paths you’d like to go down.
Britt: So you were openly talking about, “I would like to work with celebrities. I would like to be somebody’s glam team.” You didn’t hold back on that. You were open about your ambitions and where you were heading.
Monaè: I was open to the people that I felt it would be beneficial to. When I became a salon manager for a corporate company, I was not so open about it but I was always taking off to do photo shoots and stuff and always doing classes and things. I would tell the instructors.
I talk a lot about vertical versus horizontal networking. When you take classes and you’re talking to the instructor, that’s vertical networking. Those instructors want you to be great so they’re going to pour back into you, but then you really need to also do horizontal networking. That’s when I would go to the shoot, talking to the makeup artist and a photographer. When I would go to a class, talking to the students, not just the instructor. I would fill out my clients and my chair and if they seemed to have any care about entertainment at all, then I would talk to them a little. And sometimes I did a wink like, “Oh, okay. I have someone that I think would be a good client for you.” “Okay! Send them in!”
Not only are you paying to be my client, but I would always take that wink as talk to them when they get here. They know stuff, they know people.
Britt: Hmm. Another golden nugget, you guys. Do hear the difference when she’s talking about horizontal versus vertical networking? This is huge. I hear a lot of people who are ambitious saying, “I tell everybody that I want to do X, Y, or Z, and nothing comes of it.” And it’s like, well, are you talking to the right people? Are you talking to the right people in the right way? Are you speaking with intention when you network? It can’t just be talk. It has to be intentional.
Monaè: And it’s tough. You don’t know those right people and be very clear: 97% of people cannot help you or will not help you. But all you need is those couple of percent who will, because you got a dream. Everybody has a dream. How does it benefit them?
I live by this open hand situation. Everybody’s got their hand out. You want someone to put something in your hand, but what are you doing to make space for it? The only way you can make spaces by giving other people.
I think the thing is you can get everything you want in this world by helping other people. Let me be clear in my point. If I go on a photo shoot, I am helping the makeup artists and the photographer and the model. My part of doing hair is helping them. So we all need to be in a situation where, how can we help each other? I need to be really good at what I did so I can actually have helped them, not have done a bad job on the hair so they have to redo the photo shoot anyway, cause the hair didn’t look good. When they get those images back, they need to say, “Oh my God, that hair was so good.” “Oh yeah. My friend is shooting. Let me refer them Monaè.”
Britt: This is huge, another golden nugget for everybody. It is all about the reputation and the networking that you build.
When was the point where you were like, “I feel like I’ve made it”? Was there—you don’t have to name drop if you don’t want to, but there was there a moment where you were like, “Oh my gosh, I feel like it’s starting to happen. I’m really starting to achieve what I set out to make happen”?
Monaè: You know, every day I wake up like I’ve never done anything because every—what you guys see, I probably did two or three months ago. So if it’s reaping what you sow. If I’m living off of what I did three months ago, then what do I have now?
I don’t know. Probably when people started DMing me, asking me how I got there and at first, I didn’t think I had an answer. And then I started really sitting down and writing it out and realizing, “Oh, I do have something to say. Oh, I do maybe know more than the average person.” I don’t know. Maybe when I get featured in publications, like Essence, Allure and stuff like that, and it’s not just my photo shoot, but when they’re asking my opinions on products and different looks.
I don’t know. I never sit back and say, “Oh, I’ve made it.”
Britt: Isn’t that a funny thing. I think a lot of people chase success and they feel like there will be this moment, and I don’t know what the moment is supposed to be, but it’s something, the clouds part and something happens and you’re like, “Wow, I’ve made it.” I have never asked a person that question where they’ve actually had an answer and I think that’s just important to highlight. Everybody’s trying to make it and it’s like, man, to what you said, if you can just look around and appreciate the life you’ve built and what we have today, that’s really what it’s about.
Monaè: Absolutely. Absolutely. I can definitely see the steps that I’ve taken, but I don’t know. What’s making it would be for me.
Britt: Hmm. I actually love that answer. Okay, tell me about something—this makes me very excited—tell me about Get Out of Your Own Way.
Monaè: Get Out of Your Own Way is my second book and I just released it during the pandemic this summer. That’s because I had so many people sliding in my DMs, asking me how to get to where I am. I felt like, “Okay, so I will drop a 10 page 10 tips for getting booked for celebrities. As I was writing, it turned into 25.
The full title is Get Out of Your Own Way: 25 Insider Tips for Booking Celebrity Hairstyling Clients. But I realized that a lot of things, whereas me getting in my own way, which made me getting to this level take longer because you just simply have no idea what to do so the things you guess you should do many times are wrong.
I looked back at a lot of wrong emails I sent out or emailing the wrong person or having the wrong types of images or having images that weren’t correct or not knowing how to choose a model or, most importantly, not knowing how to choose a photographer. I looked through all the little things and said, wow, so this is such a difficult process on your own, but then when you’re doing it wrong…
When I started, I didn’t know any celebrities and I certainly didn’t know any celebrity hair stylists. So I said there’s enough out there for us to all follow our dreams. Let me put this book out.
Britt: This is huge. I think that this has been a missing piece for so long. And when you and I were talking, I said, “Let me just take a look at her book” and oh my gosh. I mean, this is, to what you said, these are the questions that people ask me as well: Where do I start? Or how do I know what to look for in a photographer? Things like that. What you’re serving up I think is just such a huge gift.
So is your book, is this an e-book or a print book or both?
Monaè: Both. You can get both at my website, themonaelife.com. You can decide if you want an in print or an ebook.
And getting to this level, everybody may not want to style Gigi Hadid, however, you should want a nice high-end clientele. I spent a lot of time on that in the book as well. How to attract the high-end clientele: the color make-over clients, the hair extension clients, the wedding clients, and things of that nature.
Every artist has to come to a time where they want to work smarter instead of harder. So in this book, I really focused on improving your reputation, how to take images in your salon. If you’re not at a point where you have the money to spend it on a big photo shoot, there’s many ways to get to the next level.
Britt: I love this and I love that it’s attainable for everybody. Like I was talking about when we started this interview, I live in a very small town in a small community. It would be difficult to build a celebrity following here. However, there are local celebrities in my tiny 11,000 person town. There are queen bees and people who are power players here. And to get in a network with that community would be a dream. So to what you said, I mean, finding those powerful clientele, those leaders, those pivotal hubs that can help you to build that strong clientele is necessary for everybody.
Monaè: Absolutely. Whether it’s the head of the PTA, the local girl in the Kmart commercial, or like, I’m big into pop culture. Like there’s now the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. And everybody laughed like, what does Salt Lake City going? I’m like, first of all, I go to Salt Lake City every year, Salt Lake City is popping. Do not think that it’s not, but other people would say, “Oh, they had nothing to offer,” nothing but money! Get that clientele you want! Maybe your work may not be on the cover of Glamour or People, but you might make more with that clientele if that’s what you choose.
I’m very clear that everybody is not money driven and every part of what I do is not money driven. However, I don’t believe in being a broke artist.
Britt: Yes. Agreed. Gosh, Monaè and I are so on the same page. So I told her at the top of this episode, this will be the first interview of many if she’s willing to come back.
Monaè, this has been an absolute pleasure today. I know you dropped your website. Can you give it to us one more time? And I’d also love for you to let us know where to find you on Instagram and YouTube.
Monaè: Sure. You can find me on Instagram and YouTube at monaeartistry and my website is themonaelife.com I’ve got a bunch of great information on there, resources, classes, all the good stuff, go take a look. Some are completely free 99 and others are more than worth the investment.
Britt: You are absolutely amazing. A wealth of knowledge. You guys, I’m going to link to some free resources from Monaè and some paid resources as well in the show notes from today’s episode so you guys can find them all there as well.
Monaè, you are an absolute powerhouse. Thank you so much for joining us today and I know we’ll talk again soon.
Monaè: Awesome. Thanks for having me.
Britt: You guys, as I promised, absolutely amazing, Monaè. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here with us today!
You guys, if you’re looking to follow Monaè, she’s @monaeartistry on Instagram and make sure you check out her book, Get Out of Your Own Way. You will not regret it.
You guys so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
