Everyone in the professional beauty industry knows and loves Candy Shaw (@thebalaylama), a.k.a. "The Balay Lama." With her signature pops of yellow, infectious laugh, love of family, commitment to hairdressing and over 35 years of hairdressing experience under her belt, she's built a stable of devoted fans clamoring for her balayage knowhow and her hairdresser-friendly balayage kits.
You could say that Candy has hairdressing in her blood. Her father, the famous Jamison Shaw, leaned how to cut hair in the Air Force, went to beauty school, opened Atlanta's Jamison Shaw Hairdressers and won many hairdressing World Championships. Because of his career, Candy grew up with hairdresser icons—such as Paul Mitchell and Vidal Sassoon—surrounding and inspiring her. At a steady pace Candy learned the ropes at the salon, and in 1998, she bought the family business from her dad.
Never one to rest on her laurels, three years ago, Candy upped the ante by developing her own balayage education program and product, Sunlights Balayage (@sunlightsbalayage)—a kit she tirelessly researched and designed specifically with the balayage artist in mind. Six months after its launch, Candy was named "Maverick of the Year" and "Start-Up of the Year" at Cosmoprof’s Beauty Pitch, and was the 2017 recipient of the "Jerry Gordon Salon Business Leadership Award."
Most recently, at the 10th Annual 2017 "Women in Business & The Professions World Awards" Candy was named both "Female Entrepreneur of the Year" and "Woman of the Year" in the "Women Helping Women" category.
“Of all the awards and accolades I’ve been blessed to have received during my career," says Candy, “the recognition for helping other women is probably the greatest honor to me. I never went to college. In fact, I never even went to beauty school. I’m dyslexic. I graduated high school by trading haircuts for math homework. Today I run three companies. If I can help other women achieve their dreams, then really, anyone can. My absolute favorite role is being a mentor.”