Stylist, educator, Sam Villa Ambassador, and Global Redken Artist Manda Ziegelman is fresh off their first USA Redken Symposium main stage performance, where they rocked out a beautiful mullet in 12 minutes.
Manda has found success through building and promoting their personal brand, which helps them attract clients seeking the looks they love to create (which right now is shaggy mullets).
Here are their top tips for stylists to build up their personal brand AND their dream clientele.
Focusing on the work you love to do — no matter what it is — is how you craft your reputation as a specialist in that technique.
Building your brand means putting that work out there as a reflection of yourself as an artist. This will help you develop a clientele of people wanting the looks you love to create.
Build Your Roster of Hair Muses.
Your muses can be anyone who's open and willing to let you experiment on their hair
Start asking friends, college or graduate students, local TikTokers or micro-influencers, baristas, servers, sales associates ... you get the picture.
Get them into your chair and give them the looks you've been wanting to achieve. Document all of them with images and video.
I am almost 20 years into hairdressing and still do this once a season to try new things and push the trends I'm forecasting into practice. If we don't do that, how long will we be following the same old?
All Your Work Should Reflect Your Vibe.
When photographing your work, remember that silhouette and shape are everything.
Awesome color, but on a boring haircut? Tuck and pin creatively to make a better shape for an edgier vibe.
Also, stay on the lookout for opportunities to create your signature look whenever you can.
I have reusable tape-in extensions ready for opportunities to create shaggy mullets. If my client is sporting a pixie cut, I add some to the back and voilà! Instant mullet.
Social Media Is Where You'll Find Your Dream Clients.
Your professional social media accounts should show off ONLY the type of work you love to do — because that's what will come back to you. Fill your grid with the looks you aspire to create full time, and nothing else.
People use Instagram and TikTok all the time to find an artistic hairdresser who can pull off the look they want. Help them find you by using location tags and hashtags that reflect where you are and what you specialize in. (For me, that's #PortlandShag and #SeattleShag.)
The best way to approach brand building is to stay consistent, stay true to yourself, and know your passions and strengths!
Before long, you will build up your professional reputation as a specialist in the work you love, and people will start seeking you out for it.