We were lucky to catch up with Christopher Trevena recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christopher thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

In this industry or all industries for that matter , I think it takes a number of things to be successful.One thing that I really encourage my younger stylists is to not only be kind , but be relatebly kind.When you are providing services , you’re not only selling the service , but you are selling yourself.People have to like you and see you as a person, not just as a service provider.My clients and staff included , confide in me , invite me to their weddings , refer me to other potential clients and have even connected me to investors , all because they like me.You have to be warm, optimistic , and inviting each day , as if you are meeting them for the first time.You have to be someone not only can they relate to , but someone they want to be around.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started Paul Mitchell the School Tampa when I was only 17 years old ,but my passion for the beauty industry started long before that.I remember my mom taking me to her nail appointments and the energy at that salon was so inviting and uplifting.I was only a child when I already started building a connection with her nail tech and I grew to look forward to seeing her every time my mom got a new set.I recall my mom walking out always happier than she walked in and I knew that I wanted to be someone who made people feel that way.I have had clients share with me so much that I could probably write a book , but it means so much that there are so many people who walk into my business every day who trust me with not only their hair , self esteem , but their life concerns and stories.My salon , Fame & Foils Color Bar, has not only won multiple awards for Best Salon , but myself as well as my staff have won countless awards as Best Hair Stylists and that brings me so much pride and joy. I have created an environment at Fame & Foils that not only can the clients walk out feeling a weight off their shoulders and a confidence that could pound the runway , but Ive also started a home for stylists to succeed and be themselves.My staff and I are family and are also the unspoken few who lift people up when they are down and help build self esteem for everyone who enters our doors.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

You know when I tell these next two stories , I always have a lot of mouth drops.When I was 17 years old ,a few months into beauty school, my home fell into a sink hole( google seffner sinkhole and you can find more details). My family and I lost nearly everything and we had to build it back up from scratch. Precious memories , some of my favorite clothes, and family heirlooms went down over just a few days. Regardless of those things , it really taught me that not only are things replaceable but it takes a lot of hardwork to build your life back up from nothing. At 17 years old , I was on my own having to push and push to rebuild all that I had loss and from that day , I always told myself that if I lost it all again , I would make sure that I would always be in a place that I could! Fast forward to Thanksgiving of 2019 , I was out with some friends after a family dinner and I get a call that my apartment had caught fire. It happened all over again , the loss of all of my things and memories taken from me again. But you know what , this time even though there was a lot of ptsd from losing everything before , I picked myself up and did it again because I told myself that I would always be in a position where I could rebuild and move forward. My step dad has always said to me ” You know the world will not always be on your side , but the world doesn’t stop moving. You have to keep moving forward because it is the only option” , and that has stayed with me my entire life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I think is very pounded into us in every industry but especially the beauty industry is that you have to hustle and hustle until you are ready for retirement. I have had so many mentors older than me in this industry who told me to never slow down , keep taking more clients , do every service ,stay late and always work weekends because that’s how you make it in this industry and boy were they so wrong. Year 4 of my career and I had hit a whole different level. I was booked out 6-8 weeks in advance , cramming in 14 clients a day 5 days a week and I was starting to burn out and fall out of love with my career. I was so tired and beat down from taking on everything and never saying no. It wasn’t until I started diving into business and salon podcasts that I started hearing that I as a stylist could say no to a client or no I will not stay later than 7:30 and no I will not come in on my off days. I started implementing set hours and not detering from them, I started telling clients no to services that stressed me out or made me uncomfortable, and I started taking weekends off to actually enjoy my family/ friends again. Doing these things not only gave me rest , peace of mind , and happiness but it made me start to love my career again. I was no longer spacing out when clients were talking to me and I started regaining my lifes focus and needs! I think we all deserve boundaries and some time for ourselves and I really think more service providers need to know , they are so much more than what they do. We are people with lives and we deserve to enjoy them.

Contact Info:

• Website: instagram.com/fameandfoilscolorbar
• Instagram: instagram.com/trevenastyles