We were lucky to catch up with Anastasia Strattan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Anastasia, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
Legacy is such a beautifully heavy word to me. It carries with it the hope of today, the promises and hard work of yesterdays and the long lasting vision of the future. My hope for my legacy has always been family based. In my children and partner: that they see me as a wonderfully functioning mother, partner and business woman dedicated to making a difference in each life I have the pleasure to be a part of. And for my guests: that they have an unforgettable experience in whatever chair they sit in of mine- bridal, cut and color or as a student. I truly strive to think of the customer experience as one I would want to have myself. I also understand the full time demands of being a great mother and strive to never let these take a back seat to my work. I incorporate the two with humor, grace and realistic optimism. I hope I am remembered by all for these things.
Anastasia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a mother of 3, hair and makeup artist and cosmetologist as well as a hair educator. I got into the beauty industry 13 years ago on a stroke of luck and joined a bridal team. On that team, I honed my skills in airbrush techniques and individual lashes, setting me apart from other artists who did not offer those services. I now have the pleasure to teach both of those services to my colleagues and am so thankful to have been taught them from the beginning of my career. I feel that I have been given and have sought out so many tools for my toolbox along the way. Continued education is crucial to my staying current and relevant in my ever changing career. The beauty industry has standards that are somewhat fluid. Staying on top of new trends, old trends and what’s to come trends is an important part of both my skill set and my education skills. I feel that I offer something a lot of other skilled artists offer in the actual hair and makeup applications go, however, I am a firm believer in the guest chooses based on not only skills alone but the melding of personality and skill! Coming from a theater background, I find humor and a keen ear/eye combo set me apart from the community of artists at our disposal.
I am most proud of creating a guest experience in so many different areas of the industry I am so lucky to be a part of. I get the opportunity to cross reference all of my skills for each guest and feel it adds so much value to many different areas of peoples lives. Wether it’s a wedding or prom night, a regular cut and color guest or a mommy and me hair class I’m teaching, I get to help people on many different levels.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think what has helped build my reputation within my market is my ability to be a chameleon for teams that I have contracted with, my ability to actively listen to not only clients but to team leaders that I’m working for, and the fact that I offer so many different types of services. I have always prided myself on a very high level of professionalism and I demand that from people on my own team as well as myself on other teams I work for. I feel like I have always found ways to keep my books full by diversifying my income pool. Meaning I’m never too proud to work for other people as well as myself.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I had some really great business coaches that I was working with when I was pregnant with my middle child and I learned a very big lesson about timing. I was very excited to launch my education platform called Bloom and we had a really worked through all of the good the bad and the ugly as far as the business was considered. I suddenly had to come to terms with myself that my son and my oldest daughter we’re going to demand more of my time and I would have less time to give to launching the business properly. I remember telling my coaches that this was not my season to do this and that there would always be people that needed my help with hair so I was going to put the launch on the back burner for an undetermined amount of time. This was big for me because I feel like in the American culture especially we are very rushed and very quick to be hard on ourselves for giving ourselves grace. This was probably the best idea I could’ve had because it’s allowed me more freedom and time to think about all the things that I want to do and be able to incorporate those without sacrificing my time with my children.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anastasiastrattan.com
- Instagram: anastasia_stylist
- Facebook: Facebook.com/ConceptsbyAnastasia
Image Credits
Stephanie Brazzle Aaron Fairooz