We were lucky to catch up with Aviva Jansen Perea recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aviva thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name Day Rate Beauty speaks to the most common point of negotiation in my career, my day rate. Opportunity and pay disparity are a standard in Hollywood. My industry very clearly lacks diversity and after taking time to reflect during the chaos of 2020, I chose to advocate for myself in a way I never had. Whomever you are, this is my message to you… WORK HARD, AND ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been in the celebrity hair styling industry for twenty years. Usually the way one enters into this business is by getting on assistant rosters at the top agencies, but after a year of trying to get on assistant rosters, I realized that I just needed to make some money, so I want on Craig’s list to look for a job as an office assistant and got an interview at a “Small Boutique Agency”. When I showed up for my interview I realized that it was the one of top hair and makeup agencies at the time. I got hired and worked in the office for 2.5 years and gained such valuable knowledge about the business side of the industry. I learned how to put a portfolio together and how publicity works and how to book travel on press tours, etc. After that time I realized that I wanted to be doing the hair and not booking the hair, so I left to start assisting the hairstylists on the roster. I assisted for 3.5 years and then was signed to the roster! During the break of 2020, I started developing my brand Day Rate Beauty. After thousands of updos on red carpets, and trips to beauty supply stores I knew that there was room for improvement on the hair and bobby pins that I used in my professional styling kits and myself. The pins on the market are almost all made abroad, are bronze or black, mostly single use, flimsy, damage causing, etc. Our pins are made in the USA, from stainless steel coated in plant based nylon, offered in 10 inclusive hair shades, packaged and shipped in fully sustainable materials.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I didn’t see myself represented within my industry so in a way I made myself small, thinking I must not belong here. There’s no one else that looks like me. Just keep my head down and work hard but don’t make a fuss about anything or you’ll be found out. I wish I would have taken up space and learned that squeaky wheels get the oil. It’s ok to be squeaky.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I wanted to create hair and bobby pins that had as low of a carbon footprint as possible, which meant trying to find a manufacturer in the United States. It was like finding a bobby pin in a haystack. VERY hard to do in the US but we did and I’m so happy we stuck to the core principles of improving the carbon footprint of our products.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dayratebeauty.com https://www.forwardartists.com/hair/aviva-jansen-perea-portfolio
• Instagram: @hairbyaviva @dayratebeauty
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DayRateBeauty
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/avivajp
• Youtube: @hairbyaviva

Image Credits
Headshot by Stevan Perea Product Photography by Mandy Stoller