We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle D’Alessio a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I think it takes a lot of things to be successful. One thing is perseverance. I have honestly failed at a lot of things. Hell, I’ve wanted to rage quit my career a bunch of times too. But I truthfully love what I do and I keep trying things and seeing what fits and what doesn’t work and I go from there. It’s the only way to grow.
Teamwork is also essential. It is impossible to do everything on your own so having people you can count on is so important (even if you have a hard time delegating tasks or asking for help, a little help now and then is necessary!)
I’m very lucky that when I moved to Austin I found Urban Hair and for the past 3 years I’ve had an amazing hair family. They tolerate my weirdness and glitter (mostly) but we all can lean on each other and help out when necessary. I’m also lucky to do education for brands like Josh Comeaux Hair where I know my input and contributions are valued and we aim to grow together. There is enough room in this industry to be successful together and we can all build each other up on our way to the top!
Danielle, 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’m Danielle aka Geeks Get Glam, and I am a vivid specialist with about 15 years behind the chair as a stylist and educator.
I’ve always been an extroverted human with a creative brain with 1000 ideas so entering the ever evolving hair industry has been the perfect match. As someone who is a self proclaimed nerd with an obsessive love of Star Wars, creating a clientele base of other fun nerdy people looking to get wild with their hair is honestly a dream for me.
In the past year I’ve accomplished a lot of things on my career bucket list. Aside from continuing growing my clientele at Urban Hair and creating content and education for Josh Comeaux Hair, I’ve become an Ambassador for Olivia Garden INT. I also was nominated in the Behind the Chair One Shot Awards!!! I made the Top 100 in Unconventional Color and Color Placement (and out of 300,000 entries, I never thought I had a chance so I’m still beyond grateful I made it this far).
In the upcoming months I’m hoping to create some more education and to start doing more collaborations. I’m continuously inspired by everyone I meet in this industry and working together on projects is a great way to learn from each other and create some hair magic!!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part is seeing my clients get as excited as I get when they see their hair results. I have so many fun and challenging color requests, from Harry Potter house colors to people showing me images of plants to doing hair roulette. It’s rewarding that I get to be this creative with hair and that I have clients that trust in me to create this type of hair magic! It can be a lot of pressure to try something new (a color scheme or technique etc) but having clients that let me try things and get hyped no matter what is a very rewarding experience.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I think being honest with my clients and making sure I maintain the people I currently have in my chair is the biggest part of being successful with growing a clientele. Most of us in this industry are forever told to under promise and over deliver and I absolutely find that true. I get a lot of consultations for projects that might not necessarily work for that individual. I like to explain why something might not work and come up with either a plan to get them there, or an alternative plan all together. Communication is so important, and I want all of my clients to feel heard and to make sure they leave happy. Happy clients are who stay in my chair and that’s who I get referrals from. Take care of the people you have and more will follow!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.geeksgetglam.com
- Instagram: @geeksgetglam
- Facebook: Geeksgetglam
- Twitter: @geeksgetglam
- Other: http://urbanhair-atx.com/