We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Grace Rogers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Grace below.

Hi Grace, thanks for joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

In life we have pivotal moments, moments that feel as though time has stopped, and change us forever. It is how we react to these moments, thrust upon us, that create the fabric of who we become. We all have a choice, a fork in the road, as to how we will let that moment define our character. It has been through a moment like that, at the beginning of my career that is forever been emblazoned on my mind. Throughout my childhood my parents did an amazing job teaching my siblings and I how to put others first, give back to the community and have a serving mindset. I appreciate that mentality to this day.
With that mindset I went to one my first jobs. I was 19 and just earned my own chair as a stylist. I was the newbie, filled with enthusiasm and looked up to all the other colleges. Every week I would ask the salon manager what I could do to help before I left my shift. This you have to understand was not the norm for the other stylist. They would clean their stations and straighten up of course, but would not volunteer to do extra, or ask if there was more work before leaving. I looked up to the manager as a mentor and trusted her to have my best interests in mind.
Week after week I stayed late on Saturdays to “help out” with the list of tasks given to me at the end of the shift. After a while it began to occur to me, these items were not the usual list of tasks for stylist to do at the end of the shift. It became clear these were the job of the manager given to me. Over time instead of me volunteering to help, it became expected for me to stay and do them every Saturday afternoon, which meant I got off later and later. Finally one week I had a commitment I needed to leave for after my shift. All day I dreaded having to tell the manager I absolutely had to leave, nor was it my job to do her tasks she was paid for. Finally the moment came, I stumbled on my words but got them out. The response I heard next reverberates in my mind to this day, ” Oh you finally decided to stand up for yourself.” I was shocked to my core, my trust and respect betrayed, by someone I looked up to. All this time she had not been looking out for me, but taking advantage of my kindness. It was then I realized not everyone had the same mentality I did. I had to learn, just as she said, ” Stand up for myself.” To remember not everyone in the world is looking out for your best interest, only one person can do that, you. However, that did not have to change who I was, my character. Just know, you give freely, with no expectations of reciprocation. I chose to still be the person that was taught to me, give to others, be kind, be thoughtful, put others first.

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 loved the artistry of the beauty industry since I was a child. Particularly anything having to do with color. Hair became a medium I loved at a young age because the medium can be reworked over and over to create new things. By getting into the beauty industry, I play with color every day and people walk out with my art on their heads. The best accessory you cannot take off! Over my 18 year career in the salon industry I have traveled the world for continuing education, managed salons, developed my own branding, opened my own studio. Also, I am 1 of 9 US Color Artists for the International color company Schwarzkopf Professional, traveling nationally teaching other stylist how to color and cut hair. Through my 16 year career with Schwarzkopf Professional I have the opportunity to train with the best stylist in the world multiple times a year in Los Angeles, staying cutting edge to the latest trends and technology in the hair industry.

At G3 Hair Design my Tagline is – Real Women.Real Hair.Real Beauty. My goal is to work with each and every woman to create the perfect hair look that embraces her natural beauty.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Take a moment to think about what you see when you look in the mirror, do you see confidence, beauty, happiness? Those things we see are emotions and feelings, not literally the shape of our faces or the color of our eyes. It’s a feeling. Hairstylists, have the power to generate feelings. Feelings of confidence and beauty. These words all mean something different to each of us, it is very personal. My job is to get to know you, get to know what makes you feel your best, then to help you create that on your hair everyday, teach you how. Hair is something we often don’t spend much time thinking about, however it has an immense amount of power to communicate to others how we feel about our selves and self expression of our personal style. Humans spend allot of time and money on things that we don’t wear or use everyday, your hair is with you every single day and can’t be taken off or changed daily. It is the crown of your whole being, make it worth wearing, worth loving.
There are not words to describe the feeling people get when discovering the perfect, color, cut and style for them. When at the end of the appointment, your hair is styled and you see it for the first time. When you look in the mirror and see beauty and confidence on yourself. The look of pure joy and sometimes tears of emotion, that, that is by far what makes all the work worth it. Because every person deserves to feel beautiful.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The majority of the world we live in today is very structured, in every aspect. It starts from early childhood with a rigorous school and activity schedule and continues until we are adults with 9-5 jobs and adult responsibilities. This lifestyle works for most people, and plenty like the structure. However, creative people cannot thrive in this, in-fact it does just the opposite, it sucks the life out of creative people. I would love for non-creatives to acknowledge and give permission for us to be free, out of the “norm”. To work at different time schedules, to not be morning people, to not excel at the “normal expected” activities. To not say “everyone is the same” but to say “we are all different, and that is good and beautiful!” Society puts an immense amount of pressure on everyone to be a square, we are all shapes.
Consider not pushing your own desires onto your children, but let them have the freedom to make their own path, to encourage this, even if you don’t understand it. Let us all have the freedom to be different. Many people like this sentiment but don’t in actuality want to see it. They want the easy path, the “blend in ” path, that is not the easy path for creatives. Blending in makes us stifled and even more shut out because we know, we are not “normal”.

The quote by the creative Albert Einstein- ” Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that is stupid.”

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