We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Gemma recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What are you most proud of in your career?

I feel so lucky and am so proud of myself for finding a craft in which I truly feel like I excel. I love every aspect of bridal hairstyling. I love that instant gratification of a change and making someone feel completely different about themselves in the best way possible – ESPECIALLY a bride on her wedding day.

There are several things that I feel extremely proud of but the first one that comes to mind is my love for truly connecting with others when they sit down in front of me. I LOVE getting to know others, I love asking questions, I love finding those special connections and really just making a genuine new friend. Often times, I don’t see a bride again after her wedding day and that thought makes me so sad so I try to stay connected through social media to follow along with their journeys through life after weddings.

My other love language is traveling. I spend the better part of my down time planning out of state and international trips to style bridal hair for weddings and photoshoots. I’ve made invaluable connections with photographers and other industry vendors and often get the opportunity to experience trips around the world while still doing my dream job.

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

Since I was a child, I have always LOVED all things beauty and fashion which included getting scolded in grade school for playing with my friends hair during class. Immediately after high school, I went to cosmetology school and graduated with my license in 2003. Over the course of the past 20 years, I hadn’t always been full time in my bridal hairstyling career. I am incredibly grateful for working various positions at a number of companies over the years because I have learned not only priceless life lessons but invaluable business skills that I feel extremely proud of.

Fast forward to October 2018 when I made an overnight decision to quit my full time corporate job at the time and focus sharply on the thing that absolutely lights me up every day – traveling and styling bridal hair. Enter the pandemic a year and a half later and I was really tested how I could pivot and bounce back after a devastating year for weddings and brides – let alone the entire world.

When I hear the question “do you wish you had started your business sooner or later?”, my immediate response is a resounding “sooner!” but truthfully, I don’t think I would be nearly as successful as I am right now had I not gone through various corporate jobs over the last 15 years to learn imperative business skills and expertise. So, do I wish I had waited 15 years to go all in? Definitely not…maybe just 5.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is an elusive powerhouse. It changes, literally, daily. Admittedly, it can be extremely overwhelming to stay up to date on the inner workings of how social algorithms work and show your content to the appropriate audiences. For me now, Instagram is the social media channel I have found the most success with and really focus on daily. It’s so much harder to try to keep up with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and the inevitable new channels that will pop up so my first piece of advice is to pick ONE and stick with it.

Social media started taking off in the early-mid 2000s and since I really didn’t start focusing on my bridal hair styling until about 2018, I actually had lots of practice with the inner workings of it all. I followed other industry professionals to dial into what kind of content they were posting, which hashtags they were using on their most watched/liked videos, what kind of content they were making that drew the most interaction and comments. It can be so easy to get caught up in the amount of followers you have to LOOK like you are successful but those thousands of followers aren’t necessarily making your business any more successful. You need the RIGHT followers to engage with your content and to get to know YOU as a person to know if they want to hire you. The most helpful move I have found on Instagram is geo-tagging locations when posting anything. I tag the wedding venues I am frequently at and like to travel to. That way, when potential brides are inevitably checking out venues on Instagram, they can click to see who is tagging those venues in photos and my content will show up for them.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One of the things that I am extremely proud of is my work ethic and how I interact with others and potential clients. I am meticulous to a fault and I am obsessive with having all of my ducks in a row to make my schedule/calendar as smooth as possible. A bride definitely will not want to work with an unorganized/unresponsive stylist to try to nail down her wedding timeline and schedule. I think one of the comments I hear the most from my past brides is how on top of my game I was which inevitably made their life easier and less chaotic when nailing down their details. The more promptly I can reply to messages, emails, and texts, the more stress it takes off of them. It’s also immensely helpful for me to come prepared with solutions to questions, changes, and concerns so there are no surprises at the end of the day for brides.

The other thing I am proud of is building my entire website to be extremely laid out in detail for a potential bride. I created an in-depth FAQ section with directions, prep lists, and pricing guides so that nothing is a secret. When a bride has a place to go to that can answer any question she has, it feels so much more comfortable and transparent.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jessicagemma.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica.gemma/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaGemmaStylist/

Image Credits
Jessica Gemma