We recently connected with Kate Black and have shared our conversation below.

Kate , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

It’s important to me how the person in my chair feels when they are in my studio, and more importantly, when they leave my studio. For me, if I can make you feel more yourself than you did walking in, I’ve done my part. People don’t come to Kate Black to get a haircut, they come here to be more authentically themselves, without judgement, without drama or any other typical happenings in the modern-day salon or barbershop. My work is my art and I get to channel that through another human being which really has kept me in this industry for almost nine years!

Collectively through all my education, I have made it my goal to learn as many rules and commonalities as I possibly can, so I know all the ways to push the limits and how to break them all the best to my ability. The people in my chair are not identical. They are all different with different lifestyles, life experiences, hairlines, routines, hair textures, hair colors, cowlicks and each cut is specifically custom to those things.

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 am Kate Black, I specialize in edgy hair cutting including mullets, shags, short hair and color! I have been a super introverted creative all my life but never knew what I wanted to do to channel that in a career. I graduated high school, started college, hated it dropped out of college. My mom wanted me to go to hair school right away for something to always “fall back on” but as a 18 year old with a new found freedom that wasn’t happening! Fast forward a few years and I find myself at Aveda Institutes of Orlando, totally uncomfortable and out of my element so naturally, I signed up. I was terrible in school, thought I made a huge mistake, graduated anyway, took so many classes from so many types of people and that’s when i fell in love. It clicked. I could do it however I want to and I’ve been doing that over and over for 8.5 years.

My aesthetic is dark, little punk, little edge but I do it all! I’ve been top 100 x3 now in one of the Top Competitions in the hair industry BTC Big Shot awards and have had so much fun creating with my friends, doing photoshoots and flooding Orlando with as many mullets as I possibly can.

I think I’m most proud of successfully running my own business for almost 4 years and building a clientele of the raddest humans in Central Florida despite covid, social media, mental health and adhd!

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

Social media is hard as we all know. The algorithms and shadow bans are all inevitable but I learned being specific will get you genuine followers. When posting photos of punk hairstyles with wild colors, I liked to geotag a local business that you would find more people similar to attract more of a specific style. I learned only posting what I wanted to attract more of and ridding my profile of anything else made my audience more specific as well. And you have to engage, no post and ghost. The more you engage with your posts the likelihood of your post being seen more goes up! I post things with intention. I ask questions, take polls, post things I love. I’m as authentic as I possibly can be because anyone can go to anyone and get a haircut, but something that relates to my story, will be more drawn to all the things Kate Black Studio has to offer.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I do monthly or biweekly text blasts to kee in contact. Make sure on Instagram I’m posting stories that make people interact with. Also offering free services to models willing to let me do whatever I want and giving them free cool photos from a professional photographer! It’s a constant billboard for my business to have someone with a little following and specific look to help draw in more attention to others looking for the same. I build my brand loyalty because my brand is myself and that’s the piece that’s sets me apart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kateblack.glossgenius.com/
• Instagram: @__kate.black__

Image Credits
Pierson James