2019 MODERN SALON 100: Amelia Fugitt @ameliahairmakeup

Amelia Fugitt of Atlanta, Georgia, is known for her foil work and color corrections but, fun fact, she’s also a skilled Lacrosse goalie drafted by D1 colleges! Her audience loves to follow her because of her honesty and interactions with her community. “The power of social media was really shown to me by my mentor, Jake (@jacobhkhan),” she says. “He grew his clientele and career so quickly from social alone that I knew I had to learn his ways and utilize Instagram to its fullest potential. I'm now booked out for months and I work triple-booked the majority of the time.”

Amelia Fugitt

@ameliahairmakeup

Atlanta

Jacob K Hair, Roswell, Georgia

Specialty: Foil work, color corrections

Top-performing post: The first platinum card I posted went viral and my page took off from there. I noticed the draw that clean processing shots brought in and realized how many followers aren’t just looking for entertainment, they’re looking for education as well.

Favorite apps: iMovie or Splice to edit my videos together. Snapseed to make the photo looks its best, but I only enhance the brightness, sharpen, or blur the background to keep the color true to tone.

I follow: @jacobhkhan, @romeufelipe, @chelseahaircutters, @maggiemh, @miareneehair

Pro tip: People get bored so quickly! What is going to capture someone’s already-short attention span in an oversaturated, competitive market? Education! Majority of my followers are other hairstylists looking for education, so having an informed caption that’s educational or introduces something new always does really well. I love to see beautiful hair, but more so I want to know what technique and product were used and why. Also, the biggest tip I can give for growing your clientele behind the chair with social is asking your client to take selfies and tag your Instagram page and the salon. Their followers will most likely be their local friends and family who will see their post and they are your best advertisements.

Hidden talent: I am highly skilled in always having my game face on. Doesn’t matter what I’m going through physically or mentally, I’m on. And by on, I mean positive and enthusiastic about work, with a smile on my face.

Fun fact: I was drafted by D1 colleges to play Lacrosse and I was the goalie. The other girls got to wear cute skirts and goggles and I was in literal hockey pads and a helmet. I didn’t want to be a goalie, but I couldn’t run for a year due to a basketball injury so I was told to stand in the goal. Getting hit with those hard rubber balls hurts, a lot. So I decided I would get really good, so I wouldn’t get hurt anymore.

My audience follows me because: My audience appreciates that I’m honest with everything I do.

How social media changed my life: The power of social media was really shown to me by my mentor, Jake (@jacobhkhan). He grew his clientele and career so quickly from social alone that I knew I had to learn his ways and utilize Instagram to its fullest potential. I moved back to Georgia three years ago with almost 1,000 followers and zero clientele and now I have 133K on my personal and 145K on my share page @processperfect and I’m currently booked out for months and I work triple booked majority of the time. Social media absolutely changes lives. I can’t believe I’m traveling the world teaching color and literally living my wildest dreams, all because of Instagram.

My first @modernsalon feature: The first time I was shared on MODERN SALON is actually something I look back on and cringe! I was attending The Mastery, which was an advanced academy, and one of our finals was a photoshoot. The theme was “Doll House” and some really beautiful photos came out of that shoot, but mine—not so much. I did this look on a mannequin that I absolutely loved and then I tried to recreate it. Over and over. The look involved doing an entire set with a 1/4” iron (which is about the size of a pen) on tiny sections all over the head. Just prepping the hair in curls took me hours and I don’t even know how many times I tried to recreate this very specific C shape in the hair. The model I did was yet another failed attempt and to this day I still don’t know what I did differently on that first mannequin.

Click here to the see the full list of this year's MODERN SALON 100.