Sadie Gray @sadiejcre8s says social media has totally changed her life and career. “I went from working just part time, to being booked six days a week for minimum 10 hours each day in a matter of six months.” This gives her a lot of new people to exercise her hidden talent on– the ability to impersonate anyone!
Sadie Jean Gray
Sadie Jean & Co, Santa Rosa, California
Specialty: Balayage, blonding, pastel colors and braiding/styling.
Top-performing post: My most engaged post, ironically, was nothing to do with hair but everything to do with self-love and self-acceptance. I opened up about my recent weight and my struggles and how I’m nowhere near where I want to be but how thankful I am for where I AM. This post got 835 Likes, 272 comments, 13 shares and six saves.
Favorite apps: Split Pic Pro (to create my before and after photos, or straight vs waves, etc) and Facetune to smooth out the background and any possible blemishes that my guest may feel self-conscious about.
I follow: @caroline.anythingbutbasic, @ilikeprettyhair, @hairerik, @glamhairbymarie, @glamiris
Hidden talent: I am super, super good at painting pictures of cartoon characters onto nails. I don’t ever tell anyone that because I really don’t want to do it – it takes forever. You can give me a picture of a cartoon character, and I can make it appear on your nail exactly like the pic.
Fun fact: No joke, I can impersonate anyone: especially people I know; but not on command. I can remember conversations verbatim. I can pencil draw almost anything if you show me a picture. I can more than likely make you laugh without meaning to.
My audience follows me because: I think my audience likes to follow me because I’m as real and raw as they come. Trying to “fake it” isn’t my thing. If I feel like I have to “fake it,” then I just won’t post.
How social media changed my life: It’s changed my business in the way that it skyrocketed my career. I went from working just part time, to being booked six days a week for minimum 10 hours each day in a matter of six months. This resulted in me renting out my own space and opening my salon. With that said, I have two young daughters, and working that much changed how often I was around at home. I had to learn how to draw boundaries and cut my hours down (way down!). My FIRST priority was — and still is— my daughters and my family. However, I’m such a people pleaser this was more difficult than what it should’ve been. My growth in this has been huge for my life.
My first @modernsalon feature: MODERN SALON was the FIRST big feature page that noticed my work. I literally started jumping up and down and whooping and hollering. I called my mom immediately. This was one of my goals — to create content that a magazine page wanted to feature on their own page! THAT was my confirmation that I was moving on up. The work Modern posted was one that actually ended up going viral. I have had people steal as their own and even bring it to me off Pinterest as their “inspo” pic. They’re usually pretty shocked when I say, “Oh, that’s my work!”
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