Modern Salon

Cover Credits

Hair: Tiffany Laing

Photography:  Roberto Ligresti

Makeup Artist: David Maderich for Face Atelier Cosmetics

Fashion: Rod Novoa

Nails: Julie Kandalec

Producer/Art Direction: Maggie Mulhern

Moments of Reflection

We started off the year talking a lot about our 2020 visions for the future, but for the greater half of the year, there have been mostly moments of reflection. The initial shutdowns of businesses had us reflecting on our finances and the pace at which we had been living our lives. Gradual re-openings had us reflecting on our sanitation practices and how to be productive while maintaining sanity. Sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, we collectively paused and reflected on what we have been doing in our businesses and personal lives to promote equality and amplification of Black voices.

Since we started announcing the MODERN SALON 100 in our August magazine in 2017, it has been my favorite magazine issue to put together. It gives Team MODERN time to—yes—reflect on who we deem as especially influential that year, celebrating everyone from up-and-comers fresh out of cosmetology school to seasoned industry veterans, and everyone in between. The MS100 list comes together over months of nominations from our editorial team to what is eventually narrowed down to the list you will find in this issue.

Sure, 2020 has presented us with completely unexpected obstacles and events within our business and our society, but as we have learned this year and throughout history, we first must look back in order to see ahead.

Yes, we still focused on who is producing beautiful content on their Instagram feed, but we also reflected on those really defining what it is to be a game-changer: Who has been an early adopter to TikTok in the pro-beauty realm? Who has been using their platform to make a social impact? Who really represents the #StylistsSupportingStylists movement?

In addition, we made sure the MS100 class of 2020 was reflective of our audience’s demographics and a wide array of skillsets and areas of expertise. In doing this, we honor more people of color, specifically more Black hairdressers, than in years’ past.

We hope you will join us in celebrating the MS100 Class of 2020 and all we have to look forward to.

Jamie Newman

Senior Digital Content Strategist