At Goldwell, the new team of six Artistic Directors is all part of a master plan to support stylists at every stage of their careers.

The new Goldwell team of Artistic Directors (ADs) has a history as a tight-knit group. But as a newly formed team, there’s more than a name change at work. Deborah Gavin, Shannon Lamm, Joan Novak, John Simpson, Timothy Switzer and Dimitrios Tsioumas have a new objective: to make all Goldwell education consistently “100-percent brilliant” and to customize the global trends and education for North America, precision crafting it for country, area, city or even a specific salon. Oh, and also to help provide a clear-cut career path for the stylist who is looking to grow.

Their responsibilities include everything from tweaking other artistic team members’ programs to acting as a show team to identifying new opportunities in education. (Tsioumas and Simpson co-created Color Inspection & Design, which is now a top-selling program in Goldwell Academies; Gavin developed Fierce Formulas, which takes color know-how to the PhD level.) Broadly, they’ll be leaders, mentors and media go-to pros.

Education Central

“All education stems from the Color Zoom trend, which is created by the Global Master Team and the creative winners of the Color Zoom contest,” explains Simpson. For 2012, it’s called fasciNATURE [see the collection on page 56]. We test ‘mimic’ models to interpret it for a specific market. For stage shows, we include the next tier of artistic team members, to expose them to on-stage and behind-the-scenes work. We share the show’s focus via storyboards with imagery and word descriptions.” This inclusiveness is something any salon team can do, he says: collaborate, but also compete. Develop a concept and have everyone adjust it on a model, based on the salon’s culture and standards. Then, compete to push one another. “Competition is healthy, it avoids complacency,” says Simpson.

By no accident, collaborating and competing also moves stylists to the next level, and John Moroney, vicepresident of education for Goldwell and KMS California in North America, says the company’s goal is to be there for stylists every step of the way. A licensed hairdresser himself, he created the AD team so all knowledge would be re-crafted for the North American message by team members with the highest level of skill and experience.

Paths to Glory 

“We’ve streamlined the rise to the top for stylists,” says Moroney. “With partner schools like Empire, we are there for those who are just entering cosmetology, and with our artistic team, of which the ADs are the core, we’re providing opportunity, whichever direction stylists want to go.”

Through partner schools, four North American Academies, Ambassador programs, Technical Trainer or Artistic Team membership, Master Colorist certifications at one of five levels and a new program of salon business-building that acts like an MBA (Master in Beauty Administration), Goldwell’s educational offerings are so extensive that any salon team can take part. And that’s just the idea. Because today’s modern salon team is a global community.