Want To Be An Educator? Read These 7 Pieces Of Advice First!
While attending this year’s Huddle, we got to chat with Sport Clips’ seven Artistic Team Members—Ashlee Merriweather, Erin Burton, Linda Casillas, Andrea Allemand, Krystal Sierras, Gabrielle Davis and Stacia Kelley.
As both new and experienced educators, we wanted to know what advice they had for anyone who aspires to be an educator. Find out what they had to say below!
1. Never Stop Learning
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“Don’t ever think you’re the best at something. The time when you feel like you can’t learn anything is the time that you need to recheck yourself,” says Ashlee. “Even though you want to educate someone else, don’t ever stop getting the education that you truly need. It’s going to do nothing but accelerate your career.”
2. Keep An Open Mind
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“I think the first thing you have to do is be able to relate to the people you are educating, and realize there are different ways to learn and different types of people,” advises Erin. “You have to live it before you can actually educate it. And sometimes the people you’re educating teach you—be open to anything.”
3. Don’t Be A One-Trick Pony
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“Just absorb everything, learn a lot of different techniques and be as well rounded as possible,” says Linda. “Any opportunity is going to help. So even though I specialize in men’s haircutting, I’ll still take classes on women’s editorial hair or makeup and just watch people’s presentation skills.”
4. Don’t Stop Believin’
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“Really believe in what you’re doing and believe in yourself,” shares Andrea. “And actually put it into action. You really have to want to be wildly successful, and if you do, it will happen.”
5. Remember What Inspires You
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“Remember where you started off,” advises Krystal. “Remember what would encourage you or what would make you want to get fired up again and learn. Or how you can break it down so simply to make it easy for others to learn from you.”
6. You Gotta Love It
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“You have to be passionate and love what you do,” shares Gabrielle. “Not everybody can be an educator and come off in a way that other people understand what they’re saying. That’s what they learn from—how you say it, how you speak and the way you explain things. If you don’t have the passion, it just doesn’t come off right.”
7. Adjust Your Mentality
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“When you’re a manager or a stylist, you’re looking to get the next award or enter the next contest, but you kind of change your mentality as an educator,” says Stacia. “The reward we get is something like somebody coming up and saying, ‘You made a difference in my life.’ And that’s what keeps me going.”
