15 minute read
BEAUTY SQUAD HOUSE
Last month, Mocha Group and Beauty Biz magazine were proud to host the 3rd annual Beauty Squad House for the 2023 team. Sponsors, mentors, and icons within the industry were invited into the beautiful Broadbeach home, situated on the fabulous Gold Coast, to mix, mingle and chat with the team who shared this wonderful experience over 4 days.
CEO and founder Linda Woodhead, General Manager Jarred Stedman and Beauty Biz Editor Louise May were all there to guide, nurture and inspire the Squad, consisting of Chelsea Holmes - Skin Love Clinic, located in Camden NSW, Laura Mitchell - James Vivian, located in Toorak Melbourne VIC, Morgan Harris - The Beauty Extract, located in Vermont VIC, and unfortunately, the lovely Elise Birchall from Lili Skin Clinic, located in Canberra ACT, could not join us as she was busy with her gorgeous newborn bubba.
The squad were treated to one-on-one sessions with a number of visitors, not to mention time with the mocha team and some fun along the way, in a journey of professional and self-development, culminating in a bond with each other that will last a lifetime.
The experience started with everyone arriving at the House, settling in, and having a team dinner, to get to know each other over a beautiful meal, courtesy of Louise with some story telling over a few vinos!
The team spoke about their excitement towards the next 3 days highlighting all the things they were looking forward to with the house visitors.
Overall, the 4-day experience was one to remember which included a delicious dinner at Mamasan Kitchen in Broadbeach, a beautiful candle-making evening in the house, and some powerful marital art board breaking to finish off the stay.
All wrapped up in an idyllic setting, the team left with direction and purpose on what was truly a life-changing experience for all. Many thanks must go to our generous sponsors, all of whom not only spent time with the team but also provided incredible prizes in excess of $10,000
Thank you Dermapenworld, inskincosmedics, elleebana, Timely and Gay Wardle.
House Visitors
Will Fennell
Via Zoom, after a brief rundown on his career and the directions it had taken him, Will also spoke to the team about how to work with men in beauty using a different language and how to juggle life with a balance between the salons, educating and being a product distributor. He spoke candidly about his love for the industry and how when things changed for him, he looked at other opportunities to keep the passion alive.
Kayla Zigic
Social Media expert Kayla Zigic visited the house, with gifts for each of the team. Kayla spoke about social media marketing and the importance of connecting with your audience, not just posting with no purpose. So, building engagement, and really start connecting with your audience, so that you can fill up your books and getting people coming through your doors.
Was such a pleasure to have Kayla in the house.
Robyn McAlpine
Via Zoom, the squad were in for a treat with ABIA Australian winner Robyn McAlpine, owner of SkintifiX. The team used the opportunity to question Robyn on literally everything from her business to her education and her absolute love of corneotherapy.
If you’re feeling stuck as a therapist, drowning in information, and gasping for some real guidance – you’ve just found your lifeline. Robyn danced through questions on dermal dilemmas and spoke about reclaiming the passion she has for the industry and those in it. She generously offered the quad a subscription to her online learning which was met with squeals of delight. Thank you, Robyn.
Corri Matthews
Having practiced in over 29 countries with over 22 years of clinical aesthetics and cosmetic chemistry expertise, Corri is an authority on technical education and Dermapen™ procedures.
She is the creator of Dp Dermaceuticals™, the world’s first skincare exclusively designed for micro-needling procedures and is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives. She is inspired by the many amazing skin transformation case studies around the globe and is keen to share her knowledge with others. As a very welcome guest, Corri delivered the team their incredible Dermapen kits valued in excess of $5000!
The Squad were delighted and seemed mostly excited at the hard-cover books she also presented them with, which included procedures and how-to’s as a go-to manual! As our major sponsor and often overseas, it was an absolute treat to have Corri in the house and the team agreed they could have spent a full day with her! What knowledge she has! It was a highlight of the house stay and met with absolute gratitude and excitement!
Jasmine Scarr
Representing Timely in the house, starting her mobile tanning business in 2007 and seeing so many gaps in the marketplace, Jasmine decided to launch Bella Bronze Tan by developing a professional tanning solution, unlike any other, backed by two years of research.
In her house visit Jasmine spoke about her passion for creating a vegan and cruelty-free tanning formula and with the growth of her business made the switch to Timely in 2020. The impact on her business was huge.
The partnership helped her to upscale and she is now a global ambassador for the brand. Jasmine spoke about entrepreneurship and how she went from a single operator to the owner of a Professional Spray Tanning Company with a team of 12, a wide range of products, training, and education.
In fun cryptic form Jasmine also presented the squad each with an Apple Watch – timely! What an inspirational woman of true grit and determination!
Otto Mitter
Always a pleasure, Otto Mitter arrived as usually bringing gifts to all members of the house and then spoke about his history and love of the industry.
Otto’s mother wrote and contributed to the first competency-based beauty therapy training in Australia (wrote the Diploma of Beauty Therapy, Diploma of Health Science and Aesthetics, and founded the Gold Coast Training Academy who graduated thousands of beauty therapists in Australia) having been brought up by such an influential person in the industry it was only a natural progression that Otto found himself studying make up artistry, beauty therapy and all things lash & brow at the Gold Coast Training Academy straight out of high school.
Fast forward to now and after two decades of studying the art of lashes, brows, beauty and cosmetic formulation, Otto, and his team at ExImport currently produce and supply lash & brow enhancement ranges for professionals and develop educational programs to over 60 countries across the globe and have a combined team of over 300 trainers worldwide.
Otto spoke about his ongoing dedication to education, which has seen him as a guest speaker and educator at the world’s most prestigious beauty and lash events. Otto is a true inspiration.
Nicola Le Lievre
Nicola Le Lievre's story is one of astonishing resilience, generosity, and empowerment of not just herself but all the women around her because where there is an empowered woman, there is magic. Fast forward to today and Nicola is proudly surpassing 25 years in the professional beauty industry and has crafted her passion into becoming a multi-award-winning force to be reckoned with.
Nicola spoke about the Wonder Woman power within us, also gifting the team with a copy of her book, a beautiful mirror, and a toy crab!... (A great metaphor, you had to be there to understand!)
Nicola is a woman of discipline, determination, and courage.
Maria Cocciolone
Maria Cocciolone joined the house with a trip down memory lane to show where things started for her learning lessons along the way, and wow what a story! Having graduated with her Diploma of Health Science in 1985, Maria worked for a range of leading skincare brands in diverse roles and positions until 2007, when she founded INSKIN COSMEDICS.
Today, with 35+ years industry experience, Maria is one of Australia’s most reputable skin gurus and the only Australian industry icon to have created two professional skincare brands from scratch.
In 2009 Maria created and launched O COSMEDICS, which was created to fight the five major causes of aging, using medical-grade active ingredients and proven delivery systems to prevent and correct skin aging and degradation.
In 2017 she a co-created her second brand, GINGER&ME and introduced a Mindfulness category to the beauty world. Maria has a philosophy that all brands under her portfolio must make good business and good skin sense, supporting healthy businesses and skin too.
She spoke to the squad about her journey, the ups and downs, which demonstrated her resilience and determination making everyone feel inspired and equally on a mission to be their authentic self and go for gold! A true powerhouse of a woman!
Squad Shadowing with Gay Wardle
The Beauty Squad were treated to a once in a lifetime experience visiting Gay Wardle at her Salon, Skin Energy, to shadow here for the afternoon over a 4-hour period!
Just imagine learning one-on-one with the industry’s best, in a clinic environment and solely focused on transforming your treatment pathways. Well, that is exactly what the Squad got to do! The squad shadowed Gay as she performed her daily routine in her own clinic environment.
From her extensive signature skin consultation to seeing an unforgettable Gay Wardle treatment, this incredible experience showcased first-hand how to become an industry leader. The Beauty Squad joined Gay every step of the way to develop a solid understanding of the roles required to, boost client retention and achieve incredible clinical outcomes not to mention how to get more information from your client with her consultation techniques.
This nurturing, one-on-one learning environment showing effective client communication and treatments was a priceless addition to the Beauty Squad mentorship program and one that was an absolute favourite. With a career dedicated to sharing her passion for lifelong learning, Gay Wardle has established herself as one of the beauty industry’s most respected icons with roles as an educator, business owner, mentor, coach, and skin expert.
Our time with Gay proves beyond a doubt how committed she is to the personal and professional development of the industry at large.
Gay Wardle, you are seriously amazing!
Mocha House Mentors - Linda Woodhead, Jarred Stedman, Louise May.
Staying in the house with the Beauty Squad was the mocha team made up of Linda, Jarred and Louise. Huge shout out to Louise May who spent the whole time looking after everyone, keeping them all fed and watered, not to mention a great opening session working through a SWOT (Strengths/ Weaknesses/ Opportunities/Threats) ANALYSIS that was referred to many times throughout the stay.
With her knowledge in Product development and formulations, Salon ownership and business mentorship, not to mention her role as Beauty Biz editor, Louise always plays a key role in the house being professionally and personally available at any time of the day or night.
Jarred Stedman used his experience during the stay with his photographic and videography expertise, also leading the team as a mentor and confidant. He also spoke to the team about the importance of branding and culture giving them all something to think about for the future and re-emphasised the importance of being truly YOU!
CEO and founder, Linda Woodhead was on hand also for the entire stay to guide interviews with all of the house visitors as well as impart knowledge from a 40+ year career on how to deal with the media, how to enter awards and finally host a mindfulness and warrior session with the team, reverting back to the SWOT ANALYSIS, by literally breaking through some barriers with martial art board breaking to finish off the stay!
A powerful end to a life changing time in the Beauty Squad House. Jarred, GM of Mocha Group, expertly guided the team throughout their stay with conversations relating to branding, culture and visual tips and tricks. As a bonus, being on hand for all photography and videography allowed the stay to be documented expertly for all of the housemates.
If you would like to be in the Beauty Squad in 2024, you can enter now as part of the ABIA by visiting www.mochagroup.com.au/beauty-squad
“The Beauty Squad has been life-changing for me in so many ways, not just for my career but also in my personal life. The team are all on different paths and at different stages in our careers, yet we all had our own awakening over the time spent in the house. What really shone over the whole experience was the passion and support from our sponsors and mentors, everyone who we met over the weekend were so empowering and I will take that inspiration with me through my career.
Getting an insight into how some of the best in the biz began their journeys and how they got to where they are now was a game changer and I feel so lucky to have been a part of this life-changing experience. I can’t thank the mocha group enough for taking us all on this wild ride, there were lots of laughter and tears.
The weekend was filled with self-development sessions, and we were pushed to our limits in the best possible way. Our industry is ever-changing, and the opportunities are endless for us all. I am forever grateful for everyone I met along the way, I have made friends for life, and I can’t wait to see what the future of our industry brings.”
~ Laura Mitchell
“As I try to reflect or wrap my head around the Beauty Squad, I feel emotional as I don’t think I’ve ever realised my strengths before.
To truly understand the power in passion, heart, drive, and entrepreneur mentality has been an eye opener. I feel a strong individual choice of learning to discover my own greatness, as I continue to put so many on pedestals and yet I’ve recognised I have in a way pushed myself down.
The Beauty Squad is all thanks to Mocha - Linda, Jarred and Lou. They are my people. People who you want in your life, in your circle, in your world, even if it’s just for a couple of days they are ’people’ people. Day 1 we flew in and by day 2 it’s family.
You forget it’s only been a couple of hours from arriving in the house Saturday afternoon to waking up at 7am the following day. Linda, Jarred and Louise individually bring so much to the table but beyond this it’s their hearts that are made of gold and there ‘why’ is to give back.
Our sponsors - Gay Wardle Institute, Ellebanna, Timely, Dermapenworld, Inskin cosmedics…. Each of you stepped away from your businesses and invested personal time into the Squad and know I can speak on behalf of the team with how priceless, honoured and in awe of each of you we are.
I am struggling to articulate exactly what you have all done for me. Thank you beyond how I can express it.
My life personally and professionally will forever be changed. I am a better person with special thanks to each of you. My fellow squad members, Morgan, Laura, and Elise –You are the cream of the crop. You are my people. I loved witnessing first-hand, each of you realising your own greatness but furthermore, as we all watched and listened to our mentors and thrived.
Watch this space ladies I will be watching each of you blossom in a career each of us loves and wouldn’t be us without it. Thank you for the experience of a lifetime and a milestone that has pivoted me into limitless beliefs. Thank you to the judges of ABIA for selecting me for Beauty Squad 2023.”
~ Chelsea Holmes
“The jam-packed three days spent in the Beauty Squad House were nothing short of extraordinary. It was a haven for inspiration and growth, providing nurturing guidance every step of the way. Surrounded by a dynamic atmosphere filled with leadership, support, and a diverse range of industry sponsors and guests, the opportunities seem endless.
Every conversation, each story of struggle and triumph, acted as a springboard for new ideas and aspirations. It wasn’t just about superficial “beauty chat”; it was a profound journey of uncovering personal and professional potential at its deepest level.
The journey brought recognition, exposure, and invaluable guidance for both myself and my business. From the moment I stepped into the house, I found myself enveloped in an empowering atmosphere of support and growth.
The feedback received, the moments of realization, the insights gained, and the advice shared were transformative, unlocking doors to unforeseen opportunities and igniting a fire of determination within.
A huge thank you to Mocha, Linda, Jarred, Louise, mentors, sponsors, guests, and fellow squad members. Your collective efforts in creating this transformative experience are beyond words.
Thank you for the memories and connections. This experience will resonate with me for a lifetime.”
~ Morgan Harris
@dermapenworld @inskincosmedics @elleebana @timely @gaywardle @expert_skin_therapist @socialsforsalons @nicolalelievre @willandpeta
@laurajaynemitchell @chelsfholmes @thebeautyextract @elise_skin @bellabronzetans
