Meet the 2023
ANNE RUSSELL
Anne Russell left school at 17 to start her hairdressing apprenticeship. She finished her apprenticeship in 2019 and competed in the regional round of WorldSkills where she won gold, she then competed in the national stage in Sydney in 2021 and won Silver. Anne was then selected to be a part of the WorldSkills Australia Skillaroo team, and represented Australia on the international stage in 2022 in Helsinki Finland, where she took 7th place and a Medallion of Excellence!
After finishing her apprenticeship in 2019, Anne travelled solo to London for her first ‘big girl’ holiday! Where she met her uncle Scott Sloan, and attended salon international and NOISE. Anne followed that with a European Contiki, then headed back home with a broken ankle… once returning home she had 2 months off and then made the move to Sydney to start her dream job at Sloans of Lane Cove. Hair Biz Editor Louise May chats with Anne about her industry and Hot Shot journey.
What made you want to be a hairdresser?
I think wanting to be a hairdresser is one of my first memories as a child! My entire life all I’ve wanted to do when I grow up was be a hairdresser AND live in Sydney just like my uncle Scott Sloan! I have always loved playing with people’s hair. I used to always do my dolly’s hair growing up never changed their outfits but always the hair! One of my first clients was my Beautiful Nan Noeline (who has passed away), she would always let me blow dry her hair and practice my shampoos and massage techniques on her. She always believed in me and made me believe I could do big things! Since her passing I created my First collection ‘Reverie’ in honour of her. I wanted the collection to be beautiful and timeless just like her, and I came away with 2 amazing awards from it. I love that now as a stylist I can make people feel so confident and give them the boost they
could be longing for, give someone their dream hair, or even completely change someone’s look. To me it’s one of the most rewarding parts of my job, along with people sharing their stories with me and me also doing the same. (I LOVE TO TALK).
What kind of hair work is your favourite and why?
I absolutely love styling hair! Whether it’s an up style for an event, or a blow-dry for dinner with the girls, or an editorial photoshoot. The styling is my favourite part. I love that you can recreate similar shapes on so many people and they turn out all so different, and each time you do the style, you change your technique slightly, or learn something from one of your favourite stylists on Instagram that then changes the way you create.
How to you manage life and work balance?
I don’t... I find it hard to manage a work life balance. Purely because my hobbies and fun time is doing hair, so I find it hard to not be constantly watching hair videos and planning a colour for a client or a style change or tweak for another. One thing I do A LOT is spend time with my best friend / mum. She comes to the city a lot to visit which I love, whenever she’s visiting me from the country we love going out for dinners, gossiping, and just hanging out whether it’s shopping or doing her hair. She is truly my best friend, and I don’t know what I’d do without her.
