A N TOINETTE BEEND ER S One of the World’s finest Hairdressers & Global Ambassador for Avada IH: How did you career start?
Antoinette: I’m originally Dutch, and I started my career at 14 serving teas and coffees and progressed from that. By the time I was 18 I was a managing the salon. I went to a ‘Trevor Sorbie’ show in Holland and after seeing it, I knew exactly what I wanted for my career; - I wanted to work for Trevor Sorbie! So I went to London for an interview, and they actually refused me because I didn't speak much English at that time! I said “I'm coming back, whether you like it or not, you know”, I did eventually return and Trevor said ‘I have seen you before?” “Yes”, I said “and this time I’m not leaving until you take me on!” And he did! IH: Brilliant! I’m glad you did that!
Antoinette: Yes! It did mean that I had to completely start again as when I arrived to the House of Sorbie it was very different type of hairdressing than the training I got, it was very avant garde. Trevor said that they would teach me the Trevor Sorbie way and he would give me a one month trial. After the month I would have to do a test which I failed due to my lack of English! It was a real problem and just too much to cope with in a month. They saw that, but they also saw that I was very hard working and I got all my models from schools, and, you know, they just didn't want let me go. So Trevor said, “We'll put you on the floor as an assistant to a stylist”, and that's what I did for six months and then I did my test again and passed! I remember one of the styles I did was a graduated bob, and I did it perfectly. After that I became a stylist very quickly. Then I became a teacher at Trevor Sorbie because having had to re-learn everything in a different language helped me greatly to teach as I was really good at explaining things. So very quickly I also started to travel and teach for Trevor and I think my
enthusiasm was very good and the result was that the students would return to London for more teaching and to buy our products. It was very, very beneficial for both parties. I felt Trevor was like my Hairdressing Dad and I was part of his family. IH: Let's talk about you winning British Hairdresser of the Year? Antoinette: Yes, I won British Hairdresser of the Year and London Hairdresser of the Year and in 2012 I did a photographic competition on the internet that was an overall Hairdresser of the Year and I won that as well.
IH: I remember that time in London, your name was everywhere. What does your current job with AVEDA involve? And what’s you end goal?
Antoinette: So, I was Creative Director for the AVEDA Corporation for 15 years. My role was all about the Aveda branding and looking after the campaigns, doing store design, making sure the copy and everything was right. Then I realized I really missed the trade so I decided to go back into it. So now I have a very nice role, as my job is simply ‘to inspire people and do some fun things’ In 2019 I did a show in London with Eugene, Sally and Tom in Trevor’s honour as he is an amazing House of Talent. I was also travelling the world judging at Photographic Awards in Spain for example and then of course Covid hit so I just began doing virtual training on line. IH: That’s amazing! What’s that like and how are you coping with Covid?
Antoinette: You know it’s interesting. We were all due to become more visual and because of COVID it has kind of pushed us further and harder. I had to build a studio at my house to work because we can't go anywhere. So
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