Tell us a little about yourself:

Well, I figured out I was interested in the beauty world early on. When I was a 13, I had my hair colored for the first time and let’s just say I wasn’t super in love with it. The next day, my mom let me play hooky and took me to see her stylist. After an entire day in the salon and about five or six color formulas later, my hair looked amazing. She matched my natural color perfectly—and that is no easy task. That was my first experience with #hairdressermagic and I was hooked!

I was so intrigued by the whole process that a few weeks later I attempted my first full foil on a friend from school and from there I started doing all my friend’s hair…my mom even banned me from doing hair inside the house because one summer she had to paint our bathroom walls twice after I managed to get color everywhere.

I went to school in 2005 and started my career in 2006. I worked for Regis Salon in Portland for four years before moving down to Eugene. I spent six years in Eugene and just moved up to the Seattle area in June. I started with Obadiah Salon in Kirkland/Bellevue at the end of July and love, love, LOVE it! I just celebrated 10 years as a licensed stylist on August 21.

How long have you been educating?

I started with OYA in November of 2014 and then with Brazilian Blowout in February of 2015.

Why did you become an educator?

I just think that education is so important for stylists to stay relevant in this industry. Not only to stay up on trends, but to stay motivated and inspired. Vidal Sassoon said, “You either create something and you keep it a secret and you die with it, or you can benefit the craft by passing it on.” I feel like if you love what you do, you have a responsibility to pass it on to future stylists. We are all artists and I feel like we need to lift each other up and put our minds together. Everyone has something to offer and you can learn something from ANYONE, no matter if they have been educating for 20 years or they are just fresh out of beauty school.

Like I said earlier, education keeps us motivated and inspired as artists. We all have those days or weeks or sometimes even months where you just don’t love what you do and your fire starts to diminish. There was a time in my career where I decided I was going to quit doing hair and go back to school—the problem was I really don’t want to do any other job! So, I decided to take some classes and get inspired again.

It’s like falling in love with my craft again and again every time I get the chance to attend an education event. Being able to share that with others is probably the biggest reason I wanted to be an educator. Plus, I love seeing that look on someone’s face when they have that “Ah-ha” moment after you show them a new technique or help them understand something that maybe wasn’t clear to them before.

What inspires you to teach for Brazilian Blowout?

From my very first Brazilian Blowout class I was just so in love with the treatment. I was skeptical when the slide show said “Brazilian Blowout will change your life.” Little did I know, it would. Not only do I believe in the product whole heartedly, I adore everything about this company. Brazilian has tons of classes all the time and they are FREE!

They offer so many digital resources for stylists to build their business and the social media presence of Brazilian Professionals is HUGE! This industry changes all the time and I love how Brazilian stays right at the forefront of everything. First with Brazilian Blowout and then coming out with b3 Brazilian Bond Builder, which gives you healthy, beautiful color without messing with your booking times. And now we have the b3 Demi-Permanent Conditioner. I mean, that’s an entirely new service category. It’s a game changer! To work for a company that not only is cutting edge but supports their stylists whole heartedly, is amazing.

What is your favorite part about being an educator?

That’s hard, I love so much about it! But if I had to pick just one thing I would say, I love that I get to meet so many people who are dedicated to mastering their craft. Whether it’s someone’s first time to a Brazilian Blowout class or someone who is renewing their certification. Even if I’m sitting down with someone for a half hour to talk about Brazilian Bond Builder, they are taking time away from their busy schedule to improve their skill set and knowledge. I love sharing what I know with people who appreciate it and are driven. Plus, the whole traveling thing doesn’t hurt!

Who are your role models? Why?

Oh god, there are quite a few! I love @BESCENE. I think his work is so amazing. Also @PaintedHair and @Glamiris are two artists I really look up to. I also really admire what David and Alexis Thurston have done with Butterfly Circus and what it has done for the education movement in the industry. Alfredo Lewis, our Global Director of Education at Brazilian Professionals—I always say I want to be him when I grow up.

Where can we see your work?

I am on Instagram at @ck_does_hair and on Facebook at “Ericka Brazilian Blowout.”

What are your career/educator goals?

Right now, since I just relocated and left my entire clientele a whole state away, I’m really focused on rebuilding my client base and working toward being able to lease my station again. Also, I have always wanted take some courses at the Vidal Sassoon Academy, so I will be making that happen in the next few years! Working on a major fashion show has always been a goal of mine, which I will be getting a taste of this month during Bellevue Fashion week.

As far as my goals as an educator, I would love to get to the point where I get to do some of the bigger shows ISSE, Bonner Brothers, Trifecta. I am like a kid in a candy store at hair shows, I fangirl out over the artists and I try to soak up as much knowledge as I can! I just love the energy and I would love to experience it from the other side of things.

What advice do you have for stylists and aspiring educators?

Believe in yourself. I know it sounds corny, but it’s so important. I work with some crazy talented people and I catch myself comparing my work to theirs or feeling like I will never put out work as good as what so and so does… I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to that. When I did my presentation after my three-day training with OYA, I was terrified, almost to the point of tears, but I went up there and killed it and afterwards was told I was a natural. I have always wanted to be an educator, I just never thought I would be good enough to cut it as one! I will never regret putting a little faith in myself and going for what I wanted, but I do wish I had done it sooner. You will never get anywhere you want to be if you don’t believe in yourself.