More Than a Stylist: How Beauty Pros Help Clients in Crisis

This episode begins with a thoughtful roundtable discussion about the responsibility service providers carry when navigating sensitive topics. Leslie Perry, Executive Director of Professional Beauty Association (PBA), then joins to share information about CUT IT OUT, PBA’s powerful initiative that trains industry professionals to recognize the signs of domestic violence and support those in need.

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Content Strategy & Direction: Shanalie Wijesinghe 
Creative Producer: Emily Badgley
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Sound & Music: Tristan Callaway and Servando "MAXXX" Moquette
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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Thank you for tuning in. This week's episode focuses on some heavier topics, so viewer discretion is advised. We've linked resources and support in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

How important do you think it is for, you know, service providers and anyone that is working hands-on with a client? How important is it for them to understand how to approach specific, like, you know, sensitive topics or conversations, whether it be about the client's health or maybe something that they're going through personally that they need like assistance and help with?

SPEAKER_04 0:32

I think this is going to be a really good episode because we've all been in positions in our past lives where we have either been hands-on with clients or even managing a team. This is a very people-heavy industry and we have to have a lot of emotional IQ. And so being able to look out for things of either, you know, emotional distress, health distress, whatever it may be, not even with our clients specifically, but I think a lot with our team members, our peers, and making sure that we are kind of like their guardian angels in terms of looking out for things that we could potentially be support systems for.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

A couple of you guys know my story. Like this holds a dear place to my heart because I've experienced domestic violence like firsthand. So having programs like cut it out are incredibly powerful. Like I didn't know about these things when I was starting out my career. So I was 17 when I started dating someone who, within like the second year of our relationship, started to be emotionally abusive and physically like violent towards me. So in this, um, I think I was about 18 when I started working in salons. While I was dealing with this, like at home, like I was coming to work every day and like still being like the manager and like doing the front desk thing and like you know, putting a smile on my face, like doing all the things. And I have just recently become more comfortable in sharing my experience. Like I even had like a quick talk with like Leslie about it, where we discuss how hard it is to really like share these things. And like I don't carry any shame around it. I was basically like a child when I like met this person, and it was like very easy to like look at it and like validate like what was happening. Like, oh well, I said this or I did that, or like, oh, I fought back, which was like my my go-to. When I finally got the courage to like leave that relationship, I'll never forget I woke up October 2nd and he was sleeping next to me, and I was like, he's going to kill me, is like literally like how I felt. Like this person was like actually gonna end my life like one day, and I wasn't gonna make it through. So, like I super calmly like grabbed a bag and I started like packing his things, right? And for whatever like odd, crazy reason, he just like didn't fight me that day, right? Like it was like a very emotional experience, like we were both crying, and like I think there was like a part of him that like knew that this was this was it. Like we neither one of us could like do this anymore. And I took him to Greyhound station and I put him on a bus like back to the bay. And so last year, actually, I got a call letting me know that he had passed away. He and I always knew I was gonna get that call, you know. So he had an issue with alcohol, he, you know, obviously was had an addiction problem with drugs, like there was a lot of things going on with this individual. So I always knew that was gonna happen. It was just like a matter of time is when. And so, you know, in this like past year, I've had to really like revisit what happened, right? And I've had to make peace with it and also understanding that without that relationship and even the abuse that I like went through, like I wouldn't have my wonderful partner that I have now, I wouldn't have my beautiful son that I have now, you know, and I get to to live in this life, you know, while he's like no longer here. So when I shared the story and like what happened with a lot of people and even people who knew me when all of those things were happening, I got a lot of like like, oh, like, well, thank God, or like karma's a bitch, or like uh good riddance type, you know, responses, which is like very understandable. But for me, like I actually had a moment where I prayed for his soul and I said, like, I hope he could find wherever he is, like the people that made him feel the safest and made him feel loved, you know, because I've had to spend pretty much the last like 12, 13, 14 years like undoing a lot of what I like learned there. And I'll finish this with like when I was coming out of that relationship, I lived in a place where my garage was like under my home and I had to walk up a flight of stairs. And I remember it was like week one, and I had a bunch of groceries and a pack of water bottles and like all of that. And I remember thinking, like, oh my god, like how am I gonna get all of this stuff up to my house? Like, I was so like weak in how I felt about myself and like where I was that I I didn't know how I was gonna get groceries from my trunk up to my home. And like, you guys know me, like, like I'm like bulletproof at this point, right? Like, I feel like I could do like anything in this world. So I think it's important to remember that abuse and surviving it looks very differently, and it's sometimes a lot closer than you think, and sometimes it's like the strongest person you know that has gone through it. So I'm very grateful for people in places like the PBA and creating programs that not only help them identify it in clients, but help, you know, people in our industry get a brand new start if they are leaving some sort of abusive situation.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

I always say check on your strong friends also because you don't know necessarily what they're going through. And yeah, I mean that as well as like a PBA and what cut it out is doing is going to be extremely helpful just also because of you know the interactions that certain people are having with their clients and they may need help after, you know, approaching a conversation with them on like next steps and giving resources. So they're really doing some really good work, and I was just hoping that it was something that you had during that time because it is hard like trying to figure it out on your own, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, I was like floored to learn that they had been around for like 30 years or something. I'm like, ugh, like I wish I knew that these resources existed. So that's why I'm like super excited that we get the opportunity to share this, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

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SPEAKER_01 7:06

Today's guest is Leslie Perry, Executive Director of the Professional Beauty Association, aka PBA. She got her start in her mom's salon where she fell in love with the power of connection and care. And after building a career in corporate marketing and communications, Leslie returned to the industry that shaped her, now leading the PBA with deep experience and an even deeper passion. In this episode, she shares the PBA goals of the year and highlights Cut It Out, their impactful program that trains beauty professionals to recognize and respond to signs of domestic abuse. And it's a powerful conversation about advocacy, purpose, and the role of our industry and what it could do to make real change.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Beauty professionals really are on the front lines in so many ways of finding out things about our clients, whether it is something like domestic abuse or skin cancer or an illness or you're you're noticing signs of like hair loss or things on the skin aren't quite right, or thing. That's all our body telling us something. And so what the training does is help the licensed professional understand what to look for in your client. Are you noticing specific changes in behavior? Maybe they used to be really open and now they're not, whatever the signs might be. So it goes over what you could look for. And then more importantly, or not more importantly, but very importantly, what to do about it. A lot of the professionals who have gone through the training had said have said that they really appreciate having that because now they know how to handle it.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

This was just a taste of everything covered in our full episode. Keep the conversation going on last client of the day, now streaming wherever you get your podcast.