Salon Content

Let's Do Lunch

March 1, 2007 By: Marianne Dougherty American Salon

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Q: Describe your career trajectory at Bumble and bumble.

I thought I'd just be a stylist there, but on my second day Michael Gordon [the owner] asked me to be education director. I was in charge of training all the apprentices. At the time, four or five of Michael's friends carried his product line, but he wanted to sell it to a much wider audience. A fire nearly destroyed the salon in the spring of 1995. When we moved back in the following January, I wanted to create a real education center there. I told Michael that salon owners were already curious about Bumble and bumble. Why not let them in, offer education if they carried the product line? We had an 85-percent success rate.

Q: You opened a salon with Rodney Cutler, right? How did that come about?

I hired Rodney to work as an educator for me when I was at Bumble. My goal was to put together a team of teachers who could actually teach. Novel idea, huh? Rodney was eager to have his own salon and suggested that we open one together. To get the financial backing we needed, I created story boards, almost a virtual salon, and presented them to Redken, L'Oréal, Wella and Aveda. Horst [Rechelbacher] owned Aveda at the time so he made the decisions. He thought having an Aveda concept salon on 57^th Street would be good for business.

Q: Now you're in business for yourself. Tell me a little about Arrojo Studio. You've got your own magazine, don't you? And plans to open an academy?

The magazine was a way for us to connect with our clients. We bring them up to date on all the things we've been doing, and the education we offer. It's a great way to promote our product line. We also do collections a few times a year and feature them in the magazine. Our new Web site is in its fourth redesign, which is something for a company that just celebrated its fifth birthday. And yes, I plan to open an academy in the fall of 2007. We've got plenty of room to expand, so it just makes sense.

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