The Language of Beauty

Although we focus more on the nails and skin care side of the beauty industry, I found an inspiring interview about beauty and continuing education with Master Colorist and Celebrity Stylist Kim Vo in the Professional Beauty Association’s “Meet the Educator” web series.

Kim Vo has a passion for the beauty industry and has made a name for himself as a hair, beauty and style expert, styling many celebrities and appearing on TV shows like ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” and Bravo’s “Shear Genius.” While his focus is on hair, a lot of his experiences and motivation can be used to inspire anyone who has had to adapt and learn a new language.

In this interview, Vo, who is fluent in both English and Vietnamese, talks briefly about escaping Vietnam with his mother and learning the language of beauty.

“I speak Vietnamese fluently… It is a beautiful language and culture, and growing up with it, it was one of those things where learning English was really tough for me,” he tells PBA’s education and training manager Kelley White. “I think what happened was I had to find the language of beauty, the language of actually being creative, and that’s why I went into color. I knew that I really didn’t have to speak English as much as I needed to perform and do beautiful color and I’m so attracted as an artist to doing hair color that it’s just a natural progression.”

To get to his current level of success, however, Vo has dedicated himself to his artistry and is an advocate of continuing education. He will be at the International Salon and Spa Expo (ISSE) in Long Beach Calif. and will be teaching a class on blonding. “I highly recommend getting educated and constant advanced education because I had to learn visually… What I’m sharing with you is I’m blessed, but I was also educated and I went to these shows, I drenched myself in them, I wanted to learn as much as I could because to know all of this is a power. People don’t realize that when you go to these shows you see different types of style. You have to know your market, and trends do translate.”

ISSE Long Beach will take place January 29-31, 2011. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.probeauty.org/isselb. For more information on Kim Vo and his salons, visit www.kimvo.com.

 

— Kim