Regardless of the current economic environment in 2009, the professional beauty industry continues to invest in its future.

More than 33,000 hair and beauty professionals recently packed the sold-out show floor at the Long Beach Convention Center in Southern California from January 31st through February 2nd.

(Image of Kim Vo from Bravo Shear Genius – All Rights Reserved).

The annual Professional Beauty Association’s (PBA) show combined with the International Salon & Spa Expo (ISSE) set the standard for professional industry events going forward.

The show featured some of the biggest names in the industry, including reality hair show stars Tabatha Coffey and Charlie Price.  Also in attendance were celebrity hairdressers  Orlando Pita, Kim Vo and Martin Parsons. (more…)

Tony Romo was recently interviewed on the air by Babe Laufenberg, the Channel 11 sports chief and the Cowboys radio analyst. Yes, I live in Dallas, have been a Dallas Cowboys fan from wayyyyy back, even when I lived in St. Louis, Missouri and the St. Louis Cardinals were still there.

I have lived in Dallas for more than 20 years so I consider Texas my home.  I guess you can say I’m naturalized.  Somewhere along the line I transformed from a Dallas Cowboys fan to a naturalized football fan.  It’s hard to live in Texas and not love football.  Or least be able to appreciate that so many people do.

Babe Laugenberg With Tony Romo At Four Seasons

Therefore, whenever any of the Cowboys are being interviewed and I happen to have free eyes or ears, I pay attention.  Which was the recent case when Babe chatted with Tony Romo at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Colinas which was considered “neutral territory”.   Although I am not presenting the entire interview, word for word, I have included for this blog some of what I consider the “highlights” were during the chat.

Actually it makes a lot of sense to me that Babe and Tony went to a location other than Tony’s home (where he lives with Jessica) or the Cowboy’s home court.  When I interview prospective employees I usually interview them at a neutral location like the local Starbucks or if a restaurant.  That allows both of to focus on the discussion at hand and less on the surroundings.  (more…)

I was always one of those Type A kids that always knew what I wanted to be when I grew up although it didn’t agree with the vision of my parents.

From the time I was in the 2nd grade I wanted to be a writer. I loved to write little plays that the neighborhood kids would put on. We would assemble a series of milk cartons covered by a large piece of cardboard and the requisite sheet. We also would bug the different parents to string clotheslines so we had a curtain to open and close for each act.

I remember the first play I wrote. It was about the poor little country girl who travels to the city and one day becomes a huge success and marries the man of her dreams. Yeah, lame but what would you expect from a 2nd grade kid?

Around that time my dad decided I should grow up and be a professional musician. Which meant lots of piano, clairnet, guitar and organ lessons with tons of practice, practice, practice. I didn’t particularly share his vision so I was not all that keen about the music part of my life but somehow I managed to thrive and figured all that keyboard work would help my typing.

Actually it did. By the time I got to high school and took keyboarding I was the fastest in my class. At least be chained to the piano helped me in school.

By the time I was in my senior year of high school I had decided the road to being a professional musician was not for me and business seemed a possibility although a little risky. I also decided being a full time writer was folly. I opted for a more practical path and decided to be a sociologist or psychologist. After all, I loved reading true crime books and studying people. (more…)

Yes, I know, everyone has constantly heard the phrase – good people are hard to find.  The sad fact is that it’s definitely true.

While I have spent the past ten years of my life dedicated to HairBoutique.com, before that point I had a long history in the work world.  Actually, my work life started before I was even in my teens.  My parents were old school who believed in hard work and giving their employers their very best.  As a result, their kids (me and my two siblings) were raised with iron clad work ethics which included never being late for work, giving 150% while on the clock, never taking so much as a pen from the office for personal use and showing respect for authority on the job.

My first “job” if you want to call it that, was babysitting in the neighborhood before I was even 12.  I had a number of “regulars” who would employ my kid watching services which put money in my pocket and triggered my lust for bigger and better jobs.  During that same period of time I also cut grass, raked leaves, ran errands and did a series of odd jobs.  Anything for a buck – within reason.
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Nancy Reagan’s use of an astrologer to achieve maximum success and minimum failure during her husband’s political career is documented. Many celebrities, sports stars and other prominent people, including business czars have been known to use astrologers, psychics and other non-traditional means to give them the edge in achieving their goals.

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I’ll tell you all a secret. Most of the time I think that no one reads my blogs. Or for that matter, the thousands of articles (literally) I have written over the past ten years for HairBoutique.com, MultiMedia (101 Celebrity Hairstyles, Short Cuts, Hair Gallery), Harris or the many other publications I have free lanced for during that time.

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