Meet Vicky Garza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vicky Garza.

Hi Vicky, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started school at Cerritos college in 1995 accidentally. I was originally signed up for college classes but unsure what I was going to go to school for. I had an art scholarship when I graduated high school but I was pregnant and unsure how I was going to feed my baby with art school. I come from a Latino working family and college was not important to my father. They just thought I needed to work, and I didn’t know any better so I did to. Completely unhappy with my life I thought I should go back to school. The first day of classes I saw the cosmo students going into class and asked who were the white jacket group of people. They were cosmetology students! Omg right then and there, I thought hair! I could do that be creative and make money! I went into the school office and dropped all the original classes I was going to take and signed up for the next semester of beauty school. Cerritos was a great school!

They told us to start interviewing schools and in the end, felt Carlton Hair would be a great fit for me. I did get a job at the Santa Ana Carlton and that company was perfect for what I needed. They had so much education and they were teamed up with Vidal Sassoon so I was in a program where I was deducted every pay paycheck a certain amount of money and was able to attend Vidal Sassoon as much as I wanted. I became obsessed with education. Then one day I was asked if I wanted to educate and found I loved teaching and sharing. I’ve had an assistant since the beginning of my 28 years career. And have trained so many people. It makes me so happy when they are successful in the industry. In 2002 I was offered a partnership with my best friends and I took it! It’s taught me so much about business. It’s definitely something you need to love…

I’ve worked behind the chair my entire career seeing people smile and trying to make them feel good when they leave my chair never stops being rewarding. Another part I enjoy are photoshoots, the creative side, creative projects. In the end, seeing the image is a crazy high for me. Then entering them in a magazine or competition is fun too. I do wish I did more of that but it’s an expensive hobby so it’s limited. Now at 51 I’m revisiting my career path and wondering where I want to focus. There are so many avenues, it’s honestly a fantastic career very rewarding!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, it has been smooth. I was brought up by my father that always said “If you ever want to accomplish anything or do what another human does there is nothing you can’t do the same, we are all human. Just ask those people how you do what they do, most people will help you.” It might have been a naive way of thinking but it worked up until I was a business partner. Here I trusted too much and was taken advantage of but after a long drawn-out lawsuit we had control of the salon again and they had to pay the debt they created and our lawyer fees.

However, after this experience, I found I couldn’t work in a partnership again. I actually gave up my partnership and now just work with my best friends. I told them I’d rather keep the friendship than lose them too. I’m much happier that way. Covid was tough but we survived it, as many didn’t. So that was good; we are still running. Even though I chose to leave the partnership, I still contribute to anything I can. It is still my home and where my clients come in so I take care off what I can.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My work is taking care of people’s hair needs. I’m also a slash counselor, hahaha! Many of them will actually say” I need Vicky, my hair therapist. My career is very rewarding. I get happy faces all day long. I’m a cutting master I’ve taken so many classes with the best around the world and gone through insane cutting programs. I love precision cutting but open to other methods. I share everything I know, I believe that if you teach or share you have a better understanding of what you’re doing. It’s like dissecting what you do to see how people understand it. It’s so fun and challenging at the same time. I do color as well as other chemical processes but cutting is my specialty. I have to keep up to date with the latest trends and methods; I’m kind of obsessed. I think my career is one of the best out there but I’m biased. You must like people, you must be able to understand that everyone thinks differently and be open to their thoughts to do well in a hair career. Taking no offense to others’ way of thinking, just go with the flow. This is what I do 🙂

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
There are some big changes in our industry a lot of renters versus commission. The renter side started to grow and the suits became very popular, but I do see some newer stylists are now looking for more training and a commission atmosphere. That shift may change again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.salonrebelle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hairocd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com

Image Credits
One photo by Russell Mayes and MUA: Jesse Sillas