Award winning hairdressers Simone Mingaars and Kellie Mackenzie.By Cassie Maher
LACK of experience didn’t stop 18yearold Berwick beauty student Kellie Mackenzie from pursuing a top award in her field last week.
Kellie, who has been studying beauty therapy at the Chisholm Institute for barely a year, won first prize for bridal makeup in a competition at Dandenong TAFE last week.
“The competition was such a great experience,” Kellie said. “I had a lot of fun.”
Not content with a job in just one field, Kellie has now expanded her horizons to include hairdressing.
“I sort of fell into beauty therapy as my Mum is a beauty therapist but I have always been interested in hairdressing, ” Kellie said.
Her enthusiasm impressed Berwick’s SB Hair Health Beauty Salon owner Simone Mingaars, who has offered Kellie a hairdressing apprenticeship. The two met while helping each other style models for previous awards.
“I can’t wait to start; they are all such nice girls at the salon,” Kellie said.
Simone and her team should know how to pick a winning employee – four of the salon staff have won seven hairdressing and makeup awards between them in the past two months.
Simone, 26, competed against 100 entrants in the International Hairdressing Society of Victoria awards, to win third place for her catwalk hair design.
Simone described the 10 minutes she had to create the hairstyle on stage as “pretty extreme” but was happy with the end result. “It is great recognition,” she said. “The competition gave me the opportunity to be more creative with a hairstyle than I would get to be in the salon otherwise.”
Simone was also a state finalist, along with fellow employees Danielle and Brodie, in the 2005 Wella Trend Vision awards, with Brodie also claiming a runnerup position for Junior Free Expression.
