How Early Career Choices Brought New Opportunities w/ Anna Marti

The Hair Game (00: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Hi, Anna, how's it going?

Anna Marti (00: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 Hi Eric, great. How are you?

The Hair Game (00: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 I'm doing awesome. see in the background there that you're in Glendale. So Anna, for those of you who don't know, she's a Los Angeles hairdresser, blonde specialist, content creator, studio owner, and Joico educator. And for those who know the Los Angeles area very well, she's in Glendale.

Anna Marti (00: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 Thank

The Hair Game (00: 00:00:10 22)

00:00:10 right on Brand Boulevard, kind of right in the middle of the city. And so there's gonna be some ambulances driving by and some people walking by and that's just part of being in the city, isn't it? Yeah, you have a really great window too.

Anna Marti (00: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 Right? I love it.

00:00:10 really got lucky with this. Actually blessed because everything was virtual when I was choosing the studio.

The Hair Game (00: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 ⁓ smart

00:00:10 decision, smart decision. So there are some great windows at that salon Republic and you got probably one of the best I could see it's like a diagonal studio. So you have a little street have a little building. You got a little there's some landscaping outside.

Anna Marti (01: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm. Downscaping,

00:00:10 where people think I should have this windows open concept where they could just sit out for their coffee breaks. Amazing. Yeah, that's great.

The Hair Game (01: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 Wouldn't that be amazing? Yes. I wish we could do that. Maybe one day we'll do that. All right. So

00:00:10 let's start, with how did you get into this business in the first place?

Anna Marti (01: 00:00:10 24)

00:00:10 Oh boy, let's go back. Let's go back to how many years? Four years ago. Okay, four years ago is actually no, seriously. That's too slow. Okay.

The Hair Game (01: 00:00:10 29)

00:00:10 like four years ago when you started. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

00:00:10 Hahaha

Anna Marti (01: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 Well, here's how we started. I was 18 years old, still in high school, and mesmerized by beauty. I knew that I wanted to do something with beauty, whether it's hair, makeup, or fashion. So I enrolled myself. I'm actually, originally I'm Armenian, moved here when I was 13, and lived in Glendale ever since.

The Hair Game (01: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 And where are you from?

Anna Marti (02: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 I went to school here, everything here. So basically senior year in high school where everybody's talking about college and universities, I was already researching makeup schools in Hollywood and anywhere around me. So enrolled myself to Joe Blasco Makeup School in Hollywood. I was going there at nighttime right after high school. Right after back, I guess I got really lucky to work with major in

00:00:10 influencers at that time or beauty industry, ⁓ you know, how do I say it? The mentors that are like changing the world, the beauty world. So was inspired by them and I worked with them from the beginning.

The Hair Game (02: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 How

00:00:10 did you get to work with them?

Anna Marti (02: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 I guess Joe Blasco just kind of like opened the doors into it because they were signing us off to go do like freelance work for photography, for hair companies and things like that. So I right away jumped on that. And ⁓ right after that, I worked at a hair show. It was actually a Joico hair show where I was assigned to do the makeup for and met so many incredible people there. And Tabitha Coffee was

The Hair Game (03: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 Mmm.

Anna Marti (03: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 a global artist for Joyco at that time and yes and she was like well you seem interesting you might be able to do hair too I was like I'm gonna take this in so I went back home and started researching cosmetology school went and took my

The Hair Game (03: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 didn't know that.

Anna Marti (03: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 Cosmo license as well. Took about two years or so. And right after that, I was like, I'm going to reach out to Joyco. And that was in 2007, I believe. And at that time, I was already working at MAC Cosmetics, in between that, back and forth with Salons as well. sure. I know, it's kind of a mix.

The Hair Game (03: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 Okay, so you started, so I ⁓ just wanna put all the pieces together here. You started pretty

00:00:10 early in high school. Now, I have a daughter who's about to enter high school. She's, do you? Yeah, yeah, she's 14 and she's about to enter high school and I can't imagine her.

Anna Marti (04: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 Me too! Yeah, literally.

The Hair Game (04: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 choosing something so early. So when in high school, are we talking about like junior or senior year that you started going to the makeup school?

Anna Marti (04: 00:00:10 25)

00:00:10 So, Alaska, makeup

00:00:10 school started at senior year, literally the last semester of senior year. being in high school already, you know, math teachers talking about importance of this or biology and all this other stuff and all I can think about how do I fix someone's eyebrows and hair. So that's been my, ⁓ I guess it's natural. lived like that forever. So it just, it just became like easy thing. I knew what I wanted to do.

The Hair Game (04: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 Okay. Gotcha.

00:00:10 You know,

00:00:10 so you kind of remind me just with that comment, you remind me of what it is to be me and probably what it is to be a lot of people in our industry. When we go into an environment where there's lots of kind of general public and I'm sure tell me if you're the same way today when you go and it could be anywhere. It could be church. It could be a restaurant. It could be a nightclub. And you're looking around and you're like,

Anna Marti (05: 00:00:10 02)

00:00:10 Boom.

00:00:10 huh.

The Hair Game (05: 00:00:10 20)

00:00:10 my God. Like no one in here looks like they combed their hair this morning. You know, you're sitting next to somebody and you're like, have they, has anyone tweezed this man's ears? He looks like he has a forest growing out of his ears right now. Like where is his wife? Details. Just like this person over here.

Anna Marti (05: 00:00:10 27)

00:00:10 Yep.

00:00:10 What happened?

00:00:10 Details, like details. Yep.

The Hair Game (05: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 looks like they own not one styling product in their bathroom. You know, their hair's all frizzy and it's been shaped. And it's like, and I don't do hair, but because I've been in this industry for 25 years, maybe I, or maybe just I'm naturally that kind of person. Like you're describing how you are. I just look around and I'm like, there's so much opportunity, you know, and we're in Los Angeles. Like we're not in.

Anna Marti (05: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 .

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

The Hair Game (06: 00:00:10 16)

00:00:10 you know, name some city where people don't care about how they look. We're in Los Angeles. And what, 90 % of people don't look like they put the slightest amount of effort into how they look.

Anna Marti (06: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Boo.

00:00:10 And trust me that

00:00:10 exploded even more after COVID. I don't know if you see it or not, but it's just like sweatpants became our normal like day to day life, you know, and just slick buns because it's called the lazy hairdo, but they look good. And then generational change, you know, I understand that they're doing the less is more, but ⁓ I think they could still do the less is more, but still put some effort to it because we do see it as stylist. I feel like, you know, the first eye contact I make is literally

The Hair Game (06: 00:00:10 33)

00:00:10 Yeah. Right.

Anna Marti (07: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 hair, skin, makeup, fashion. I don't know what it is, but I was always like this.

The Hair Game (07: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Sometimes less is not enough. Yeah, yeah. I would say that less is not nearly enough, a vast majority of the time. Let's be honest. Like I love the concept. ⁓ would love to be able to do nothing and look good. But you you just take a quick look around, you know, at the grocery store and there's just, I see it as opportunity for the beauty professionals of the city or, you know, the country or wherever.

Anna Marti (07: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 Yeah, right?

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

The Hair Game (07: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 There's just so much opportunity out there. And I think maybe we've swung a little far in the direction of this less is more nonsense.

Anna Marti (07: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 True,

00:00:10 true. But I have no shame in my game. actually approach to people too. So that's another thing I have. I just go straight to you and I'm like, you could look so beautiful if I just did this. And they're like, wait, what? I'm like, I know, right? Conversation.

The Hair Game (07: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 That's awesome.

00:00:10 yeah, so now 25 years ago, I remember people telling me that that's how they built their book, right? I think most of the listeners, maybe not the listeners who were in beauty school, we have a lot of listeners in beauty school, or those new listeners, the younger ones. But this is how a lot of people

Anna Marti (08: 00:00:10 16)

00:00:10 Yep.

The Hair Game (08: 00:00:10 20)

00:00:10 used to build their book is they would, you know, they would carry their cards around, they would walk around and they would hand out their cards to people on the street who they liked their look or they saw so much potential, kind of like what you say here. And so give me some nitty gritty on this. Like where do you do this? How often do you do it? Does it, how do people respond?

Anna Marti (08: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm. Yep.

00:00:10 And.

00:00:10 let's say, bring an example maybe. Okay, so let's say I'm in the heart of Glendale ⁓ where everything is, you know, all around me, it's social things around, like the Glendale Mall is here, Americana is here, people walking around.

The Hair Game (08: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 Please.

00:00:10 Americana, got

00:00:10 Portos.

Anna Marti (08: 00:00:10 59)

00:00:10 Yeah,

00:00:10 we have so many foot traffic. People are just walking around all day, right? Coffee shops. Yeah. So I like to start off with like, let's say if I have a gap in between, instead of being lazy and order Postmates, I like literally walk out and walk to my favorite destinations, whether if it's getting a cup of coffee or something. And I literally approach to people. Like the other day I approached this, I went to Nordstrom, I had to return something and the salesperson

The Hair Game (09: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 coffee shops are amazing there.

Anna Marti (09: 00:00:10 29)

00:00:10 she was gorgeous. had this like beautiful red hair and I could tell her roots were grown out but like you can tell like she's in the middle of like doing something so she's either waiting for a change or stylus went went too long something is in between her gorgeous purest blue eyes just like stood up to me and I was like when was the last time you got your hair done and she's like my god you saw it too I was like no no no not for that but I just think that it will be so great if you came to me because I

00:00:10 I like I can revive that red into more of this ⁓ kind of a hue. And she was like, that's so interesting, because everything I saved on my Pinterest board is more like what you're telling me. I was like, cool. So let's go whenever you want. Stop by. Give my information. And right away, she reached out, and she came by. We had a consultation, and now she's scheduled to come in. So I literally just.

00:00:10 blah blah blah. It's just that's the way, you know, I don't keep it in. It's like if I see you have a potential I have to approach. I don't know what it is. don't know if it's a God's given gift. Sometimes it just sounds really like, oh my God, a stranger is talking to me, you know? But it's kind of cool.

The Hair Game (10: 00:00:10 27)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Yeah, I feel like this is I hopefully our culture is snapping back to this kind of interaction versus ⁓ all of us looking on a screen, you know, and, writing comments anonymously and stuff like that. So what you're describing is probably your natural personality. I mean, were you like that in high school too? You just had no problem. Okay.

Anna Marti (10: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 True.

00:00:10 .

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 was actually really shy in high school because I was new to

00:00:10 this country, didn't have many friends, didn't speak one word of English. I still remember even saying one word, I felt like, my God, everyone's gonna laugh at me. But ⁓ I guess the drive was from the beginning of high school because I saw that I have so much more potential and I wanted to share it. And I thought my story could be such a great ⁓ inspiration for anyone that's in my position right now, because there was a lot of immigrants coming at that time.

The Hair Game (11: 00:00:10 15)

00:00:10 Wow.

Anna Marti (11: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 And was just like throwing myself into areas where everyone thought it was untouchable, which is like working for American Cosmetic Brown. At that time, working for MAC Cosmetic was a huge thing. And I just literally walked myself again, lunch hour, working at Robison Smey. I was like, I'm just gonna walk by and see if I can ask a manager. And I just said, I'm in love with makeup, and I just finished ⁓ makeup school. I wanna work here. What do I need to do? And they're like, well, you're hired because you just approached us.

00:00:10 That's right there.

The Hair Game (12: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 Amazing. I mean, what is that? It's not hard, right? Like, getting what you want is not hard.

Anna Marti (12: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 It's not. And what are you going to get? The worst is like, it's not.

00:00:10 The worst you're going to get is probably no, not right now. Just go back and do something else, I guess.

The Hair Game (12: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 Right. It's simple. Stop getting in your own way, people. I find like if I have a conversation with somebody who's struggling, it's like stop getting in your own way. You're not reinventing anything. You just go have a conversation with somebody. Zero risk.

Anna Marti (12: 00:00:10 23)

00:00:10 and

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Mm.

The Hair Game (12: 00:00:10 39)

00:00:10 and just go do it. And I love that story. That story was even better than what I was anticipating it was going to be. I was anticipating good, but even better. You didn't even speak language, right? You didn't even speak the language. Yeah.

Anna Marti (12: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 Thank

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 I didn't even speak the language. was like worst accent ever. And he's like well

00:00:10 you graduated Joe Blasco that means you kind of know what to do already. I was like yeah that's all I know and I know how to like put makeup on hire me and I'll show you how to do it.

The Hair Game (13: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Amazing. Okay. So even better that you were a little shy and that you didn't speak the language fully. You learned really fast, I assume, because you were young and you were smart and everything and you got it. ⁓ And you felt comfortable enough to go ahead and take those chances of talking to people. And so you've gotten used to that and comfortable with it and everyone can.

Anna Marti (13: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 the

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 the

The Hair Game (13: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 get used to it and comfortable with it, even if they're not comfortable with it now. Because I know there's some people who are like, I could never go up to a stranger in public and say something like that.

Anna Marti (13: 00:00:10 36)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Yeah,

00:00:10 true. And I think that really helped me just, you know, work with the most amazing in the industry too, because I wasn't shy, but I was shy at the same time. I don't know how to say it. It's almost like, yeah, you approached, but now you got to prove your work too. So it's not just that one step. You got to continue to proving yourself and them that you did exactly what you said you would do. So I think that helped me kind of like, elevate my skills more and educate my

00:00:10 to ⁓ put me in positions where it was uncomfortable. I think that's where it pushed me even go further away because it was like, well let me see if I can do this other step and that other step. And that's what made me like realize, hey, I can literally do it if I can put the confidence and just really show my work and my skills because everyone's talent is a unique talent. But if you don't share it, how would they know? So that was my main thing. It's like, I wanna share it.

The Hair Game (14: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 100%. I mean, you're talking about everything that I try, the primary thing that I try to get through on this podcast for eight years, which is, you know, a lot of people, their comfort zone is about as big as this cup of coffee right here in my hand. I'm going to take a little sip and put it down. But as you, as you push the edges of that comfort zone, that cup of coffee turns into a bowl.

Anna Marti (14: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 Thank you.

00:00:10 All right.

The Hair Game (15: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 or a big thing and then it becomes as big as the kitchen and all of a sudden your comfort zone is as big as the house and there's a lot of really ⁓ great experiences that fit within a big comfort zone like that. And we're not born with a comfort zone and supposed to stay within that little comfort zone. Our job is to kind of push ourselves a little bit and expand it.

Anna Marti (15: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 True.

00:00:10 So I guess that's what it is. I just worked in a lot of different areas. Working at MAC after that, I was like, need the next top hair salon. And in Studio City, I searched it up. It was Alan Edwards Hair Studio at that time.

The Hair Game (15: 00:00:10 47)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 I remember Alain Edwards. Yeah.

Anna Marti (15: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 Yeah, so I was

00:00:10 like, okay, I'm going to take my little photo album that I have all my work with and just walk in and see if they need an assistant. And I walked in, Alan interviewed me and he's like, well, you're starting tomorrow as my assistant. I was like, am I going to do?

The Hair Game (16: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 amazing.

Anna Marti (16: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 he was like, he looked at my hair and I had this long, you know, the girl next door highlighted hair and he's like, but we're chopping your hair off tomorrow too. I was like, what? He's like, yeah, you're going pixie and you're going platinum blonde. I was like, okay, I guess I get a job and I get a free haircut. Let's do it.

The Hair Game (16: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 You're like, wait a second.

Anna Marti (16: 00:00:10 29)

00:00:10 So yeah, I enrolled to

The Hair Game (16: 00:00:10 30)

00:00:10 That's awesome.

Anna Marti (16: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 Alan Edwards Salon and I was there. He had like this really cool assisting program for like two years. You got to assist. Then there was a lot of, you know, nowadays stylists. If you ask them, like even the new they're in the industry trying to build their own. If you said you're going to be assisting for $8 an hour for two years.

00:00:10 And then we're going to be putting the tests week by week and see how far along you have come. And then we'll see if you can do one Sunday a week to take clients. They'll just run out right there. Nobody wants to do that. But yeah, it's like rules. You got to follow all this rules.

The Hair Game (17: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Yep. Yep. Nobody wants to do that.

00:00:10 I mean, that's like living with your parents type stuff. Were you? Accountability.

Anna Marti (17: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 Yeah, how to talk to a

The Hair Game (17: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 Yeah.

Anna Marti (17: 00:00:10 19)

00:00:10 client, how to build a clientele, which was honestly, I wish they could bring that back as a normality, but maybe not for years, but just kind of like have some sort of a practice before they let all the stylists go on the floor. I think. I don't know.

The Hair Game (17: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 Right.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Well, I mean, I've often agreed with that sentiment because it's such great education. Actually, I'd like to go back a little bit and lament the fact that no beauty school or few beauty schools teach that. I think some of the better ones do. They try. ⁓ I didn't go to beauty school, so I can't speak from ⁓ first hand experience, but I've heard from.

Anna Marti (17: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 ⁓

The Hair Game (18: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 I don't know, maybe a thousand people, what their experiences were like. And it just seems pretty clear that across the board, they don't teach those types of things. ⁓ Maybe it's impossible to teach that kind of thing versus being in a salon like Alan's back in the day ⁓ where it was real life. You had clients coming in who expected a great result and they were paying good money. And so you had that.

Anna Marti (18: 00:00:10 11)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

The Hair Game (18: 00:00:10 29)

00:00:10 pressure, you had the accountability of having to deliver a certain result. And if you didn't, there was an upset client. And maybe in beauty school, the people go in there and they are paying very, very little money so they don't expect as much. I don't know. But I think that that kind of learning, that kind of intensive learning is very, important.

Anna Marti (18: 00:00:10 32)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 you

00:00:10 their little money. Yeah.

00:00:10 I

00:00:10 think so too, except I didn't last for two years. was out by six months. I like, I don't think I could do this.

The Hair Game (19: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 He lasted only six months. And

00:00:10 then where did you go?

Anna Marti (19: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 ⁓

00:00:10 I actually from there a client walked in and I was just she was a regular client and I was just literally doing what assistants do just washing their hair prepping it for the stylist and having conversations behind the shampoo bowl and she said that she's ⁓ a Creator for a beauty line and at that time it's like you don't hear things like that, you know cosmetic line and she's the owner of it She created the line and she was searching for an executive for cosmetic beauty

00:00:10 So she offers me a job and I literally leave the salon. After six months.

The Hair Game (19: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 after six months.

00:00:10 now this is kind of the second part of what we were talking about before, which is the total two year thing. There may be some people who need more than two years. There may be some people who need two years. There may be some people who learn it in a year or six months. Just kind of depends, right? Everybody's different with their learning curve, et cetera, and the intensity with which they put themselves in their job.

Anna Marti (19: 00:00:10 51)

00:00:10 Uh-huh.

The Hair Game (20: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 absorb everything and retain everything. So after six months, do you think that you had a pretty good handle on things?

Anna Marti (20: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 Honestly,

00:00:10 when after that I still kept in touch with Alan, I kept asking like, hey, if I go back to a salon, like, am I able to take a client? Like, do you think I'm ready? And he was like, you cut Bob haircut in 20 minutes, you're good. I was like, okay, cool. So I started like cutting everyone's hair and timing myself 20 minutes. I was like, check this one, check that one, check this one. He's like, you pass. I'm like, okay, I'm good. I can go on the floor.

The Hair Game (20: 00:00:10 38)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 So you were good after six months, okay.

Anna Marti (20: 00:00:10 45)

00:00:10 That was good. Obviously color

00:00:10 took a while and I took some classes extra on that individually but yeah definitely I was like I'm ready.

The Hair Game (20: 00:00:10 56)

00:00:10 And this brings up another element of the whole two-year apprenticeship thing, which is if you hadn't have left or, you know, if you didn't have that other opportunity, would Alan have kept you as an apprentice for two years when you could have been on the floor after six months, right?

Anna Marti (21: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 I mean,

00:00:10 until now I still have great relationship with Alan. Alan definitely would have put me on the floor less than two years for sure. I don't know, I have that confidence in me saying that.

The Hair Game (21: 00:00:10 23)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Okay.

Anna Marti (21: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 It felt good. I don't know. It just literally gave me so much more of like, oh my God, this industry, it's not just like four weeks or two days or two years. I'm still learning. Like I literally am learning every single day. The trends are coming back and then the foundation is different. So I think what's so important is for us stylists not to think that we know it all and just leave it at that because that's not the case. We every single

The Hair Game (21: 00:00:10 28)

00:00:10 Yeah, I hope so.

Anna Marti (21: 00:00:10 58)

00:00:10 day I literally get inspiration from another artist and I literally sit there and I'm like I would love to know how they do this. I like to study their technique so it's important for us to always keep on educating.

The Hair Game (22: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 Yes.

00:00:10 And that's how you avoid burnout, isn't it? And that's another topic that we talk about. We talked about it a little bit more pre-COVID, didn't we? Because the hustle culture and stuff like that, and then some people would feel like they're burning out and they wanted to work less and totally understandable. Everybody's different. They have different tolerance levels. have different cadence of how they work, how many days and whether they do.

Anna Marti (22: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

The Hair Game (22: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 multiple bookings at the same time or whatever, everybody's different. But, and we haven't actually talked about burnout in a while, and I suspect that's because we're all about quality of life coming out of COVID. ⁓ But COVID was a long time ago now, right? was four years ago, maybe more, almost five years ago.

Anna Marti (22: 00:00:10 53)

00:00:10 Turn.

00:00:10 Like almost five already. People should stop blaming

00:00:10 it on COVID now. that's what it is.

The Hair Game (23: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 Yeah,

00:00:10 hustle culture became a bad word, but then we became maybe a little bit of lazy culture. know, people wanted to work two days a week and wanted to still pay their rent and still, ⁓ you know, put money into savings and yeah, and go on vacation one week a month and stuff like this. You know, that was, if you remember those times, that wild. ⁓

Anna Marti (23: 00:00:10 15)

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Make the same numbers.

00:00:10 was wild.

The Hair Game (23: 00:00:10 31)

00:00:10 So now we're in an environment where we're kind of getting back to normal with a little bit of inflation in the economy still, right? We had that kind of the sprouting inflation of 2022, 2023, and then it started subsiding a little bit in 2024 and five, but prices are still at an elevated level.

Anna Marti (23: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Bye bye.

00:00:10 Right?

00:00:10 ⁓

The Hair Game (23: 00:00:10 59)

00:00:10 We have to pay the bills. We each depend on, or we each have our own ideas of what our quality of life would be. I don't know, hustle culture is, maybe we call it something else these days. We call it just something a little bit less than hustle culture, but still, you're still working hard and you can get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from working hard. So you're describing something.

00:00:10 where you have a learning mindset and you like to learn, you get a lot of satisfaction out of learning. And when your clients come in, you probably are approaching them, even though they might be clients that you've had for many, years, you're probably approaching them with kind of a new perspective every time and you probably have different ideas for them, right?

Anna Marti (24: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 and

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 think that's what it is. I think that's what makes us ⁓ stay in the industry longer too. It's like, you know, seeing the same client, let's say every three to four weeks for that root touch up. Don't just be boring and just go mix the same color and just kind of like, what if she's in a weird mood today? Just brighten her up and do something different. Obviously keep in mind because, you not everybody has that much money now. I can tell. I can tell what's really happening. ⁓

00:00:10 Situations where I'm charging I feel live on like my gosh She's been a loyal client for like this many years should I raise my prices? I know it's different, but you know the fact that I'm actually that one reason today She smiled and I changed her Look, even if I'm charging less. I just want to give her that experience because you are that

00:00:10 reason she gained that extra confidence today. I think that's what gets me going in this industry and every time I fall in love with what I do every day because of that. And I think it's just I don't have to hustle anymore. know, after having kids, I realized that kids and family come as my first priority. But how do I do something so that I'm not dying inside? Because creative people can't just be home. The walls will be purple and it's not going to be cute.

The Hair Game (25: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 Excellent.

00:00:10 Yeah, I love that.

Anna Marti (26: 00:00:10 13)

00:00:10 Yeah.

The Hair Game (26: 00:00:10 14)

00:00:10 That's funny. So the autopilot, so in all my conversations over all the years with just clients, right? People out in the general public who go to salons, they have a hairstylist, sometimes they have a long-term hairstylist, sometimes they jump around, whatever. I would say the main reason, number one reason why they would leave a hairdresser,

Anna Marti (26: 00:00:10 37)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

The Hair Game (26: 00:00:10 38)

00:00:10 is because they feel like the hairdresser is on autopilot with them. When they come to the salon, the color's already mixed, they don't wanna have a conversation about what their experience has been recently, what they're liking out there, any sort of trends they're interested in, they don't open up that conversation, they just wanna do the same thing over and over and over again. And then that client, my friend, might say to me,

Anna Marti (26: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

The Hair Game (27: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 I'm kind of looking around thinking about going to another hairdresser and people ask me all the time, right? Can you refer me to somebody and wherever, ⁓ know, South Bay or this place or the Valley. And I hear this over and over again. And that has been a consistent thing for the 25 years that I've been in this industry. So what you're describing is a way to combat that and a way for you to increase the satisfaction with your career, with your everyday.

Anna Marti (27: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Thank

The Hair Game (27: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 You know, keep it interesting.

Anna Marti (27: 00:00:10 36)

00:00:10 And how boring it is for them too, it's like doing the same thing, you know. We're creative people. When we do the same thing over and over again, then we don't like what we do. it's like, what else do I need? I need some extra juice to make me happy. And that's just always trying something new and pushing it. Like I said, don't stay in your comfort zone. Always try something new.

The Hair Game (27: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 Love it. Okay, so ⁓ you left Ellen Edwards to go work for this brand. Was this a hair care brand or a makeup brand?

Anna Marti (28: 00:00:10 02)

00:00:10 ⁓ huh.

00:00:10 It was a makeup

00:00:10 brand and it was crazy because

00:00:10 you know, independent owner, it was very new to this industry. So she needed an artist to basically talk about the product, educate her employees and sacks and Macy's and do some trade shows for her. And I was basically the operator of creating a little team together and hiring the makeup artists and kind of like educating them what the product does and so on, and just let them go and do their job.

00:00:10 So it was great. I was traveling for about two and a half three years with her and then the company goes under because of recession and you know all this Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue and all this places started closing and then I Was like, okay gotta get back to a hair salon, I guess

The Hair Game (28: 00:00:10 43)

00:00:10 Wow.

00:00:10 Yeah, but what a great experience for you. I mean, I'm thinking back and I'm thinking, wow, so she hired you to do a pretty big job. You had never done that before. You'd done makeup, but you'd never hired her to team, manage people.

Anna Marti (29: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 yeah.

00:00:10 Hmm

00:00:10 I started understanding business. think that's

00:00:10 what made me like get really excited about the business part of it.

The Hair Game (29: 00:00:10 22)

00:00:10 What a great experience. Okay, so, but it didn't work out. It's hard to start a product. There's a lot of products out there. So it's hard to set yourself apart and it didn't work out. All right, so then what would you do?

Anna Marti (29: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 Then right

00:00:10 after that I was like, okay, depression, what are we doing? What am I going to do? Yeah, 2009. Yeah, let's say 2009 and close to 2010.

The Hair Game (29: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 This was the 2009, 2010 period.

Anna Marti (29: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 people in the industry obviously I was like I'm gonna knock on some doors and just see what salon hires at the point and just say hey I don't I don't have an experience but I kind of do so if you trust me maybe just kind of like as a commission stylist I'll start building and ⁓ I started in South Pasadena it's called Echo hair studio one of the cutest hair salons in the neighborhood they've been around for like 30 years I believe already and ⁓ yeah I walked in they trusted me I did a

00:00:10 little test on a model they liked it and they said okay we can build you up and that's where I started and then after that I think about three years after that I started having my babies and I was like okay South Pasadena is a little too far for me to reach my babies in Glendale I need to transition salons to Glendale that kind of was a little tough because my clientele in South Pasadena is different now I'm coming to Glendale it's like almost starting a new thing again

The Hair Game (30: 00:00:10 32)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

Anna Marti (30: 00:00:10 47)

00:00:10 But yeah.

The Hair Game (30: 00:00:10 47)

00:00:10 Okay, yeah, that makes

00:00:10 sense. now for those listeners who don't know, we're talking a 20 minute drive. Can we take 15, 20 minute drive between Pasadena and Glendale? Yeah, but different markets.

Anna Marti (30: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 ⁓ my. Wow.

00:00:10 Yeah, it's.

00:00:10 Different markets on

00:00:10 South Pasadena clientele is very like, know, the suburb moms, you know, they want to stay in their area. So is Glendale. Glendale is very similar now that I'm here too. ⁓ So yeah, coming to Glendale, I came to Studio K, which is a very known salon. And I started there with like, I think it was like around 40 stylists at that time. It was loud in there. It was crazy loud. was crazy busy every single Saturday, hair, makeup, brides and

00:00:10 just like a different, know, Passing knows all about like, you know, beautiful hair color and blowouts and very like,

00:00:10 monotone and then I come to this whoa everyone's glowing and Barbie and doll and it gets crazy like social media starts taking off I was like okay I gotta learn social media I know this is a different clientele so definitely again another challenge for me but I survived before COVID hit I actually launched my own beauty line

The Hair Game (31: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 funny.

Anna Marti (32: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 So I know so I launched my cosmetic brand called Anna Marty cosmetics and it was at that time just like three different lashes because I loved doing custom lashes and My husband's like you're struggling paying the agency to do the content and you know behind the chair and the kids Maybe you should choose one right now and I chose okay Let me just go home and take care of my cosmetic brand and my kids

The Hair Game (32: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 ⁓ do tell.

Anna Marti (32: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 And right after that, COVID happened. So it was like perfect timing. I'm no longer in the salon. It was what's gonna happen anyways.

The Hair Game (32: 00:00:10 38)

00:00:10 ⁓ perfect timing because yeah, you were no longer in the salon and you couldn't be in the salon. Yeah.

00:00:10 Right. Wow. Look at that. That's interesting. Well, good for you. That was lucky.

Anna Marti (32: 00:00:10 48)

00:00:10 Yeah, for like…

00:00:10 That was lucky.

00:00:10 Spent time with my kids, worked on my beauty line. That's what actually digital marketing played a huge thing for me because I had to learn myself how to be a personal branding influencer, of bring myself out and show that digitally, whatever I know what to do in a real life. So I guess that's what the confidence gave me to like open my doors up again to my clientele because it was like slowly I was seeing with my

00:00:10 content, my client's reaching out or a new client reaching out, hey, do you mind doing my hair or my makeup? And then I was like, okay, so this is coming back to reality again. And then…

00:00:10 knocked on some doors again for salons around the area and I was having coffee with my best friend and then she was like I don't see you going back to a hair salon I see you owning your own hair salon I was like boy not only I have to build clients again and now I have to worry about the aspect of owning a salon like that's too much and I was literally driving by and saw a little sign of salon republic coming here I was like

00:00:10 I need it. So yeah, it's gonna be one year I'm here. Yeah, it was right before. And I got one of most beautiful, my clients love it the minute they walk in. They're like, it's like sitting indoors and outdoors. I'm like, I love that.

The Hair Game (34: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 Yeah, and before, I guess before we opened, yeah, and you got one of the great studios.

00:00:10 That's amazing. That's amazing. And I see the

00:00:10 towels in the back. You don't have to do towels. We have towels for you. That's amazing.

Anna Marti (34: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 Now, I love that the story is so convenient

00:00:10 if I'm running out of anything and the front girls are so sweet, you know, they just always communicate. I love the concept. My clients love the concept. were just like, some of them, were like, I never even seen this type of a thing. I'm like, I'm sorry, Sloan Republic has been around for many, years.

The Hair Game (34: 00:00:10 45)

00:00:10 It's a big city though. I mean, we've got 25 locations, I think around greater LA, but LA is a big place. Yep.

Anna Marti (34: 00:00:10 46)

00:00:10 It really is.

00:00:10 It's a big place. I guess the first one in

00:00:10 my area was Burbank and the Galleria.

The Hair Game (34: 00:00:10 58)

00:00:10 Yep. Yeah. So kind of around your area, there's Studio City. That was the first one 25 years ago. And then Burbank was probably seven years ago. There's going to be people chiming me on how I'm wrong there. I don't remember all the details. And then ⁓ actually, think Pasadena was first. I don't remember. Anyway, Glendale is relatively newish. So

Anna Marti (35: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Now.

00:00:10 So, okay.

The Hair Game (35: 00:00:10 23)

00:00:10 That was great timing and so I'm so happy that you've chosen it and you've got the studio that you want and it's all working out and that's just that's what I that's what makes me happy, you know

Anna Marti (35: 00:00:10 27)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Yeah, something that's amazing.

00:00:10 It's like having our own little business with them business. It's really cool. I like it a lot.

The Hair Game (35: 00:00:10 41)

00:00:10 Amazing. Okay. So Joyco, you're a Joyco educator. How did that happen?

Anna Marti (35: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 Recently

00:00:10 so basically I Started here and I was like if I'm going here then I want it on another level I want to upscale I don't want to just do you know my regular clientele and go home. I need that creative juice again going

00:00:10 And the goal is to become a global artist for them. I've always wanted that. So I reached out to Larissa Love, and I wanted to take a class with her. And she was like, well, guess what? I'm just starting my tour, so book the class. And I did. And then I went there. Yeah, she's with Joyco.

The Hair Game (36: 00:00:10 16)

00:00:10 She's with Joyco now.

Anna Marti (36: 00:00:10 19)

00:00:10 So after

The Hair Game (36: 00:00:10 19)

00:00:10 Awesome.

Anna Marti (36: 00:00:10 20)

00:00:10 taking her class, I was in touch with her. was like, well, what else can I do? I want to expand more. And so she connected me into Joico. And I went and took my classes with them recently. Literally, it was in January. And got certified for Joico educator, which is a slow process of LA. You know how it is. It's a huge space. By the time you start moving, it's going to take a while.

The Hair Game (36: 00:00:10 36)

00:00:10 Fantastic.

00:00:10 Sure.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Yeah, it is. But that's okay. That's part of the process, right? And so you're brand new. But what does that look like for your kind of day to day for the hairstylist listening, who are maybe interested in being an educator for a brand and never done it before? Like, what are the nuts and bolts of it?

Anna Marti (36: 00:00:10 47)

00:00:10 Cool.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 So well, Joyco is very, I think Joyco handles things a little differently. So they're more into like really educating you on the science of the product and understanding it and out of it and really being a nerd about it first, which is really good. So when I'm out there and sharing all this information, I'm just like, uh-huh, question I have no answer to. So basically education, education with them. So that takes a while until you actually

00:00:10 gain the trust and you start shadowing another artist for a class. After shadowing they'll do another shadowing if any you know until you actually feel like you're ready. They'll go through some tests with you just to see if you are or not and then you'll just go on and take your own individual classes.

The Hair Game (37: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 Okay. And are these product knowledge classes or are these that they focus on a particular technique and then you just kind of work the product knowledge into it.

Anna Marti (38: 00:00:10 00)

00:00:10 and

00:00:10 So product

00:00:10 knowledge and of course technique as well. So depending on what Joy goes, you know.

00:00:10 talking about at that moment of like, you know, this is gonna be our topic of, let's say talk about Joyco's Age to Five. We're gonna be focusing on Age to Five or LumiShine. We're gonna talk about LumiShine now or Blonde Life. So it just, you know, categorizes it every time there's a different. Now, right now it's, think, Love It or Live It, which is Larissa's ⁓ new project. So that's another interesting thing. So now I'm just like, ⁓

00:00:10 little

00:00:10 nerds sitting there reading all the notes and understanding and trying to practice. I talk to myself in front of the mirror, try to act like I have audience until we get going.

The Hair Game (38: 00:00:10 50)

00:00:10 Good? Good?

00:00:10 I love it. And hopefully they'll have you doing classes locally. Where would the Joyco classes normally be? Are they at salons or like at, okay.

Anna Marti (38: 00:00:10 54)

00:00:10 Hmm.

00:00:10 salons yeah at salons hopefully

00:00:10 one day in salon republic

The Hair Game (39: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Well, we accommodate those classes all the time. Usually ⁓ at Hollywood, I think we do Torrance. There's a number of locations. The website knows more than I do as far as the salonrepublic.com website education link knows more than I do. But ⁓ we've been doing that for many, many years. so we love to do that because it helps all of our members of the salon learn.

Anna Marti (39: 00:00:10 07)

00:00:10 I know. Mm-hmm, yeah, I'm sensitive. Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Yeah. And you know, it's just as

00:00:10 stylists, like why we love the product is just sharing our love and you know, if it works or doesn't, like that's our own experience of like working with this brand for so many years. It's sharing our own experience with it too. It's not just like, hey, I'm going to talk about how good this hairspray is. It's like, what is my experience working with this hairspray for this many years? And I think,

00:00:10 That's one of the main reasons why I wanted to work with Joyco because the career started with Joyco. It's a full circle moment and I'm so happy.

The Hair Game (40: 00:00:10 04)

00:00:10 Yeah, right. That's a full circle moment.

00:00:10 love it. That's so great. We sell Joyco in the salon, right?

Anna Marti (40: 00:00:10 13)

00:00:10 Yeah.

The Hair Game (40: 00:00:10 14)

00:00:10 Yeah, all of this is just so great. You're such a great example of success and happiness in this industry. And I just love telling your story for all the listeners. This is why I do the show, right? Because your story is so valuable to so many people.

Anna Marti (40: 00:00:10 17)

00:00:10 Thank you.

00:00:10 Hmm ⁓

The Hair Game (40: 00:00:10 34)

00:00:10 But they may not have heard of you. you know, even if they did hear, even if they have heard of you, your story may not be front and center on your Instagram, you know, or your TikTok or whatever, your YouTube. It's so that's why we do the show so we can spend 45 minutes, you know, it's it's just awesome. All right. Well, I mean, you have a lot of years left in your career to do a lot of anything you want. So what are you thinking?

Anna Marti (40: 00:00:10 39)

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

00:00:10 Yeah.

00:00:10 Thank you.

00:00:10 I took it. Yeah.

00:00:10 Definitely going.

00:00:10 bigger and better. I want to be on stage. I want to speak. I want to create. I want to do so many different looks. I want to create this next industry like blondes can be healthy and shiny. Let's break that secret to everyone because ⁓ once you know the secret sauce, think everyone should know how they do it. Now everyone will have a different, you'll have the same recipe, but they'll have their own way. That's how this industry works.

00:00:10 works I guess. That's why every single artist to me is very unique because you know not everyone's gonna do a copy paste. It's like when a client walks in with the same inspiration photo obviously they got to know that every stylist is gonna do their version of that work so I guess that's so important for me to share with the world and to be inspired and be inspiring and yeah.

The Hair Game (42: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 I love it. All right, so I like to ask the what I call the wave the wand question. The listeners know it well. If I handed you a wand and you could wave it and change anything about the industry at all, what would it be right now?

Anna Marti (42: 00:00:10 15)

00:00:10 I say teach some more business. We are creative people, but sometimes we get stuck with numbers. I guess we change that in the industry and just be more open of like what really is when you're out there doing it on your own.

The Hair Game (42: 00:00:10 29)

00:00:10 Yeah, okay. Well, you want to give us one quick little quick and dirty sort of ⁓ tip that you think the listeners would like, business related?

Anna Marti (42: 00:00:10 42)

00:00:10 I guess never undervalue your work and let your confidence speak through your work.

The Hair Game (42: 00:00:10 52)

00:00:10 And so I hear that and I think about those people who may not be so confident and and I think human nature I've under I've been told that human nature has us not Believing in ourselves as much as we should more often than not of course. There's people who are Overconfident but more often than not people are under confident

Anna Marti (42: 00:00:10 58)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 Mm-hmm.

The Hair Game (43: 00:00:10 18)

00:00:10 relative to where they should be. And so, what do you say to somebody like that?

Anna Marti (43: 00:00:10 20)

00:00:10 Okay.

00:00:10 I guess don't be shy and just really keep trying. Because I feel like you gain confidence when you try, try, try. And don't…

00:00:10 Don't be afraid if you fail. I failed so many times. Like I said, there has been so many ups and downs in my career. Don't let that to kind of like down your mood of like, I'm never gonna make it. You're always gonna make it because the art is in your hands. And if you show it, people will see it. And that's what the confidence is, I think. Yeah, yeah.

The Hair Game (43: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 I love that. Kind of goes back to that comfort zone thing a little bit, doesn't it? ⁓

00:00:10 Do you have any horror stories? Anytime that you absolutely butchered somebody.

Anna Marti (44: 00:00:10 05)

00:00:10 That's how you learn, ⁓

The Hair Game (44: 00:00:10 08)

00:00:10 Of course, that's why we still talk about it.

Anna Marti (44: 00:00:10 09)

00:00:10 That's why we're still talking about

00:00:10 it. Well, let's go back to when I gave my aunt the most ridiculous hair color and she was rocking it for like a week and a half and then she gave up and said, okay, we got to do something about this.

The Hair Game (44: 00:00:10 25)

00:00:10 That's really funny, describe it.

Anna Marti (44: 00:00:10 26)

00:00:10 So it was

00:00:10 like a technique made for long hair and she has short curly kinky hair. And I decided to give that technique that I learned in Joyco's class years ago and added some like patchy reds and deep reds and brown tones all around her hair. Patchy. ⁓

The Hair Game (44: 00:00:10 35)

00:00:10 Okay?

00:00:10 You use the word patchy. I

00:00:10 doubt that Joyco used that word.

Anna Marti (44: 00:00:10 55)

00:00:10 No,

00:00:10 it was just, you know, it was made for long hair, but I was like envisioning her hair always blown out, not like, you know, how she wears it with her natural so, yeah, I was like, OK, I guess it's not meant for your hair type. Let's let's just go back to one solid color. How's that? No, that was not social media time. Thank God.

The Hair Game (45: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Right.

00:00:10 That's really funny. Do you have pictures of that somewhere?

00:00:10 She may not have let you take pictures of it.

Anna Marti (45: 00:00:10 23)

00:00:10 Yeah, maybe

00:00:10 not I don't remember but she was very proudly walking around for like week and a half and saying my you know, he stood my hair I was like, god Yeah, you always tied on that first

The Hair Game (45: 00:00:10 33)

00:00:10 That's why we love family, right? Yes. My niece, yeah,

00:00:10 she was making excuses. She's like, yeah, my niece, she did this to me. Yeah, she's gonna fix it. Trust me. Yeah, right. She's good. She just has to learn how to fix it and then she'll fix it.

Anna Marti (45: 00:00:10 45)

00:00:10 She's gonna fix it. She's in beauty school. She got this.

00:00:10 No, she's got a technique

00:00:10 from a very big company. She knows what she's doing.

The Hair Game (45: 00:00:10 57)

00:00:10 That's right.

00:00:10 Yes, this is a very fancy technique. I know it doesn't look great, this is… That's right.

Anna Marti (46: 00:00:10 01)

00:00:10 Now lot of people charge a lot of money for this technique and she did it for free so I have to just

00:00:10 walk around with it.

The Hair Game (46: 00:00:10 10)

00:00:10 It's a very fancy technique. ⁓ Any last words for the community?

Anna Marti (46: 00:00:10 15)

00:00:10 Can we just be more artistic and not shy away to share what we know?

The Hair Game (46: 00:00:10 21)

00:00:10 So we can all collectively say yes.

Anna Marti (46: 00:00:10 23)

00:00:10 Yes, and

00:00:10 just inspire because when I see another great artist's work, I'm just mesmerized and I just want to see beauty everywhere I go. So just keep up the good work and just share your knowledge and tips and yeah, don't be shy.

The Hair Game (46: 00:00:10 39)

00:00:10 Love it. All right, Anna, so where can people find you on social? What's your gram?

Anna Marti (46: 00:00:10 44)

00:00:10 Sure, it's AnnaMardiBeauty

00:00:10 on Instagram and I have my TikTok, AnnaMardi83 and I have YouTube channel as well. create shorts and you can see some of my beauty cosmetic line intro videos and things like that and that's AnnaMardiBeauty on YouTube.

The Hair Game (47: 00:00:10 03)

00:00:10 Amazing. We'll put all the links in the show notes, listeners, so you could just click on it and click on the links. Anna, this was awesome. So nice talking to you.

Anna Marti (47: 00:00:10 06)

00:00:10 Thank you. Likewise, likewise. Thank

00:00:10 you.