For the fourth consecutive year, Paul Mitchell Schools fielded a team in the 7-day, 585-mile AIDS/LifeCycle bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. This year’s team included 17 school owners and Learning Leaders who raised over $50,000 for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the HIV/AIDS services of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

“You would be SO proud of our Team Paul Mitchell The School riders,” said Dean and Cofounder Winn Claybaugh. “Their butts are sore, their knees are aching, but they all have stories of life-changing experiences!” Paul Mitchell Chairman and CEO John Paul DeJoria acknowledged the riders for taking time from their own lives to go on a ride that will benefit others. “You are super cool!” he said.

The team had plenty of support throughout the ride. Winn Claybaugh and school co-owner Nina Galvin followed along in a car to film, take photos, and even do laundry for the team. A group of 25 Future Professionals showed up at a rest stop to cheer for the riders and spritz them with Awapuhi Moisture Mist, and another passionate group welcomed them home at the finish line. In total, the event raised $11 million. For more information, visit www.aidslifecycle.org.

Future Professionals Chosen for Paul Mitchell Ads

Paul Mitchell’s new Head for Change ad campaign features real people doing real things they love and making a real difference. Emphasizing the company’s passion for life and compassion for the planet, the ads feature members of the Paul Mitchell “family”—including sponsored athletes and Future Professionals from Paul Mitchell Schools.

Natasha Vranic, from Paul Mitchell The School Michigan, is a fashion enthusiast and champion of women’s issues. Matt Fine, a Future Professional from Paul Mitchell The School Nashville, is passionate about music, graphic design, hairdressing, and caring for the planet. A drummer for the environmental organization American Forests, Matt takes simple, everyday actions like recycling and supporting the selling of the carbon-neutral Tea Tree brand. Rachel Burney took a leave of absence from Paul Mitchell The School San Diego to travel around the country and visit Africa on behalf of Invisible Children, a nonprofit group working to improve the lives of children affected by wars.

The campaign will debut at Signature Gathering in Las Vegas in July and on the Paul Mitchell Web site August 15. Print ads will run in September’s Teen Vogue, Seventeen, and Cosmogirl, with additional images of the athletes in a variety of sports magazines through the summer and winter. The rest of the photos will run in mid-October and November on www.paulmitchell.com, along with the inside scoop on each of the models and concrete ways to make a difference.

San Francisco School Donates Days of Beauty

Future Professionals and Learning Leaders from the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology (SFIEC) Paul Mitchell Partner School frequently donate their time and talent to their local community.

In March and April, SFIEC’s “Days of Beauty” treated local seniors to a variety of services. In May, the Future Professionals provided complimentary Mother’s Day makeovers to nearly 100 teen moms from San Francisco’s Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Program. “It’s so inspiring to see our Future Professionals using their talents and gifts to help people feel great,” said SFIEC President Deedee Carlson. “They’re doing what they love while making a big difference for another person. It’s a win-win situation.”

Paul Mitchell Support “Displace Me” Event

On April 28, more than 68,000 people left their homes and comforts to displace themselves for the displaced people of Northern Uganda—and Paul Mitchell was there.

Responding to a special conference call with Paul Mitchell Chairman and CEO John Paul DeJoria, Paul Mitchell Future Professionals volunteered their time and Paul Mitchell distributors donated cardboard for Displace Me, the 15-city event sponsored by the nonprofit organization Invisible Children.

“We’re asking everyone to sleep outside for one night in a silent vigil to tell our leaders that we demand action,” explained Invisible Children Cofounder Laren Poole. “We’re going to make a cardboard village that night to mimic how these people live, so we may know for 24 hours what it’s like to live in a horrible situation where you’re afraid of being abducted or you live on $1 a day.”

Gloria Ellrich, a Learning Leader at Paul Mitchell The School Orlando, rounded up about 20 Future Professionals, their family members, and friends. “Before the event we all went to Wal-Mart to buy sleeping bags, pillows, and even some candy to sneak in (we were only allowed to bring in water and crackers). However, when we got there we saw the true reason we were there. The people in Northern Uganda do not have money to get food. They sleep on the ground with no blankets, no pillows. A lot of the problem is that people do not know what is going on. To be honest, I didn’t know till the conference call.”


Chianne Ellingwood and a group of Future Professionals from Paul Mitchell The School Provo attended the Denver Displace Me event. “It was an amazing experience,” Chianne said. “I don't think any of us would trade it for the world.”

At the Chicago event, Brittney Jackson filmed a documentary and played it for her fellow Future Professionals at Great Lakes Academy of Hair Design Paul Mitchell Partner School in Port Huron, Michigan. “Now they are planning their own peace event,” Brittney said. “I never thought something I did could affect others and push them to be better.”

“Invisible Children is taking care of a need that’s thousands of miles away in Africa because somebody has to do it,” said John Paul DeJoria. “I think it’s brilliant that they’re not only doing it but they’re giving us the opportunity to get involved.” For more information, visit www.invisiblechildren.com.

Having Fun (It’s Not Rocket Science)
From Be Nice (Or Else!) by Winn Claybaugh


As beauty professionals, we constantly strive to upgrade our technical expertise and fine-tune our customer service skills. Now it’s time to implement one more necessary ingredient for running a successful business: Fun! Laughter! Make your salon, spa, or school a party!

The intentional use of fun can be a powerful force in team building, improving customer service, improving team attitude and loyalty, and ultimately increasing profitability. Businesses where staff members have fun, like each other, and treat customers as if they’re happy to be there have a competitive advantage.

You can create an environment of fun, laughter, and enthusiasm in your salon or school by making fun a daily priority, not an occasional event. Many years ago at the first Paul Mitchell School in Provo, we decided to initiate a simple gesture of teamwork toward a common goal of wellness. We started the Eight Glasses of Water Club.

It was quite simple. All of our staff members received their own plastic water bottles, on which they wrote their names using a big permanent marker. Each 12-ounce water bottle represented two glasses of water, which meant it had to be emptied four times a day. Here’s where it got fun. Each time someone emptied their bottle, they had to have another team member autograph it, with the goal of four different signatures by the end of the day.

Sound simple and childish? Ask my staff—they think it’s a hoot. It forced some of the more shy-type team members to come out of their shells a bit to intermingle. It created dialogues with our customers about health and fun. It opened up more opportunities for the staff to focus on health and wellness, but more important, to do it as a team. One final note. After downing about four or five glasses of water, the Eight Glasses of Water Club soon turned into the Mad Dash to the Restroom Club.

What can you do in your school or salon to have fun and work toward a common goal of health and wellness?

Joshua Lee Reedy, Class of 2007
Northwest Hair Academy – A Paul Mitchell Partner School


With two years of college credit, Joshua Lee Reedy started law school and quickly realized that arguing for a living would not make him happy. So he dropped out and tried a variety of jobs, from Web page design and landscaping to managing a surf and skate shop. After losing a job at a major real estate firm, Josh went through a slump. “Everything I tried was either way below my usual pay grade or I couldn’t get the job,” Josh recalls.

Josh had always been passionate about hair but never had the time to pursue it. After doing a little research, he discovered Paul Mitchell Schools and enrolled at Northwest Hair Academy in Mount Vernon, Washington. Attending the school has not been easy for the 26-year-old who comes from a small island about 35 miles from the Mount Vernon campus. The island is accessible only by a ferry that costs too much and doesn’t leave early enough to get Josh to school on time, so he’s been sleeping in his van at a marina near school and showering at a campground down the street while working nights to pay for his education.

Despite his unusual lifestyle, Josh says this has “definitely been one of the best decisions of my life. I look toward the goal of being a licensed hairstylist and keep my focus on that,” he adds. Josh recently started an externship at The Experience Salon. “One of the reasons I chose The Experience was because it’s a Paul Mitchell Focus Salon. It’s very cool to be able to work with the products I know and love.”

Josh’s advice for fellow Future Professionals: “If you’ve got the drive, the Paul Mitchell team is right there to back you. Keep your dream ahead of you, and any obstacles you have to overcome will become much smaller.”

“Josh is the most positive young man we have seen in a long time, always smiling and giving to others. He is involved in every aspect of our culture and he creates magic all the time by taking pictures of our events and fundraisers. Knowing Josh has been one of the more touching experiences we have had at our Paul Mitchell School.” — Darrell and Mary Camp Owners, Northwest Hair Academy – A Paul Mitchell Partner School