We met Cole years ago at Wella TrendVision where Sassoon Academy was doing a presentation. Fast forward four years and Cole has his very own education platform and we continue to stalk him wherever he goes.

Tell us about the moment you knew that one day you would be a hair stylist?

I became a hair stylist by chance, With growing up in England I always wanted to be a Soccer player and once I realized that dream wasn’t necessarily going to happen I needed an alternative, I tried a few things temporarily but nothing felt right, this continued for a few months without any success, I was 17 living with my parents at the time, one day my mum gave me an ultimatum either find a job or your out, She didn’t mean it really but at the time but I though she was serious, So I picked up the local paper looked at the Job section and the first thing I saw was for an assistant in a local salon, I called and they invited me in for an interview and it went from there … so thanks Mum.

What was the birth-moment of Elevation-H?

Elevation H has been in development for about the past 3 years, I have been very lucky to work with some amazing Schools and Salons globally and help develop there education, train there teams and develop there staff as well as help grow there businesses, I found my self almost in each situation being asked the same questions repeatedly about how to be more consistent in delivering information, how can my team all work to high level, how do I replace staff, how do I keep staff, the list goes on, I found that at that time the industry didn’t have something solid with supporting materials to answer all these questions, so I answered them, with the right materials and support and structure those issues are much easier to deal with, prevent and resolve.

What could people expect from taking a class with you?

Answers, we are not protective over our information we want to share what we know and pass on amazing things that we have been lucky enough to be told by other amazingly talented people, the delivery is very simple, easy to follow and understand, Taking a class of whether its with Elevation H or any other company is a huge time and financial investment, we think the most important thing when you complete a class is, has that investment given you something that you can use every day to improve your work, satisfy your need for creativity, giving you new ideas to offer to your existing clientele, being confident to deal with new clients with any request, Basically has the investment of the class improved you technically then in turn financially, that’s the Elevation H focus that at any level of experience, any demographic and any needs we can cater for you and you will get something from the class.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Currently we have a Cutting and Coloring program designed for Salons and Schools that has just recently launched in the USA, Canada, England and Australia, the Salon Associate Program is for Salons that currently have or salons that want to introduce a training program into there business, we design curriculums, develop team members, give teacher training the salon uses our Materials from our Online Technical cut and Color videos, cut and color manuals, teacher training videos and books, The strength of a salon is to produce a constant flow of new team members that all work to a consistent level ,this stabilizes the business the School Partnership is a very similar concept but designed for schools it focuses on strengthening the delivery of the information, ensuring all teachers deliver the same consistent information , teacher training, curriculum design and full support from the Elevation H team the goal is to ensure that all teaching team confidently can answer any question but answer with consistency across the board and knows exactly what to do on every day of class from start to finish, for students make them hirable and confident to walk into any salon and grow a clientele instantly so your school becomes the place to hire students from. we are currently working on a business program to add to the cutting and coloring that should be released late 2016 and then as for 5 years we want to have all areas of the cosmetology curriculum covered from skin, nails and beauty that will include videos, books and teacher training so the salons and schools can be taught and then in turn teach the Elevation H way.

What’s one thing you would have told yourself on the first day of cosmetology school knowing what you know now?

Don’t worry it will eventually get easier and make sense…………… My reasoning for this answer is I remember it all being made so complicated and when I asked the same questions to my teachers I was given different answers it didn’t make sense, I wanted to know exactly why my teachers were getting me to do what ever it was they wanted me to cut or color, there was never an explanation, I became very frustrated and the only way to know what would happen is by doing it, this in turn made for lots of mistakes almost as if I was being set up to just pass a test rather than a career, I would say it took about 5 years to be happy with any of my work that left the salon, this is again another reason for what I do now I want to prevent new people to the industry ever feeling this way.

Biggest mistake you ever made on a client or on stage?

I call this Lost in Translation-

About 3 years ago I was doing a show in South Korea on stage in front of about 300 people, none of the models spoke English so we did the consultations with a translator , according to the translator the girl I was cutting who had very very long hair wanted it all cutting off to a short bob cut to the ear lobe, he assured me she was ok with it so I though ok great it will be great to show that kind of change for the audience. So I get on stage take my first section the camera guy puts my hands on the big screen so every one can see and I cut as the extremely long piece of hair falls to the floor so does a tear from the girls face, the audience gasped, the translator said something to the crowd with high energy then they all stood up and started to clap and cheer so I continued and she stopped crying, I asked him later what he said to the crowd his response was I saw she was crying so I told them she is so privileged to have you cut her hair they are tears of overwhelming joy she is so happy… complete lie but the audience bought it and he saved me from being very embarrassed , the girl seemed to like the finished look so it worked out but moral of the story don’t always trust a translator.

What makes Elevation-H different? Why go independent?

We are purely education based, not linked to products or promoting anything apart from information, from our cut and color technical manuals to our online videos its all to the point cutting out the unnecessary information, its how, why and then what it looks like. I wanted more freedom to be able to give more and answer every question and have supporting materials to back it up. I have been very lucky to work with some amazingly talented people who I have picked things up from and when I became a teacher I enjoyed passing them on again, I wanted to design programs and classes for all levels of education from day one in beauty schools to seasoned professional education is a lifetime journey when you stop learning or wanting to learn you stop growing, loose motivation and your work shows that, I put all I’ve learned and picked up and every answer I’ve given and wrote it all down into a manual, videos and designed classes off the back of that, we focus also on the educators the people who also want to teach and help the educators educate this truly the only way to grow our industry.

3 mentors

I couldn’t possibly name only 3 people that are my mentors I really feel you can learn from every one, so rather than name just 3 people thank you to everyone I’ve worked with and met in and out of the industry.

Best advice you have ever been given.

There is a solution to every problem, I feel this is relevant to all areas of life but I hope my work can help with this when cutting and coloring hair.

Something most people don’t know about you.

My Girlfriend buys my clothes.

Where can readers find more info on you and Elevation H?

Web site – Elevation H

Email us – info@elevationh.com

Instagram – @elevationH @_cole_thompson

Cole Thompson