Go...Run With Scissors!

My recently graduated daughter is taking a tour of the Aveda Institute here in Madison.  Though I would be absolutely proud of her had she chosen a different path to start out on, I'm pretty proud she wants to try out what I do.  I have an awesome career and am fortunate to still be as happy doing it as I was when choosing it to begin with.

But my advice to her is this:

Beauty school isn't easy.  It is fun...for school and is like any other obligation in the end.  It's like high school, as people rarely grow up all that much over the course of a summer.  But it doesn't take as long, and the classes are geared towards someone who has a creative and active mind rather one who would rather sit in lectures day after day. You are taking classes with a bunch of women primarily, women who are taught to judge everyone's appearance as a sum total of how they are put together.   Yet you are taught how to take what you have and accentuate your assets.  It is the industry of helping people feel good about the way they look, including yourself.  And there are so many things you can do with the skills you learn.  You are taught to see the world for its possibilities rather than its shortcomings.  You are taught how to communicate with people in a positive way even when life around you is a complete wreck.

You will learn to take pride in the small things you accomplish along the way, and then to be able to look back at where all of that lead, even if you decide this wasn't the perfect fit for you.