Megan Sweeney, Suite Owner at Studio Elements in Columbus, Ohio, and Educator for KEVIN.MURPHY, has been educating for Premier Beauty for 5 1/2 years. Her years of experience and candidness is the reason why we’ve selected her as our September Educator of the Month for Premier Beauty!

What’s your favorite product from your brand?

LEAVE-IN.REPAIR is one of my favorites. It’s a leave-in treatment that strengthens, softens, and protects against heat. It’s an all-in-one product if you only want to use one thing. I use ANTI.GRAVITY spray a lot on dry hair, actually. If I’m trying to build in texture for bridal and their hair is super clean, I’ll use ANTI.GRAVITY lotion and rough-dry it in.

What's the newest, freshest approach you're bringing to education?

Making sure everyone gets what they need to out of the class. Some salons are more Ingredient-based, hands-on, product-focused, or styling obsessed. It varies from salon to salon, depending on what you’re going into. I’m always feeling out the room before I start teaching. That helps me adapt the way I’m teaching my classes—I want to teach the way everyone learns.

What are the common problems faced by stylists today?

Staying motivated. A lot of stylists and salons are moving into chair rental. There are not as many commission-based salons, but we forget that salon owners keep stylists motivated to retail and learn new things. Trying to reach that independent stylist is the hardest part.

Any advice?

Make sure that education is always readily available. For independent stylists, make sure you’re seeking out education. If you don’t have a sales representative and product line, it can be hard to keep yourself engaged and furthering your career and education. However, we're in an industry where you will never stop learning, so those things need to happen if you want to keep pushing yourself forward and running a successful business.

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