Arama French

Arama is a senior hairdressing tutor and is also a member of the academy’s management team. Arama’s diverse role involves organising professional development for staff, planning lesson delivery with the team, teaching and demonstrating to students.

What Arama loves about education is being able to constantly learn new things, especially as hairdressing is an evolving industry, stating, “There’s never time to get bored!” In order to keep students motivated and excited about their training, Arama focusses on delivering inspiring lessons and demos and providing encouraging feedback.

Hairdressing was always a calling for Arama and he recalls the days when he’d steal his cousin’s Barbie dolls and cut their hair. Arama started hairdressing at 15 and it “felt like what [he] was supposed to do”, although admits it’s hard work, yet very rewarding at the same time.

Arama’s favourite aspect about hairdressing is cutting and styling. His passion and skill have enabled him to work on countless photoshoots, campaigns and events on behalf of the academy, most notably leading the Servilles hairdressing team for the Resene Designer Runway shows at New Zealand Fashion Week.

Being involved in this industry has given Arama the opportunity to travel the world with his abilities. In England he worked at a barbershop, in Rarotonga he worked on weddings and clients, in Australia he worked in a busy salon as a senior stylist and of course here in New Zealand, where he has been involved with salons and hairdressing education.

“It’s a supportive and encouraging team. Everybody is passionate about the industry we’re working in. It’s a team that is always looking at how we can do things better.”