Alexis Armenti

I attribute my success to people actually believing what I say, because I live what I say. I don't lead from up in the air in an office where I have no perception of what's going on. I constantly am making myself out in the field, a part of every sector in the business, because sometimes what the end consumer thinks and from the person that starts the production are two different things. I think my success is learning how to understand every person in each department, learning how to work all together, making it one shared goal, where we're all gonna win together. It's not I, it's us. I try to always have a humanized delivery with my team, with my companies, that it's okay to make mistakes. And we learn from all of them, and it's kind of like, what did we learn from it is more important than the actual mistake.

I think go for it. Like, what's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work out, and you try again. That kind of is really the best career advice, just go for it. Don't be scared, jump. Everything is, you could always change the course, you could always change your choice, but what you get out of the choice might open your eyes to something totally that you've never thought of. So, that was kind of the best advice, is like, just go for it.

I would say don't look for the job, and don't look for the money. Look for what you're going to learn from the person you're going to apply for. Who you're going to report to is more important than anything. What that person is going to expose you to. Get exposed to everything as much as possible. See what turns your passion on. Because you might like something and it might make you money, but you might not have that fondness inside your gut that really lights your fire. And once you find that, really lean into it, and lean into that strength. You have to love what you do. You might not love the everyday, but you have to love what you're really doing, because it's energetic. It translates to whoever you're around, and that energy is magical, and you need it to be successful.

I would say the biggest challenge is sometimes people think movement is progress, and it's not. Sometimes moving slow isn't really getting the job done, so that is something that I try to really teach people, because I think people think that busy is progress, and it's not. As for opportunities in my industry, I think there's a lot of opportunities. I think there's opportunities for community, I think there's opportunities to teach people. There's so much out there. We're in a self-learning era, and people are hungry for knowledge. I think we sell to the stylist and the salon owner, but there's a lot of things that they haven't been taught because they're an artistic, career-driven path, and things that business people can teach them, accountants, influencers and marketing. It's a lot that they can learn from, but also keeping that artistic way with them and also being profitable. The saying is, like, a starving artist. There's a reason, because their artistic level dominates sometimes their business mindset. So I think really teaching artists how to capitalize on their income, how to be smart about what they make, how to invest. I think those are so many different areas of opportunities.

Integrity, honesty. It doesn't really get more than that. Without your integrity, you have nothing. It's kind of just really easy, like, integrity is the biggest thing, especially when you're leading a team, or you want to be influential in any which way, your family, your career, anything. It's like, if your word is nothing, then it doesn't mean anything. And you can never get it back once you lose it. It'll take you a very long time to get back integrity, if you do lose it. So, I always try to do the right thing. People might not like what I have to deliver, or what I have to say, or my leadership, or maybe a decision I've made, but I always try to do things in an integral way.