Her Story
About Kristyann
Kristyann Derrico began her career in 1998 and spent 22 years working as a hairstylist behind the chair in New Jersey and New York. She completed her schooling at Piscataway Vocational, a Middlesex County vo-tech school, where she obtained her licensing, and she remains licensed in both states. After her time as a stylist, she transitioned into management, where she coached and developed stylists to help accelerate their careers. She now serves in a consultative and operational role, working with stylists to build their salons by providing product support, education, and relationship building while also tracking sales and numbers. In addition to her work in the industry, Derrico is a published author. She released her book Color Him Crazy, Dating Memoirs of a New Jersey Hairdresser in 2011 after journaling stories from her experiences with clients. She attributes her success to the support of a strong mentor early in her career and advises those entering the field to work hard physically at the start while planning for a future transition into management and mentoring roles.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kristyann
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think the support I was able to have, I was really lucky to have a lot of support. I had a really great mentor, so I was mentored well, and that usually is the beginning of your career. That can usually either make or break you. So the fact that I had such a good mentor, I think that's what really set me off.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's a physical industry, very physical. It's mental, it can be very tasking. So I would definitely set up a game plan that when you are getting into this industry, you're working your hardest. And not to say that you're not working hard later on in life. But you're physically working your hardest in the beginning. And then having that goal of transitioning, like back, not being behind the chair so much. Being sure that you have enough people that you've trained and developed that can keep your business going, so then that way, you can kind of step back a little bit and manage and run it.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is hiring because we've seen a big shift where people are going out on their own with booth rentals and individual rooms, losing the salon dynamic and creativeness of working together. On the opportunity side, there's a ton of education now with online accessibility that wasn't available before, so you can take courses anywhere.
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