ICA’s Fall Atelier Educates and Entertains with Top Talent
October 4, 2023Kick Off 2024 at ICA’s Exclusive Regional Event
January 11, 2024As 2023 draws to a close, Sheila Zaricor-Wilson, president of Intercoiffure America Canada, shares the highlights of the year and what members should look forward to in 2024.
Gaining Momentum
“After the pandemic, owners changed their recruitment strategies,” says Zaricor-Wilson. “Recognizing this, ICA set out to create stronger connections with schools by partnering with Pivot Point and in 2022, launching our first student competition.”
Winners were honored at ICA’s Fall Atelier, and during the judging process, ICA board members decided to fly their instructors in for the event as well.
“When judging the competition, we realized what an important role the teachers played and wanted to include them in the honor,” Zaricor-Wilson says.
Connecting ICA members with students and their teachers sparked another idea: a contest to honor educators.
Celebrating Teachers
In January 2023, ICA rolled out its campaign for students to honor their favorite teacher.
“We partnered with Pivot Point, Beauty Cast Network and Canvas Me to reach about 30k students and teachers,” Zaricor-Wilson says. “We ended up with around 1000 nominations to judge and had 15 ICA members narrow it down to 500, then 200, then 50.”
When they had 20 finalists, Zaricor-Wilson sent the nominees and the students who nominated them a thank-you letter and brief intro to Intercoiffure.
The Top Five educators out of that group were flown to ICA’s Fall Atelier in Chicago. ICA members formed a hospitality committee who attended to the Top Five Educators for the weekend.
“Now those teachers are ambassadors for ICA,” says Zaricor-Wilson. “They talk to other industry educators about ICA, sharing our mission.”
She adds, “The committee will keep the competition running for next year and is working on getting sponsors to help cover the expenses of hosting the winners at the event.”
Regional Events Help Build Relationships
In response to members’ desire for more events, ICA tested out its first regional event, capped at 30 people, in 2022. Hosted by Gadabout in Tucson, Arizona, the event was a huge success, allowing ICA members to connect in a more intimate setting, and paving the way for the next event in 2023 at Penzone Salons + Spas in Columbus, Ohio.
“One of our big goals at ICA was to help our newer members get involved and get to know other members in a one-on-one setting,” says Zaricor-Wilson. “The regional events have created that connection, and we have two more planned for 2024.”
Read about the regional event at Penzone here, and click here to get involved at ICA.