Riverton Students Get Dose Of Tough Love From Celebrity Stylist Tabatha Coffey

RIVERTON — The cosmetology students at Central Wyoming College were walking around on cloud nine dishing about their future careers with tough-love reality television star Tabatha Coffey.

The celebrity stylist was in Riverton serving as a keynote speaker for Central Wyoming College’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conference. But the star made a point of making the time to meet personally with the cosmetology students, who she said are always a favorite with her.

“There’s not enough conversations with our young to the industry,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “So, whether that’s cosmetology students actively in school, or young business owners … I just think we should have those conversations with people who are starting their career of what the different pathways look like, and what you need to set you up for success.”

Coffey, who was born in Australia, talked to the students about how she got her own start, at a mere 14 years of age. She worked, for free, as an apprentice in a salon for about a year. At age 19, she moved herself to London with a small suitcase of clothes and big dreams. 

“We thought the grass was greener on the other side,” she said. “And the education was better. And all the things were supposed to be better.”

It turned out that London was better — but not for the reasons Coffey had imagined. 

It was better just because it was different. And different forced her to look at things with new perspective. 

“Better is all relative,” she said. “It’s all in how you look at it.”

Brash Beginning

Coffey, born in Australia, made her television personality debut on Bravo’s hair-styling competition “Shear Genius” in 2007. She only finished sixth in the competition but it led to greater success and opportunities. Her outspoken ways and intensity on the show didn’t endear her to her partner in the competition, but it attracted the fan favorite award, which came with a $10,000 prize. It also led to her own reality television show “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover.” 

Audiences loved her tough-love, no-nonsense style, and she soon had other television show deals and appearances, as well as a couple of books, “It’s Not Really About The Hair: The Honest Truth About Life, Love, and the Business of Beauty,” and “Own it!: Be the Boss of Your Life — at Home and in the Workplace.”

All of it, Coffey told the cosmetology students, came from being a hairdresser. 

That’s an important point, she believes, because so many people who enter the cosmetology trade do so thinking that they’re “just” a hairdresser. They have no vision of where else that could lead.

“They think it’s get a cosmetology license, go behind a chair and that’s it,” she said. “Or maybe, get a cosmetology license and get a suite or maybe a salon, and that’s it. 

“And, yeah, you can do that, and that’s fabulous and amazing. But you can also write books, have television shows, travel the world, work at Fashion Week, and work in movies and work backstage and education and, and, and …”

Dreaming Big Not Enough

But it’s not enough to just dream big, Coffey added. She knows the world doesn’t write permission slips, and that the only champion anyone ever really gets is themselves. 

“Your future is never going to happen wrapped in a bow,” she said. “Neither is your success. It’s going to arrive through action and choices, and those actions and choices are the ones you take today and every day after that.”

Anyone pursuing a dream will find the world full of critics, who have all sorts of reasons why an idea won’t work. 

“They’re too young, they’re too different, they’re too serious, they’re too bad, they just can’t do it,” she said. “But a lot of people do it anyway.”

Coffey figured out early on that no one was going to give her any permission slips for her dreams. She had to write them herself, and that’s her other message for the young people of the world, daring to dream big.

“Our permission slip to go after our dream is courage, and courage is the thing that many of us think we don’t have,” she said. “But we do. And all it takes is a moment, a movement, a yes, a step, a butterfly in your belly, or an idea that just won’t leave you.”

Vision is where all of that starts, Coffey said. It’s impossible to create a roadmap for the future without knowing what the desired future is.

“I stand here today as someone who has never waited for permission or made excuses for who I am,” Coffey said. “And my hope is that someone in this room, especially someone who perhaps hasn’t always seen themselves represented, is ready to step up and stop waiting (for permission) too, because our communities need you. We need your dream. We need your vision. We need your leadership.”

Inspirational Message

Hearing those kinds of messages up close and personal from someone like Coffey was mind-blowing, cosmetology student Grayce Fike told Cowboy State Daily. 

“This has been insane, absolutely otherworldly,” she said. “It’s absolutely like we’ve all been on like cloud nine all day … It’s like when you meet your favorite singer or your favorite actor. She is our actor.”

Fike had always told herself she wasn’t going to be a cosmetologist, but the older she got, the more she kept gravitating toward it.

“I lost my mom last year,” she said. “So I’m kind of just sticking it out, making a legacy because she didn’t get to.”

Karina Frederick, meanwhile, saw herself through new eyes thanks to Coffey. 

“Before she spoke, I thought I was just going to get my license and go behind a chair,” she said. “And now I have a different perspective.”

Now she’s not only thinking more broadly about what her future could be but realizing that she’s not “just” anything.  

Lexi Baumann particularly appreciated the advice about setting boundaries, and how it’s OK to say no to requests from family for a haircut at holiday gatherings, while Ashley Gomez appreciated the practical tips, like reframing the word “no” as “not yet.”

“So often a client will say, ’No,’ when you ask, ‘Would you like to rebook your appointment? Would you like to try that new look? Would you like to take some product home with you?’” Coffey said.

But that no doesn’t mean never. It just means, not this time. 

“People may be saying no because they just bought all their products, and they’ve got a ton of stuff under the shelf,” Coffey said. “But that doesn’t stop me. No doesn’t stop me. 

“I’m still going to recommend what I think you should use, how you should do your hair, when you should book your next appointment, because that’s my job as a professional. To make sure I close the loop and give you all the information you need, so that you’re set up for success.”

Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.