Fashion Week is less than a month away and celebrity hairstylist, educator and public speaker Monae Everett is addressing one of the beauty industry’s most persistent barriers. It’s no secret that talented artists are encouraged to pursue Fashion Week opportunities without being told who hires the teams, what those decision-makers look for, or how to approach them.
Everett’s new live virtual training, How to Get Hired at Fashion Week, takes place August 19 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. The class is designed to help hairstylists understand an informal, relationship-driven hiring system that many creatives are expected to navigate without clear direction.
The class offers general admission and VIP admission, including a 59-page Digital Companion, outreach templates, directories, checklists, VIP Q&A and the opportunity to receive hot-seat coaching.
“Talent is everywhere. Access to accurate information is not,” says Everett. “Too many capable artists are locked out of Fashion Week because no one explains who makes the decisions, how teams are built, or what being ready actually looks like.”
Fashion Week opportunities are often presented as a matter of networking or “knowing the right people.” However, that advice offers little direction to artists who do not know which brands, agencies, key artists, designers, or production contacts are involved in building backstage teams.
“Gatekeeping does not always look like someone saying no,” Everett said. “Sometimes it looks like everyone assuming you already know who to ask. I teach the information people are expected to know but are rarely given, so more artists can pursue these opportunities prepared and with confidence.”
Drawing on 30 Fashion Week seasons and her experience keying multiple shows, Everett will help participants move from:
- Watching Fashion Week from the outside to understanding how backstage teams come together
- Contacting anyone associated with a show to identifying the people who can actually consider them
- Sending generic requests for opportunities to communicating their value with purpose
- Presenting beautiful work to building a portfolio that shows decision-makers where they belong
- Waiting to be discovered to pursuing opportunities with preparation and strategy
Going beyond a hairstyling demonstration, its purpose is to close the information gap between possessing strong creative skills and understanding how to turn those skills into viable professional opportunities.
“I share this information because I know how many years artists can lose trying to piece together an industry that operates through relationships and unwritten rules,” Everett said. “I want them to replace guessing with a strategy they can actually use.”
