With our Directors and Educators traveling across the country, we enjoyed working on the road in such locations as NYC, Seattle, LA, Chicago, Dallas, and Miami.  It’s always fun to see what other hairdressers in our industry are up to and being adaptable to various types of formats. We ran everything from small format private classes to big venue presentations.

At our Academy here in SF, we’re offering new courses in 2012. While our popular classics continue to sell out, we feel its important to mix it up and offer new twists for our die hard repeat attendees. We had fun with our creative classes-  tying together cut, color and style compared to our normally departmentalized programs. Next year, we are offering this as a 2-day class which many of attendees have requested.

Our enrollment continues to grow and we are so proud of our team and what they have accomplished.
We are grateful for all of the attendees that took part in our Academy this past year. Thank you for visiting our beautiful city and sharing our passion for this amazing industry that we are all a part of.

See you next year…..

Shelley Mohr, Academy Director of Color

Amita Moticka, Academy Director of Cutting

Shelley + Amita kicking off an Academy course

Cares, Assistant Academy Director of Color, teaching our Enlighten course

Educators Debi + Yureesh teaching our Equate: Classic Cutting course

diPietro Todd philosophy 101 was the message for “Opening Day” and our team of 38 salon assistants. Traditionally, we start the beginning of every new year with a major meeting conveying to staff what it takes to be a successful stylist at here at diPietro Todd. Our partner Winona Lewis (Fillmore salon) spoke of the importance of connecting with people. Maggie (Walnut Creek) joined in with her thoughts on image and how that plays into success. Dylan (Walnut Creek) brought everyone’s attention to running a steady business and Chris David (Palo Alto) talked about working your way to the top at diPietro Todd. We finished the morning with a power point presentation given by Akemi (Creative Director) and a sneak preview of what will be happening in 2011.

“LIPS THAT TOUCH LIQUOR WILL NEVER TOUCH MINE”

Prohibition was the theme for this years Xmas party at diPietro Todd. I’m amazed once again how Andrew comes up with these fabulous party ideas that run just on the edge of what’s happening in modern culture. With Sam Hayes as his right hand-man, they both plot and plan on every last detail to ensure that they create authenticity and a rip roaring good time. Everyone looked so beautiful and gay in their 20′s inspired clothing while dancing the Charleston. Later in the evening, burlesque dancers added some grit to the sexy speak easy bar while old black and white films played in the background. Truthfully, the photos say it all.

Sunday November 7th was diPietro Todd’s annual hair show, Collective v3, and this year’s focus was on INOA, L’Oréal Professionnel’s premier Ammonia-Free color line. The venue for the show took place in a beautiful, old, authentic Masonic Cathedral at the Regency Ballroom, in S.F. The educators from the diPietro Todd Academy delivered enlightening information on INOA through segments showcasing cut, color and upstyling. The wardrobe was the perfect contrast—dark, edgy, yet sophisticated and glamorous, which so perfectly suited the gothic-esque venue. While all the models looked fabulous, I am inclined to think the real show was behind the scenes backstage watching the staff at diPietro Todd make it all happen! Their dedication is clear, the teamwork is beyond and everyone is having a great time doing great hair. As Akemi our Creative Director said during the presentation: “We’re really all just a bunch of Hair Geeks!”

We seriously had to pinch ourselves when Kirsten Magrini (Senior Business Manager for L’Oreal Professional- West) asked us if we would like to send two hairdressers to participate in Fashion Week for Gwen Stephanie’s L.A.M.B clothing line. Gwen the “No Doubt” rock star is the new face for INOA, L’Oreal’s new premier color product and the look for her spring show was fresh, young and sophisticated. We sent Akemi, our Creative Director, along with her Assistant Creative Director, Moises Villa, and they were part of a team of hairdressers responsible for creating the loose, sexy, sweet upstyles with braids and chignons. The hair complimented the clothing perfectly and was spot on fabulous! One of the highlights of the evening for me was when Elle magazine stopped us on the way into the Lincoln Center to take a picture of Maggie Ponicsan our new partner for the Walnut Creek Salon. I think she may have been one of the most fashionable women at the event. All in all, it was a great experience we’ll never forget.

Alejandro Lopez, VP of L’Oreal

The diPietro Todd assistants raised the bar last Sunday with their fabulous show at the Club 525 on Howard Street. They took their inspiration from the late Alexander McQueen—the renowned bad boy of fashion. They expanded off what they had learned about McQueen in class and created some of the most progressive hair that has been seen in a very long time. Speaking honestly the color, cuts and upstyling could have been in something like W magazine and looked right on the mark. The audience was blown away with the art direction, fashion, makeup and the models that were chosen. All 38 assistants worked collectively as a team to create their best ever show ever and we were all really proud. The future looks bright at diPietro Todd. You can check out the rest of the photos here.

Our latest graduate, Alex Vega (Stylist @ Post St)

Somewhere in recent years diPietro Todd’s in-house training program called “Development” has been compared to Harvard when people speak of the best training the beauty industry has to offer. It is rewarding to hear that since we are very committed to our students that we hire and train. This spring we’ve graduated 3 students with one more finishing up this summer. All the students come to diPietro Todd’s “Development” program with hopes of working in a successful high end salon once they graduate. In the process, students work in a structured, self-paced program that takes up to 3 years to complete. Obviously we are more interested in the quality of their work than their speed. Their educators/mentors stretch them in every way possible to make sure by the time they finish our program they are technically in place, confident, creative and ready to tackle any hair issue or client needs. The students who work the hardest and have the most vision will make it to the soiree that they have to present to the staff before they get a position on the floor at one of the diPietro Todd Salons. We are always so proud of the students when they finish we could almost cry!

Thank you—Akemi, Winona, Maggie, Dylan, Chris, Amita, Shelly, Dawn, Emily, Stacy, Ali, Aileen and Brittany

All The Best….

Amita Moticka (Academy Director of Haircutting) and our Creative Team did a beautiful demonstration on six curly haired models last week for a group of Rene Furterer Sales Associates who traveled to San Francisco from all over the United States. Our mission was to experiment with their new Acanthe Curl Enhancing products (officially launching in April) and deliver an exciting variety of results on how to use this new product for our very special Rene Furterer guests. The buzz was all about natural, beautiful and sexy curly hair for both men and women. We were ecstatic when Hubert Bevelsborg (CEO & President of Rene Furterer US) called our presentation “a huge success!” We are looking forward to visiting the Rene Furterer VIP’s in New York next month to continue building our relationship with diPietro Todd Academy and the Rene Furterer brand.

Click on this link to see more photos from this event, enjoy!