Get Inspired! Project-Kim Siegel February 22, 2013 1:26 PM × Listen to the interview here! Kim Siegel Your browser does not support the audio element. Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I am talking to Kim Siegel. Welcome to the Project! Kim Siegel: Thanks for having me here. Again, my name is Kim Siegel. I have a couple hats. I am a Redken Artist and a new hire, so I’m getting ready to go out and educate for Redken. I am also Color Certified with Redken, so that means that I’ll be teaching hair color and design for Redken. I also am a school director for Governor Mifflin, and a mom. Toni: You do wear a lot of hats, don’t you? Let’s get into the first question of the Project. What does inspiration mean to you? Kim: To me it means moving people, getting them to do things that they may not have done before, think a little bit differently, and get them to maybe act out something they may not have tried – get out of their box a little bit. Toni: So inspiration means for you doing something for others? Kim: I think both. There’s inspiration … I’m inspired by people, and there’s things that inspire me. I think there’s two kinds of inspiration – your own personal inspiration and also inspiring others. Toni: Okay. Can you give me an example of the personal inspiration? Kim: My mom. She worked a long, long time, worked very hard. My work ethic is very much driven by the way my mom worked. I don’t think she missed any days. My clients probably love that I don’t miss days, because it could mess up their hair appointments. Toni: Let me ask you the second question – how do you put that into practice here in Berks County? Kim: There’s a couple ways. Obviously, I’ve inspired my children. They’re out in college and they’re doing well. I also have been in education for a long time with Governor Mifflin. I’ve been there for 13 years. I love that I get to have input in the policies and the direction that Governor Mifflin is going, so that our school is doing well. Since I’m one person out of nine, I don’t always get what I would like to see happen, but I do my best. Also with Redken, I’m teaching, and sometimes I’m educating in my own salon. I’m actually going to be teaching a class in my salon, and I get to inspire other people to think differently, do color a little differently, maybe style a little differently, get outside of their box. I love getting to just get my fellow workers and staff, my friends, to just do something better than what they’re doing already. Toni: Can you give me an example? Kim: I can tell you that I just worked with one of the girls, Angie, and we were working on some strand tests, and we talked about how she was trying to get a blonde and the person wasn’t able to get it at any other location that she had gone, so she wasn’t happy. We went over and talked about the different things that you need to look at to make the hair color … to get what she wanted. By talking to her about that, she thought about the way color reacts on your natural hair, because this person had some natural hair color, although they had some color, too. It ended up the girl’s hair turned out beautiful, she loved it, she’s going to send lots of people to Angie, but it was fun to see Angie get that win. We did a high five in the back room, and she was all excited. Toni: Oh, great. So you inspired her to think a little bit differently, which in turn she was able to inspire her client, which paying it forward brings more people into your shop. Kim: Exactly. Toni: So wow, you did a lot in just that little bit! Kim: Yes. I love getting to do that and see their happy faces, the stylists. It’s so much fun to see how excited they get. “Oh my God! It worked!” Toni: Yes, absolutely. Who in Berks County inspires you? Kim: I would say my whole salon. They are the greatest. I’ve worked in a couple salons. This one, I wish I had found 100 years ago. Hair on the Avenue is where I work, and everyone in there has touched my life and inspired me in different ways. It could be that they inspired me that they wanted me to fulfill my goals. They inspired me to think a little differently about a technique that I was doing, or even helping somebody that they got a win. It’s great. Toni: So you really like the mentoring that happens there. Kim: Yes, very much. Between all of us, even the youngest of people can educate us, even though they’re in so newly, sometimes they pick up something that you didn’t even see. You just overlooked it, because you’re not thinking in that direction. Toni: So it’s the company as a whole and that experience. Kim: Definitely. Toni: That’s fantastic. Kim: We have a great team. Toni: What would you like your legacy to be? Kim: I have to say, since I have all of these hats, I hope that my kids are out doing what they want to do and are happy in what they do. I’ve told them that’s all that really matters. They’ll make money if they’re happy. As far as the school goes, I want the school to be one of the top schools in our area in the country. That’s been my goal. I would like them to look at people who are not just academic that are also maybe in art, music, and technological stuff. I would like to see that. As far as my profession and my hair, I would like to see that even if I inspire just one person when I’m out educating, and they can say, “I saw this girl, Kim Seigel, and she did this really cool style,” and they passed it forward. That’s really what I want my legacy to be; that they get inspired to come and educate, whether it be just in their own salons or outside like I am, and they pass it forward. Toni: It sounds like that legacy is just really to do something that’s outside of your comfort zone and make sure that it pays it forward, whether it’s your school hat, whether it’s in the salon, or with education and color. Kim: Definitely. Toni: Fantastic. Kim, thank you so much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project. Kim: Thanks. I had a great time! Back to Search Results