Owner of ChantelleMareeHair & Mum of 2
Q1) Introduce yourself to the.forwardwomen community?
Hi! I am Chantelle, a mum of 2 boys, Brisbane born and bred and hairdresser specialising in styling. After school I tried two different degrees and despite my mums advice not to be a hairdresser, due to the long days and limited pay, I followed in her mums footsteps.
I started my career as a colourist and also obtained experience in sales and education. But after becoming a mum, I wanted the flexibility to work the days that suited our family, so I started my own business.
Q2) What are your 3 core values you live by personally?
- Driven & competitive: I have always been super competitive and driven. The competitiveness is more with myself rather and others, so I would describe my nature as competitive. What “fills my cup” is setting goals, and achieving them. I am a big believer that goals keep you grounded.
- Perfectist
- Honesty & managing expectations: I like to be direct to the point & keep things short and sweet.
- Loyal: I always keep my word & protective of my family. I am always loyal to brands, partnerships, my mentors, my community & followers and all of those that have supported me.
Q3) Provide us an overview of your career and how you got to where you are today?
After becoming a mum I started my own business with the main focus of achieving flexibility. When my son was only 6 weeks old, I attended my first Natalie Anne styling workshop at the Brisbane Hair Expo and it lit a fire in my belly to start specialising in hair styling.
Around the same time, a close colleague and friend Jody Callan also went out on her own. We had a strong relationship of referrals and I owe Jody a lot for the early referrals that helped me start in the wedding industry.
I have always prioritised learning and maintaining my skills, listening to podcasts and have continually shaped my business to meet the demand of clients and balance family life. But now that my business has become bigger, helping approximately 90 brides a year, I have lost the flexibility I use to have.
The most difficult part has always been managing a successful business and my family. My current focus is setting a strong boundary so that: when I am at home, I am present at mum and when I am at work, I am at work. Devices (phones and watches) make this really hard, but I am really trying to focus on prioritising these boundaries.
My current focus is:
- Scaling my business whilst making things easier on myself and giving more time with her family.
- Separating my phone into work phone and personal phone so I can maintain my boundaries
- Looking to “automate” parts of my business admin where possible and
- Identifying areas that I need help to save time.
Q4) The Wedding & Hair industry is very competitive. How have you navigated both of these industries?
The industry is competitive but there is so much work for everyone. I am a big believer in sharing the love and often refer on brides/clients when I am unable to help so brides have options. I am also a part of a Instagram chat with 20 freelance MUA & hairdressers where we can pass on referrals, ask questions or request advice & use this network as a Plan B – remember we don’t have sick leave. This community helps me to not feel so isolated.
The other important part is having mentors. I am very lucky and proud to called Natalie Anne my friend and business mentor. She is amazing. We have currently been working together on hair styling online education and tutorials as it appears to be a gap within current hairdressing apprenticeships.
Q5) What is your greatest achievement in your life & Career? And Why?
Greatest achievement is being a mum. I have grown so much since becoming a mum as I have changed, evolved and learnt that nothing goes to plan. Raising two boys, that are so different, is so challenging but so rewarding and I love that they amaze me everyday.
For my career, my greatest achievement is becoming an ambassador with Natalie Anne Hair Care because she is Australia’s biggest styler & my mentor. My relationship with Natalie started 5 years ago when I continually went to her styling master classes. I have always been her biggest fan & didn’t want to miss a class. I just kept showing up and demonstrating my determination and willingness to learn. When she asked me to become an ambassador I was blown away & fortunate.
Other achievements I am proud of are:
- Growing my social media community, especially the rapid growth in the last 3 months from changing the content I share;
- Transitioning my business from sole trader to trust. This has been a game changer and a reminder to all business women to pay yourself super and;
- I am excited to be expanding my business into education because I love talking things through, showing my creations & giving back to others.
Q6) You are a mum to two little boys & run a very successful business. How do you manage both?
All honesty, I don’t.
Being within the wedding industry means you do not work the standard 9-5 work so I rely on a huge army to help, in particular my husband, my in-laws and my parents. If my kids were ever sick I wasn’t the one to take a sick day because you can’t cancel on a bride or cancel a full day of trials, so my husband made a lot of sacrifices. He carries a lot of the load so I can travel & work weekends.
I would struggle without the army & support system.
Q7) What is the biggest challenge of being a mum and owning your own business?
It is managing both.
Managing a successful career and being a mum is hard – the juggle is real and I don’t always get it right. This is why I always aim for more balance between my business and personal life and it is the driving factor for all of business decisions.
Example of this is social media. Social media is amazing for growing community and getting exposure to brands and growing your career, but the bigger your community gets, the more you have to give back. It is amazing but its time within the day you are on your phone & away from your family. You can’t be on your phone and be mum, because you will do both very poorly, so I am trying harder at establishing harder boundaries.
Q8) Do you have any advice for women out there who feel they “can’t” do both : business and be a mum ?
It’s not that you can’t do both, it’s about being kind to yourself. The biggest thing about starting a business and being a mum, especially in the early 18 months of mother hood, you are in the trenches. It’s a hard time within your life so be kind to yourself and not having high expectations/goals on yourself. Take each day as they come and once they are older and easier, you can then really throw yourself into it a lot more.
If you don’t have that support system around you, do the best you can.
Be kind to yourself and taking each day as it comes and be present in the moment.
My other recommendation is business podcasts. I love:
- The Steph Gorton Show (Link: Home – Steph Gorton) and
- “Run your business like a boss podcast” by Kristy Robinson. She recently did an episode on women in business & life after birth & managing becoming a mum (Link: https://www.kristyrobinson.com.au/)
Q9) So, I personally really struggle with my hair, and have no idea “how to do it” other than in a high bun. I feel it negatively impacts my self-confidence as I am not showing up as who I want to be. What would be your go to hair do that is easy/ looks good for anyone is the same position?
I recommend the transition from clean to sleek looks as the week goes on.
Day 1: Invest time into a quality wash and blow dry. I recommend using the GHD 2-in-1 Duet styler that takes yours hair from wet to dry, straightens and smooths.
Day 2: Extend the life of your blow dry with dry shampoo
Day 3: Extend the life with dry Shampoo again put it up into a sleek high ponytail or bun
Day 4: Wash
This will limit your hair washing to twice a week.
Q10) What is the one must hair product you recommend and why?
Natalie Anne Prep and Play, all in one cream because it has so many uses.
I love it because you can use it in wet hair before the blow dry, it is also anti-frizz, anti-static, it hydrates and protects from heat. It can give a bit of bit of volume or you can use it on dry hair to stop the fly hairs and frizz and it can be used on the root area and create a sleek look.
A hybrid product and my go to!
Q11) What is the one must hair tool you recommend and why?
A hair straightener because you can straightener, curl and create other shapes with it. The platinum plus straighter from GHD can create so much movement or styles or the GHD Duet 2-in-1 as it can be used on wet hair to dry and straighten
Q12) What is next forward step for ChantelleMareeHair and/or yourself?
I have a couple of things I am looking forward to:
- I am extremely excited to be heading to Sydney Fashion week in May, to work alongside Natalie Anne & GHD to create looks on those who will be attending the shows.
- I will be launching education sessions for the general community to come learn & trial heat styling tools & products to find what suits their own hair. This will be held at the new Soja Studios, Brisbane.
- Working with Natalie Anne and GHD and
- Next step is to do more education sessions for hairdressers Australia wide. I just completed a session in Newcastle and the next ones are;
- Townsville in July
- Melbourne in September and
- Hoping to add Sydney and Canberra to the list this year as well
The Forward Women 
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