The Aveda Institute Hair School Scholarship Competition came to split ends on Wednesday May 16th 2012 at their spacious facility in downtown Toronto. It ended in a tie for first place finish, and what happened next is truly classy.
Let me explain, four months ago this professional hair and beauty school in Toronto put out the call, all across Canada, and asked hopeful participants who dreamed of becoming World-class hair stylists to submit a video. The top five submission were asked to come to the city and take part in a live performance – the winner had to demonstrate that they were indeed ‘Born to Style’. The final Hair Showdown was scheduled for Wednesday night, and I found myself on a list of VIP media invited to attend the celebrations.
Located at 125 King St East, the Aveda Institute professional hair and beauty school in Toronto is three stories of good vibrations.
Weds May 16th was a sunny evening and it was bright and warm outside in the city. It was the first night of a week of good patio weather, and the local restaurants all around King and Church were bustling with activity. At 7pm, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I headed into the ivy covered building to watch the Aveda Institute Toronto Hair School Scholarship Showdown.
I knew I was in the right place when I encountered five young ladies, dressed all in black, working the front door of the historic building. These were all students no doubt and aspiring hairstylists; they were excellent door greeters, name checkers and ushers – they treated everyone equally well and one of these young people escorted me downstairs to check my coat. yes I wore a coat. Without trusting the warmth of the evening, I wore a jacket which I had to check upon arrival, and mine was only coat in the closet below.
As I climbed the narrow staircase up to the second floor of the old building I could hear the tinkle of glassware and the excited laughter of beautiful people being carried by the rhythmic base tones of the music above. The assembled crowd was being serenaded with a professional sound system – lovely acoustics in that open room and a very talented DJ played mixer music at just the right volume.
I turned the corner and did behold a stylish crowd. It was a colourful mixture of fashionable people, clothing designers and stylists, models and agents and of course friends and faculty of the Aveda Institute were all in attendance. A bartender poured complimentary red or white wine while waiters circled the room with colourful healthy gourmet snacks.
The beautiful people were gathered to witness an extremely talented group of future hair dressing students create some stunning hair looks. These five coiffure combatants were already in the back competing to win full tuition at this or any Aveda Academy of their choice. There were five competitors here as per the video contest results schedule. I don’t know their names.
Subdividing the back center of the room was a runway made from stage risers , and punctuated at the end by a Judges Table with three positions. Three names were on cards facing the audience seating area at the sides of the runway. The Judges were Ray Civello, Jen McNeely and Anita Clarke but more on them later.
More picture on their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/AvedaInstituteToronto
Follow on twitter @aveda416
On the second floor I soon found some faculty, here are instructors and administrative staff from the school, dressed all in black, they were holding down the back of t he room behind the speakers where the talking was easier.
Jen McNeely was both a judge and an event chronicler- she wrote a very interesting dialogue about the Born To Style on She Does The City blog in which she outlined all of the event particulars and did a great job capturing the excitement of the occasion. And she published a massive deck of pictures.
Here is my best picture of Jenn as Judge,
Pictured above are contest judges Jen McNeely (Founder and Editor In Chief, SheDoesTheCity.com), Anita Clarke (Founder and Editor, I want – I got blog), and Ray Civello (CEO and President, Aveda Canada), and a very attentive crowd.
Sasha Stewart the youngest blogger in the audience – she is the 2012 Miss Teen Ontario – World title holder and blogger
Mary Bratko of Wedding Girl.ca, a Canada wedding blog scene staple in the Canadian wedding blog niche
The MC had the whitest teeth I have ever seen on a man. They looked great on him. At the end of the model presentations he stood on the end of the runway and read off the winners names.
Everyone won something and the prizes were steadily increasing in value. The remaining girls left on stage grew more and more excited as their name were NOT called… they were getting closer to the grand prize.
Suddenly there were just two girls left.
The MC announces that it was tie for first place between Meladee Gammelsetter and Jessie Lacina
Amid much applause Ray Civello took the stage and thanked everyone for coming out, and staff for organizing the competition. He told everyone that the Judges were really tough, and Anita Clarke burst out laughing and we all laughed then because of course Ray himself was the central Judge and only he could know the weight each of the two blog writers had in the decision making process. But all that aside, he reiterated that both finalists were locked in a tie.
With only one prize available, the winner had to be decided on a flip of the coin. Seriously that’s what he said. First he asked around if anyone had a coin that could be flipped. And then he asked the ladies to call it… But he was joking! At Canada’s classiest hair school they don’t flip a coin in the event of a first place tie, they award two Grand Prize packages! That’s right, both of these girls have won a full scholarship to Aveda Institute for the training they need to set off on highly rewarding new careers.
Congratulations to the winners Meladee Gammelsetter and Jessie Lacina of the Aveda Born To Style Contest. Yesterday I see on Twitter @Aveda416 that someone posted a message to the girls saying “We are confident that your future in hair styling will shine brightly
More picture on their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/AvedaInstituteToronto
Follow on twitter @Aveda416
Michelle Rivard @QueenWestGirl retweeted the winning moment on twitter, http://instagr.am/p/Kxz9AWMSCM/
