Beauty starters bring 30 years’ experience to new salon at £21m college facility

A REVAMPED hair and beauty salon is in full groom after taking on talented new recruits.

Hairdressing Lecturer Casey Adlard and Stephanie Parry, an Assessor in Beauty Therapy, have joined the team at Salon Ial.

Based at Coleg Cambria’s £21m Hafod site at Yale in Wrexham, they are looking forward to the future and bring more than 30 years of experience to the award-winning institution.

Casey, from Wirral, said they are both delighted to get started following a challenging time for the hair and beauty industry during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“The work the team here have done to progress the learners in achieving their goals is above and beyond,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to delivering the cutting and styling as this is my passion, and we will be delivering enrichment sessions on hot towel shaving for barbers and advanced retailing for hairdressers, among other technical qualifications that are at the forefront of advances in this arena.”

A former Artistic Director at Toni and Guy – and with the support of wife Angela and daughter Hermione – Casey added: “Both Stephanie and I are really excited to be here, the facilities are amazing and so is the attitude of the learners and ethos of all the staff.”

Stephanie, who lives in Shropshire with partner Darren and daughter Darcie, was in agreement.

A former therapist on Anglesey, she brings a wealth of knowledge from positions with Steiner Transocean, Champney’s and the Hilton hotel chain.

Stephanie was also Spa Manager at Carden Park luxury country hotel in Cheshire when its facilities underwent a £10m revamp in 2019.

“I am absolutely ecstatic to be joining the team at Cambria as teaching within the beauty sector has always been a lifelong dream of mine,” she said.

“I have been extremely lucky to have secured some fantastic roles that have helped shape what I am able to give back to the students, so when the opportunity came at Cambria it was difficult to turn down.

“The challenges of Covid-19 mean we need to work on making our industry look attractive to prospective students and successfully overcome the demands it is currently facing.

“But I for one can vouch for the fantastic career opportunities it has to give and believe the new-look Salon Ial will provide the students with a perfect platform to combine work and academia, which will be fantastic for their careers going forward.”

Vicky Edwards, Cambria’s Vice Principal of Technical Studies, added: “Stephanie and Casey have already had a positive impact since joining the college in the new year and bring a wealth of industry expertise to our talented team of hair and beauty lecturers and assessors.

“At Coleg Cambria we are keen to work side by side with employers to ensure we are equipping their future employees with the most current skills from the industry, enriching the standard curriculum with guest speakers and demonstrators who are at the forefront of the industry to ensure they are ‘salon ready’ at the end of their training with us.

“Developing professionals with excellent skills, standards of customer service and retail techniques is our key aim; Stephanie and Casey will help us build on our reputation as one of the country’s leading educators in this sector.”