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A day in the life of a
Hair Awards Finalist…..
by Palma Anshilevich


If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to enter a national hair competition, living the dream with all the excitement, challenges, highs and lows it can bring and being recognized as one of the best in your profession, then read Palma Anshilevich’s blog as she describes what it meant to her…

”I’m an acclaimed hair designer and a salon owner for over 10 years in Toronto, Canada. Throughout my career in the industry, I have proven to be dedicated to my trade by excelling in all aspects of hair design and colour. My colour techniques have been recognized by one of the industry’s largest companies - Dikson. Along with receiving the title of Avant-Garde Finalist in Canada for the Contessa Hairstylist of the Year Awards 2011 and most recently nominated as the Finalist for Avant Garde stylist of the North American Hairstylist Awards (NAHA) 2011. I maintain a large client list and I operate my own business as well as traveling extensively throughout the United States and Canada for Dikson as an expert, educator and platform artist. I have passion for my ever-growing career!

What a way to introduce myself… I have most definitely worked hard to get to this point and I look forward to working even harder to grow and strengthen who I am as an individual and stylist. I have no choice but to believe that what we want in life is not always easy to receive unless you work hard and prove to yourself that you deserve it. As they say… “If you build it… it will come!” In saying that, I don’t want to pass through people’s lives; I want to make a mark in their lives! Yes, bold statement.

In my journey to preparing for the Contessa’s Hairstyling Awards, I researched where to start and how to start. I knew that I had to begin with a Photographer. But who? That was the question. I began to email several photographers and the very first photographer I emailed; there was a connection. Perfect, was this too good to be true? Well, time would only tell. After two months of preparing for the shoot and feeling as if the photographer and I have found a great friendship… I received a call from “him” telling me that he no longer wanted to shoot my work.

His reasons were really so ridiculous that I will save my energy and your time and not even begin to explain. Never the less, my shoot was to be in the next couple of days and he had only found me one model. Just as I was about to give up, which truly is not me, I was hoping for a miracle. I called my one and only model to explain. She, needless to say, was shocked!

She told me not to worry, she has a friend who is an amazing photographer and she also had two other models for me. Amazing, is there light at the end of this tunnel?!

What a day… I was so disappointed that I truly didn’t think that there was hope to continue on this journey. That same night at 10 pm my phone rings and I see the caller id…Babak! My heart was racing and I couldn’t even think. Babak is an amazing photographer, award winning and truly talented.

I never emailed him from the beginning, feeling as if I wasn’t at a level to have my work photographed by the greatest. OK, so I finally answered and Babak begins to tell me how my one and only model recommended him to shoot my work. “Am I hearing this…Babak wants to shoot my work!” My journey truly began to blossom and Babak captured the true essence of my pieces.

Thank you to my true friend and makeup artist… Fatima Muniz. She is a real inspiration and very talented. As an accomplished eyebrow designer from Brazil she makes her way to Canada and our lives cross. I have to thank her for all her help and late nights. Her passion comes from deep in her soul and no words could describe her encouragement for me to continue in this journey. I am truly blessed to have her as a friend and to be a part of this amazing journey.

She always tells me to be a “hopeaholic”. We have worked together for 5 years and I look forward to many more innovated and inspirational journeys!

So here we are… finalist across Canada! My first entry and I am so proud to have been placed in the top 5 in the Avant Garde category. What an amazing moment. Fatima and I attended the Contessa Awards in Toronto and had an incredible time. Our heads held high as the winner of the Avant Garde Category was announced. Congratulations to the winner. I am not a sore loser; I still am a finalist across Canada. I truly learned to push myself to the limit and I didn’t let anything stop me from showing this amazing creation. I did after all win!

Just when I thought that was that… Babak calls me and tells me that the collection has been published in London, New York and Milan in IDOLL Magazine. He then tells me I should enter in the North American Hairstyling Awards. What a compliment coming from him.

So I did… just two days left to get my entry in and I still had to get all the models to sign the release form and get the final details to enter. I had everything to send out and with minutes to go the UPS store was just about to close. The same person that had sent out my last entry to the Contessa Awards was there and I told him he was my good luck charm. He was so considerate that he even drove my entry to the airport to make sure my entry was on the next UPS plane to get delivered the next day which happened to be the final day to enter. Really, I know it’s hard to believe I have luck on my side.

Two months later… I come home from being away for work and receive all this messages on facebook, congratulating me. “ON WHAT?” It’s now 10:30 pm and I thought just maybe, would it be for the NAHA (North American Hairstyling Awards)?!
I couldn’t believe my eyes. My heart had skipped a beat and I had made it as a finalist across North America. The final results would be announced in Las Vegas at the PBA Beauty week NAHA Gala July 31, 2011.

I cannot begin to express to everyone out there who has passion to follow their dreams and always believe. I am a converted “hopeaholic” !

North American Hairstyling Awards Result

It’s been a while since I’ve been back from the NAHA Awards in Las Vegas, and I finally have a moment to share my experience from this incredible awards show.

It all began with the drive to the airport in Toronto when I received an email from Bangstyle (as did all the NAHA finalists) asking if I would be interested in being a part of their launch. I jumped on the opportunity and emailed them back letting them know that I was very interested and was on my way to Vegas.

I finally arrived in Vegas, so excited to be a part of the most prestigious photographic beauty competition in North America. Off to the “Get Together Party” for all NAHA finalists; it was then that I received another email from Bangstyle asking if they could interview me – and of course I did not hesitate to say YES!

As the party was ending, I was hoping to connect with Bangstyle. KRAVE was the club where Bangstyle hosted their launch party. KRAVE is one of the hottest clubs in Las Vegas and Bangstyle was there! (Lucky me, I got in!)

Meg, Bangstyle’s super-awesome, do-it-all Producer, whom I had been in email contact with all this time, was the one to receive me with open arms and invite me to be a part of this amazing event. That night she handed me a flip cam and asks me to film myself getting ready for “The NAHA’s”. (For those of you who know me, you give me a camera and I will film my little heart out!) I decided if I was going to be on camera the next day it would be best to check out and get some beauty sleep.
So, Sunday, July 31, 2011 dawned and I didn’t have a hangover! Thank God!

“BANGSTYLE here I come!” Getting ready to hit the floor at the Cosmoprof show and looking to create amazing footage for Bangstyle. I had Modern Salon Magazine and an interview with Babak all on film!
Half way through the day, I had my interview with Bangstyle. What an amazing experience! The Bangstyle crew is a team with passion and drive to inspire all artists, I totally felt the LOVE!

Then it was 5 pm and the gala was due to start in a couple of hours, so it was time to get ready for the main event… NAHA 2O11! This was my first entry and first time as a finalist at NAHA. I was with Fatima Muniz, dearest friend and the make-up artist for the shoot. We were so excited to be a part of the biggest night of Hair, Makeup and Art across North America. So there we were at the Red Carpet Event and there was Bangstyle! Making our way through thousands of people to get over to see everyone from Bangstyle there was a line-up of people waiting to have their picture taken with amazing backdrops of art by Max Neutra. Truly inspiring! I approached Meg and thanked her for lending me the flip cam; she then told me that I could keep it and I was blown away! With my nerves getting to me about the NAHA awards and Bangstyle giving me an opportunity to shine – I was just lost for words!

The NAHA gala was underway by 8 pm. First category was of course, Avant Garde (the category I was a part of along with four other talented artists). We all had our fingers crossed and as they announced the winner… the voice called out “Congratulations to winner, Jake Thompson”! I didn’t win a NAHA but I sure felt like I won BANGSTYLE!!! With my head held high, I felt a feeling of true inspiration and I truly felt grateful to have been a part of this journey! There are thousands of stars in the sky and we all deserve to shine!!!”

Article by Heather Bell