For the past nine years, whenever someone asked if I was from the industry, I had my well-practiced answer ready: “Actually, no, I come from a sound recording/tech background…” I would say this with a smile, always accompanied by a brief, perceptive pause and a shift in my seat, unable to fully conceal my belief that I was undeserving of the producer and host titles (despite this occurring within the show’s first 14 months).
I have to say it’s served me well, though, perhaps especially in my first few years of running the PhorestFM podcast. My field of study and credentials supported the rationale I assumed was needed to justify being entrusted with the position. What I didn’t have (and the many gaps I still have and may always have) in industry experience, I’ve very consciously made up for in curiosity.
But in late December 2025, after working on Season 9’s finale, ‘Love Letters to the Industry and Its People: End of Year Gratitude and Reflections,’ I received a couple of heartwarming messages from long-time industry friends who’d contributed to the episode. What they shared with me made me realise something.
Because my brain processes information in a quite literal way, I’ve only ever interpreted someone asking whether I was from the industry as an inquiry about whether I’ve been to cosmetology school or have any experience working in a salon, spa, or clinic. My only real experience at the front desk of a hair & beauty business was some years ago, during a salon visit to Bliss Skin & Beauty, the creation of skincare specialist Fiona Bayliss, in the tranquil coastal British town of Budleigh Salterton.
While I don’t pretend to be able to share the full understanding of every owner, CEO, stylist, therapist, beautician, practitioner, receptionist, or even apprentice’s business challenges—other than the emotional experience that connects us on a human level—the truth is I don’t have to, either (now this would be different if I were in a coaching role, but I’m not).
When it comes to building the future we want to be a part of, everyone has a role to play.
Turns out, as a naturally perceptive, curious lifelong learner and introspective pattern-seeker, my role in the professional hair and beauty industry aligned itself with that of a spaceholder, connector, and archivist. Through the voices of the people who contribute to the podcast, perhaps even to some or to the industry itself, as an entity, someone who mirrors back quiet truths.
On March 21st, 2026, I’ll be celebrating a decade of working within the industry. Season 10 of the podcast, this brand-new collection of stories, catch-ups and case studies with coaching insights, marks the beginning of my 10th year stewarding the show, holding space for and facilitating, to date, over 325 conversations.
To mark the milestone, I’ve decided to highlight 10 episodes, in their original release order, in which guests shared quiet truths about the industry—or their experiences within it—loud and clear.
Unearthing Quiet Truths from Past PhorestFM Podcast Episodes
Tom Chapman on His Journey, Mental Fitness & Training the Next Generation of Barbers
Season 4, Episode 163
Revisiting this conversation with Tom Chapman, I found myself reliving his moment at the Salon Owners Summit 2023. In this episode, he held a mirror up to all of us.
The quiet truths:
- We have built an industry on connection, yet trained it almost exclusively on technique. We celebrate precision, performance, and product knowledge, but rarely prepare people for the emotional weight of being the trusted confidant in someone’s hardest season.
- Hair and beauty professionals have always been on the frontline of human care, but many often feel underprepared for the depth of what lands in their chairs. Teams want to help, but quietly fear saying the wrong thing.
- The industry’s real power has never been just about transformation through hair or skin, but about transformation through presence. And once you see that, you can’t unsee it.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
James Davis on Leading Through Change & Becoming a Community Linchpin
Season 4, Episode 175
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we sought out leaders who met uncertainty with intention. In this episode, led by Phorest CEO Ronan Perceval, we were invited inside the mindset of a salon owner who refused to default to panic and instead paused to ask, “What does this moment require of me as a leader?”
The quiet truths:
- In moments of uncertainty, it’s not the disruption itself that defines a business; it’s the quality of the response.
- In a crisis, protecting a team’s sense of safety both financially and emotionally is a must. Stability creates clarity, clarity fuels action, and action builds resilience.
- Growth doesn’t always demand more hours or harder hustle. Sometimes it calls for better design, braver decisions, and the humility to admit that success without time for family, for community, for life beyond the salon— isn’t success at all.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Steve Gomez On What It Takes For A Salon To Be Ready For Its Next Hire
Season 5, Episode 226
At its heart, this episode is a call to salon, spa, and clinic owners who are tired of the hiring hamster wheel. An invitation to slow down long enough to ask: “What do we actually stand for? Are we organised enough to deserve someone’s ambition? Are we prepared to support the very growth we promise in interviews?“
The quiet truths:
- Too many owners want team members who are accountable, driven, and values-led, but haven’t always built the systems, structure, or time boundaries that would allow them to thrive.
- The need to shift from asking, “How quickly can I hire?” to asking, “Am I organised enough to deserve someone’s career?”
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Jay Williams on the Difference Between Satisfied & Loyal Clients, and Why It Matters
Season 6, Episode 240
This is one of those episodes that has stayed with me for years. Self-explanatory in its title, it is a powerful reminder that in an industry built on touch, transformation, and trust, the words we choose, the tone we carry, and the presence we bring into a room matter more than we sometimes dare to admit.
What struck me then (and still does now) is how easily we conflate being exceptional at our craft with being unforgettable in someone’s life. They are not the same thing. Technical brilliance may open the door, but it’s emotional safety that invites someone to stay.
The quiet truths:
- Loyalty isn’t built in technical excellence alone; it’s about trust over time. And trust asks more of us — more presence, more character, more courage.
- Loyalty in the hair and beauty industry is built in micro-moments of listening, in how conflict is handled, and in whether people feel seen beyond the transaction.
- If we want businesses that endure, we have to move beyond being impressive and start being intentional about how people feel in our care.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Maggie DiFalco on Planning a Smooth Exit and Succession for the Family Business
Season 6, Episode 256
This episode delves into the genuine challenges of succession planning within a family-run salon. Beyond the practicalities of passing the torch, the conversation also focused on the more significant, gradual, and deeply personal transition: “If I’m no longer indispensable, who am I?”
The quiet truths:
- Succession isn’t a single handover moment; it’s a slow recalibration of identity, authority, and trust in which exiting owners don’t just have to plan for the future of their salon but also for their own future.
- A quiet, complicated grief can arise from stepping back from something you built from zero. Being financially ready to exit and emotionally ready to release are two very different things.
- You can find relief in knowing you can trust the next generation, and in holding a lingering fear that the business (or yourself) could become irrelevant.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Peter Borg On Entrepreneurship, Hard Work Ethics & The Stories That Shaped An Independent Business
Season 7, Episode 266
In this episode, South London salon owner Peter Borg shares his path from child entrepreneur to international DJ to Founder of Queen B Luxury Nail & Beauty Lounge. It’s a candid deep dive into the many experiences that shaped his outlook on entrepreneurship, resilience, and responsibility.
The quiet truths:
- You don’t “arrive” as a confident owner. You become one through mistakes, uncomfortable feedback, and moments that sting.
- Ownership reshapes your identity, your circle, your time, and even your nervous system.
- Freedom doesn’t come without responsibility.
- You can love your team deeply and still have to draw hard lines about performance and effort.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Stefania Rossi & Kelly Shaw on Dreaming Big, Acting Bold and Redefining Success (Rerun)
Season 8, Episode 292
The quiet truths:
- Success can feel strangely hollow when it doesn’t reflect your values. Security is often just familiarity in disguise, and familiarity can quietly keep you small.
- It is not uncommon to try to grow the business before being willing to grow the self. Sometimes the real crossroads isn’t strategic, it’s personal.
- Passion and commitment aren’t bought with pay; they’re earned through belonging. That’s when teams adhere to the vision as if it were their own.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
David Campbell on Leading with Vision, Growing Talent and Being a Keeper of Dreams
Season 9, Episode 311
Now, this conversation with David Campbell was akin to a meditation on responsibility and what it truly means to lead —as opposed to run— a salon.
The quiet truths:
- If you’re going to ask someone to trust you with their career, you’d better be ready to take that seriously. Not with vague encouragement or the occasional course booking, but with mapped-out pathways, honest conversations, and a structure that protects their growth as fiercely as it protects your margins.
- Owners deserve the same clarity and intentional design for themselves that they owe those who trust them with their ambition.
- Sustainable growth is built deliberately and courageously in partnership.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Anne Butterly & Kelly Swann on Harnessing the Power of Business as a Force for Good (w/ Daniel Johnson)
Season 9, Episode 317
Through the lens of businesses that have joined the B Corp movement, this episode explored what it really means to treat business not just as a vehicle for profit, but as a force for good.
The quiet truths:
- There’s a very real tension between wanting to build a profitable salon and wanting to build a principled one. There’s also a false narrative that those two must sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.
- Being asked for ROI when someone’s belief system is rooted in the idea that values-led actions, even when inconvenient, are shaping something bigger than a quarterly result, forces owners to wrestle with the question, “Will this pay off?” while knowing the deeper, more confronting question is, “Can I live with myself if I don’t?”
- Second, the frustration of being asked for ROI when the real return is integrity; being forced to wrestle with the question, “Will this pay off?” while knowing the deeper, more confronting question is, “Can I live with myself if I don’t?” because values-led actions, even when inconvenient, are shaping something bigger than a quarterly result.
- There’s an emotional weight and fatigue that comes with holding firm to your values inside systems
Perhaps most importantly, though, what everyone who featured on this episode echoed — whether directly or between the lines — was a desire to know that there are others in the industry planting similar seeds. That caring this much, choosing love, accountability, community, and courage in business isn’t naïve, but the beginning of a different way forward.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Grief as a Teacher: Luis Miguel Bujia on Lessons in Honourship and the Power of Sharing
Season 9, Episode 321
This episode brought tears to more than one listener’s eyes. A candid, vulnerable, and deeply generous conversation, it explores the silent pressure salon owners carry to be the emotional anchor even as loss, burnout, resentment, or mental health crises quietly unfold behind the scenes. It challenges the romanticised version of leadership many of us inherit and asks a braver question: what if strength isn’t stoicism, but self-awareness?
The quiet truths:
- Grief can be an unexpected teacher, stripping ego and revealing the messy parts of ourselves.
- Over-functioning is not leadership, and service without self-inclusion becomes self-erasure; i.e., you cannot build an honest, values-led community while hiding your humanity.
- The cultures we create are shaped by the boundaries we avoid.
- Leadership is radical self-responsibility and the courage to include yourself in the care you so freely give others.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts / on Spotify
Other Notable Shout-Outs…
More than software, we’re on a mission, together with our community, to build a stronger industry. And one way we do this is through the PhorestFM podcast. Every episode we’ve ever aired had its own gems, its own quiet truths. And generally speaking, certain themes do tend to come back.
Many guests of the show have stressed just how much language matters and how the words we choose shape culture far more than we realise. Another common theme is around how being intentional about the conversations you have and how you have them can change the trajectory of a career, a team or a business.
There’s also a steady openness in this community: a willingness to sit with new perspectives, to be challenged, to keep learning, always. That spirit shows up powerfully at the Phorest Summit every year.
And perhaps most telling of all: so many salon owners don’t just want success, they want businesses that reflect their values, their voice, their version of leadership.
The following five episodes could have all very easily made it into the list above. Have a listen and tell me: what quiet truths do you hear loud and clear? If we’re going to explore and shape what’s next together, we need as many voices as possible in the conversation.
- Marcus Allen On Facing Challenges & Thinking Creatively About Your Salon Business (S04E150)
- Shay Hoelscher on Entrepreneurship, Driving a Race Car & Creating a Lovemark (S06E237)
- Frank Di Lusso on the Gambles You Can’t Afford Not to Take (S07E261)
- Chris Moody on Energizing Education and Empowering Educators (Rerun, S08E299)
- Nina L. Kovner on Overcoming Codependency: Building Stronger Leadership and Healthier Boundaries (Rerun, Part 1 & 2, S08E290 & S08E291)
For More of My Story…
It’s about time I sign this piece off; however, if you’d like to learn more about what brought me to Phorest and how I landed behind the mic of this very show, I tell all on Susan Routledge’s Beauty Business Matters podcast, which you can check out here:
One Last Thing
Going forward, if you ask me if I’m from the industry, you might just get a different answer.
Something along the lines of “I’ve been in the industry for the past decade. It has adopted me, and its people have shaped parts of the person I am today. It’s an honor and a privilege to have a role in exploring and shaping what’s next, with the people who dedicate themselves to it day in, day out.”
Not quite sure, it’s not been rehearsed (yet)!
