Tell us about your background and experience.
I’ve been behind the chair for 16 years. I started my career in St. Louis after training at a Pivot Point school, spending six years at Dominic Michael, where I worked in both cutting and color. When I moved to Chicago in 2017, I decided to focus exclusively on haircutting and became a men’s and women’s haircut and style specialist.
Since then, I’ve continued to refine my craft through advanced education, including completing the intensive two-week ABC Complete program at the Vidal Sassoon Academy, focused on precision cutting. I’ve also had the opportunity to be mentored by stylists whose careers have ranged from celebrity hair and major campaigns to New York and Paris Fashion Week. My experience has also taken me outside the salon. I’ve worked on set for photoshoots and fashion shows and have traveled throughout the U.S. and internationally for weddings. Being around that level of work has had a huge influence on the way I approach hair, especially when it comes to shape, detail, movement, and the overall aesthetic.
For the past seven years, I’ve been at Bartucci Beauty in West Loop, Chicago, and that’s where I feel I’ve really refined my craft and developed my identity as a haircut specialist. It’s where everything I learned throughout my career came together and became my own. Bartucci has given me the environment to obsess over the details, continue evolving, and develop a point of view that feels distinctly mine.
What styles or aesthetics are you influenced by?
I’m heavily influenced by fashion and editorial work, and I love pulling references from different eras, especially the 70s and 90s. I’m drawn to the softness and movement of 70s hair and the polish and volume of the 90s, but I like interpreting those references in a way that feels modern rather than nostalgic.
I love the contrast between polished and undone—strong shapes and precision, but with softness, movement and natural texture. Fashion and music are huge inspirations to me. I’m big on a feeling—even what I listen to on my way to work can change depending on what I’m wearing that day.
I pay attention to trends, but I don’t like following them too literally. I’d rather take pieces of what I’m seeing and adapt them to the person in my chair. To me, luxury hair doesn’t necessarily mean perfect hair. It should feel intentional, individual and effortless.”lived-in luxury”.
How do you tailor each client's experience to their personal hair goals?
I always start with a conversation. I want to understand what they like about their hair, what they don’t, how they actually wear it day to day, and ultimately how they want to feel when they leave.
From there, I look at their natural texture, density, face shape, features, and how the hair naturally moves. I love when clients bring inspiration, but I don’t believe in just recreating a picture. I take what they’re drawn to and figure out how to translate it in a way that makes sense for them.
I’m also realistic about lifestyle and maintenance. A haircut should work just as well in someone’s everyday life as it does when they leave my chair. Sometimes that means giving them exactly what they came in asking for, and sometimes it means suggesting a different direction they may not have considered.
My goal is for every client to feel like their haircut was designed specifically for them—not just because it looks good, but because it feels like them
Favorite current beauty trend.
Right now I’m really into long layered haircuts with a lot of movement, paired with face-framing that opens up the face. I also do a ton of curtain bangs. I’ve created several variations of them over the years and have really refined the way I cut them. I love those perfectly placed pieces that frame the face but still fall naturally when the hair is pulled back.
