Heal The Industry

What happens when the environment around you gives you permission to question what you’ve always considered “normal”?

In this episode of Heal The Industry, I sit down with Molly and Ashley for a vulnerable conversation about choosing sobriety and the freedom they’ve found on the other side of alcohol.

For so long, drinking has been deeply woven into beauty industry culture. Celebrations, events, hard days, long shifts, team outings. It can become so normal that we never stop to ask what it may actually be costing us.

For Molly and Ashley, being part of a salon environment where NOT drinking was normal gave them a moment to pause. To reflect. To look honestly at their own relationship with alcohol and eventually make the decision to walk away from something that had brought pain and held more power in their lives than they wanted it to.

They share what led them to sobriety, what it took to break free, and just how different their lives feel today.

This conversation isn’t about judgment or telling anyone what choice they should make. It’s about creating space to ask better questions.

Because sometimes healing begins when we realize that just because something has been normalized doesn’t mean it has to remain normal for us.

And there is so much freedom on the other side. 🤍

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Follow Molly and Ashley

https://www.instagram.com/molly.nova.strands

https://www.instagram.com/ashley.nova.strands

We were never meant to do this alone.

In this episode of Heal The Industry, I’m talking about the power of conversation, community, and what happens when we stop trying to carry everything by ourselves. Because isolation has a way of making fear louder, comparison heavier, and our struggles feel like they’re ours alone.

But when we come together, have the conversations, share what we’re walking through, and allow other people to speak into our lives—we rise differently.

This is the heart behind Heal The Industry Community. Not another place to simply consume more information, but a place to be known, supported, challenged, and reminded that you don’t have to figure it all out alone.

People need people. And I truly believe we rise better together than we ever will in isolation.

Leaders Community: https://heal-the-industry.circle.so/checkout/heal-the-industry-leaders

Stylist Community: https://heal-the-industry.circle.so/checkout/heal-the-industry-community

Follow us on Instagram: @heal.the.industry @ashlee.n.vance @abiagail.ellesociety

What if the next level of your career isn’t about doing more—but getting clear on what you need to stop doing?

In this episode of Heal The Industry, Ashlee is talking about the habits, reactions, and patterns that can quietly drain us while we’re busy building the career and life we prayed for.

Reacting from emotion. Giving energy to things we can’t control. Saying yes because we feel bad. Comparing our season to someone else’s. Waiting until we feel ready. Avoiding uncomfortable growth. Running ourselves into the ground and calling it work.

Because what’s the point of reaching the dream if you lose yourself trying to get there?

This episode is an invitation to get honest about what you need to lay down so you can move forward with more intention, stronger boundaries, greater clarity, and the capacity to actually enjoy what you’re building.

The question is: What are you committing to NOT doing anymore?

www.instagram.com/heal.the.industry

What does it actually look like to help a stylist take ownership of their career?

In this episode, Ashlee Vance and Abigail Lacey have an honest conversation about accountability, leadership, marketing, systems, and the responsibility salon owners have to help their teams win.

They unpack why simply telling someone what to do isn’t enough, how to identify the real obstacle keeping a stylist stuck, and why structure doesn’t take away freedom—it creates the foundation for it.

From overcoming perfectionism on social media to thinking beyond Instagram, building personal responsibility, and developing stylists who can think like leaders, this episode will challenge both salon owners and artists to stop waiting for different results and start taking ownership of what happens next.

Because you don’t have to own the salon to own your career.

Follow us and what we are building inside of Heal The Industry on instagram @heal.the.industry

Join the conversation inside of the Heal The Industry Communities

Leaders: https://heal-the-industry.circle.so/checkout/heal-the-industry-leaders

Community: https://heal-the-industry.circle.so/checkout/heal-the-industry-communityv

We all want to heal the beauty industry.

We want better leaders. Healthier salon cultures. More respect. Better communication. Stronger boundaries. More opportunity.

But what if healing the industry requires us to stop looking at everyone around us for a minute… and look at ourselves?

In this solo episode of Heal The Industry, I’m talking about something I believe we cannot have true change without: accountability.

Not shame. Not blame. Not pointing fingers.

The kind of accountability that asks us to get honest about how WE are showing up—as salon owners, leaders, stylists, educators, coworkers and professionals.

Because we cannot keep asking the industry to change while refusing to acknowledge the ways we may be contributing to the very things we say need healing.

As you listen, I want you to sit with these questions:

• Where am I contributing to the problem I keep complaining about?
• What am I tolerating that I know needs to change?
• What conversation am I avoiding?
• Am I talking TO people—or talking ABOUT them?
• Where have I allowed entitlement to replace gratitude?
• Am I stewarding the clients, opportunities and people already in front of me well?
• Where do I need to take ownership instead of placing blame?
• Is there somewhere I need to apologize or make something right?
• Before I ask everyone around me to do better, what would “better” look like from me?

And maybe the biggest question of all:

If everyone in this industry showed up exactly like I do… would we actually have a healed industry?

Healing the industry doesn't start with them.

It starts with me.
It starts with you.
It starts with us.

www.instagram.com/heal.the.industry

Tension of Growth

What if the tension you’re feeling isn’t a sign that something is going wrong, but an invitation to build something better?

In this episode, Ashlee shares the real-time lessons she’s learned as a multi-location salon owner, from moving across the country just 13 months after opening her first salon to discovering how much of her business still depended on her.

Because sometimes you don’t know what needs to change until you step away.

This conversation is about allowing the hard seasons to expose the gaps, building systems and people you can trust, becoming more solution-oriented, and refusing to let your salon become a prison you’re afraid to leave.

But it goes deeper than business.

Ashlee challenges both salon owners and stylists to pay attention to the lens they’re viewing their life through. Are you constantly looking for what’s wrong or are you willing to see what the tension might be producing in you?

Like a slingshot, sometimes the pullback is what creates the launch.

Maybe the tension isn’t here to stop you.

Maybe it’s preparing you for where you’re going next.

What if getting more clients wasn’t about marketing harder—but about creating better connection?

In this episode, Ashlee sits down with Kati Whitledge , founder and CEO of Mya, to talk about rethinking the way we recruit, market to, and build relationships with clients in the beauty industry.

From matching clients with the right stylist to creating trust before they ever sit in your chair, Kati shares why the future of marketing isn’t about chasing more—it’s about connecting the right people.

Because when we stop trying to be everything to everyone, we create space for the clients, teams, and businesses we’re actually meant to build.

Connect with Kati on instagram http://www.instragram.com/katiwhitledge

Some stylists lead from ego. Jamie Varney leads the way she once wished she'd been led.

In this episode I sit down with my dear friend Jamie — hairstylist, mentor, and education director — for an honest conversation about healing our industry from the inside out.We talk about ending the catty, drama-queen trope for good.

Jamie says it plain: "that ends with me."We get into mentorship that actually pours into people, instead of turning new talent into a second set of hands.Why your worth was never tied to your level or your price.How "your work doesn't speak for itself — you have to learn to speak about your work."And the boundary that changed her life: dropping "I'm sorry" and "unfortunately" from her language.

There's a line on resilience I keep coming back to — it's how fast you get back to baseline.And a reminder every leader needs: we don't own people. We just get to be a positive blip on their map.If you've been longing to lead your salon from integrity instead of fear, this one is for you.

Come be part of the conversation inside Heal the Industry. 🤍

Follow Jamie on Instagram at @jamievarneyhair

Follow us on Instagram at @heal.the.industry

We’ve gotten better at setting boundaries, charging our worth, protecting our bodies, and creating healthier careers in this industry… but have we learned how to actually turn it off?

When your salon, your clients, your team, your content, and your next big idea consume your thoughts, it’s easy for what you do to slowly become who you are.

In this episode, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about creating a life outside of my business, finding hobbies that don’t need to make money or become content, and giving myself permission to simply enjoy things again.

Because surprisingly, disconnecting hasn’t made me less driven it’s made me a better owner, mentor, stylist, and leader.

Your business can be something you deeply love and still not be your entire identity.

So… who are you when you clock out?

www.instragram.com/abigail.ellesociety

This is a beautiful part 2 of a part 1 conversation Ashlee is having with her dear friend Layne. In this episode we are sharing how powerful it truly is to lean into God's timing and surrendering over control.

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