PhorestFM: Building a Stronger Industry, Together

Michelle Tanner is an Australian multi-salon owner, business coach and international speaker based in Switzerland. Driven by an appetite for learning, problem-solving and building better systems, she’s turned lessons from growing her own businesses — from profitability and team development to leadership and life in and out from behind the chair — into tools to help other owners build stronger, more sustainable businesses.

Through the lens of her ambition and evolution as a business owner, this unfiltered, meandering conversation, underpinned by an understanding that every “yes” has a cost, explores what it means to build a business in service of the life you want. A business that can eventually carry you, rather than one you have to keep carrying.

Connect with Michelle Tanner

Learn more about Tanner Consulting: https://michelletannerconsulting.com/

Connect with Michelle on Instagram @michelle_tanner_consult and check out her podcast, The Shift (on pause indefinitely, but still available on all podcast platforms)!

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

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Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[337] When Phorest announced the 2027 Summit earlier this year, it marked a major shift for the brand: next January 24th and 25th, the flagship event moves from its long-time home in Dublin to the breathtaking landscapes of Killarney, County Kerry.

Formerly known as the Salon Owners Summit, the transition to the Phorest Summit marks a milestone in the event’s identity, reflecting the inclusive community Phorest serves and bringing together hair, beauty, and clinic professionals under one unified banner of innovation.

Both a look back and a look at what's next, this episode revisits the event's origin story, all the while featuring stories from the people who've shaped it along the way.

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[336] From the salon floor to industry leadership, Scott J Buchanan has been a dream builder for over 35 years. He is the president and owner of Scott J Salons and the current president of Intercoiffure America/Canada, but he’s held leadership positions in other industry organizations, such as the Professional Beauty Association, and is also recognized for his philanthropic support for numerous charities, in and outside the hair and beauty industry.

Throughout his career, he has built businesses, teams and industry relationships around a belief that what we make possible for each other is ultimately more powerful than what we build for ourselves. In this open and warm conversation — and through the lens of what Scott calls one of the most underutilized business strategies available to business owners — we discuss creating salon cultures rooted in communication and care, having the conversations fear sometimes keeps us from having, developing people through opportunity, and raising the industry through service and collaboration.

Connect with Scott J Buchanan

Connect with Scott on Instagram @scottj_dreambuilder_

Learn more about Intercoiffure USA/Canada: https://intercoiffure.com/

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[335] Jordan White, known on Instagram as The Murse Injector, is a pioneering leader in aesthetic medicine and the founder and owner of URBAN Medical, a practice that has earned an impeccable reputation for delivering safe, natural, and effective results.

A highly sought-after provider with a celebrity clientele, Jordan is renowned for his expertise in advanced injectable techniques and cutting‐edge laser modalities. He serves as an international trainer and speaker, sharing his innovative approach with aesthetic professionals around the globe. 

Through the lens of his background in critical care and trauma, and his holistic approach to medical aesthetics, this conversation explores what med spas must get right to build high-patient-satisfaction, sustainable businesses that deliver on trust, safety and results. Jordan also shares candid reflections on navigating unrealistic expectations in the age of social media and AI, raising industry standards through education and mentorship, and reveals what he loves most about the sector.

Connect with Jordan White BSN, RN, LSO, CNI

Click here to submit a provider training request.

Follow Jordan @the_murse_injector and URBAN Medical @urbanmedicalgroup on Instagram.

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[334] Ildi Arlette is a business consultant, certified coach, and former clinic owner with 24 years of experience working with over 450 medical aesthetics clinics, spas, salons and wellness businesses across Canada and the US. She's known for helping owners go from second-guessing and making it up as they go to building profitable, in-demand businesses with strong systems and confident, service-driven teams.

In this conversation, we explore the quiet erosion of trust that’s changing how people make decisions, the danger of all-or-nothing thinking, the power of simple human gestures, and what it actually looks like to build capacity — for uncertainty, discomfort, leadership, service, and growth. 

Connect with Ildi Arlette

Learn more about Results Continuum Inc: https://www.resultscontinuum.com/

Connect with Ildi on Instagram @ildi_arlette and/or book your 30-Minute Clarity call with her: https://calendly.com/ildi-arlette/30-min-clarity-call

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[333] Hair, beauty and aesthetics businesses are built on the promise of transformation, and today, the industry at large is being asked to evolve in ways that more than just grit, demand creativity, collaboration, community and intention.

In this episode, we explore the foundational shifts occurring across hair, beauty, and aesthetics in the UK and Ireland. Together with industry voices Nicky Pope (@nickytribute), Ellen Cummings (@ellen_cummings), Jennifer Paxton (@jenpaxtonevo), and Sophia-Fai Roche (click here to reach out), we unpack the challenges facing our markets today. But more than just a breakdown, I hope it feels like an invitation: to lean into collaboration, to expand our horizons, redefine what growth and success look like, to trust the unknown and what we weave into it!

We can choose to live in someone else's vision of the future or take an active role in shaping it. What role, in this changing landscape, are you feeling called to step into?

Stay up to date (and/or subscribe) with the industry bodies/magazines/media mentioned in this episode:

All things Phorest

For all sources that made this episode possible, click here.

To watch the Lessons From the Salon Floor video series, click here.

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[332] Jules Molina — Guest Experience Team Leader, Consultant, and Shareholder — and Ashley Prowell — Phorest North America Education Specialist — share a deep passion for operational systems developed over years of hands-on experience in the hair and beauty sector. In this episode, they stand united in a philosophy that treats this part of a business’s operations as a high-value, dedicated profit center with its own distinct goals, KPIs, and clear career trajectories.

If the conversation begins with the early-2020s deskless salon trend, it moves through time, addressing common myths that keep business owners stuck, touching on coaching, verbiage and accountability, and lands on present-day realities and shifts, exploring how AI is beginning to impact this area of business.

This is a passionate, gracious, no-BS conversation meant to propel you forward with confidence, levity, clarity, and momentum for what’s next in this part of your business operations.

Connect with Jules Molina

Learn more about The Summit Immersive & reserve your spot: https://summitsalon.com/the-summit-immersive

Connect with Jules on Instagram @molina.jules or set up time with her: https://calendly.com/jmolinassbc

Get your complimentary diagnostic here and connect with the Summit Salon Business Center on Instagram @summitsalon

Connect with Ashley Prowell

Connect with Ashley on Instagram @_lady_ashley_

Learn more about Ashley’s Phorest-related education sessions & save your spot here

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their businesses toward happier clients, more productive teams, and greater growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[331] Raquel Merlini is the founder of R SKIN Aesthetics in Michigan. As a seasoned Registered Nurse and Certified Aesthetic Nurse Specialist with over 14 years of experience in the plastics industry, she offers a real-world model of collaborative care and ethical practice for those who, like her, seek to educate, listen to, and guide patients toward treatments that transcend fleeting trends and instead align closely with their most authentic self-expression goals.

In the context of rising calls for tighter regulation, greater transparency, and stronger safety standards, this episode is a warm, grounding conversation about Raquel’s philosophy and approach, as much as it is about what it takes to build trust and one’s responsibility as a practitioner. Her insights cover what a consultation informed by her worldview and life experience entails, how she holds patient vulnerability with integrity as people face increasingly unrealistic standards, and how she balances it all with business growth.

Connect with Raquel Merlini (RN-CANS)

Learn more about Raquel and R SKIN here and apply or contribute to the Raquel Merlini Pay it Forward Scholarship here.

TikTok: @rskinaesthetics

Instagram: @rskinnurseraquel, @rskinadmission, @rskinaesthetics

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raquel-m-14947b21/

All things Phorest

Find out how Phorest helps the top salons & aesthetic clinics steer their business toward happier clients, productive teams and bigger growth. Say hello to life with Phorest!

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

Greg and Joanne Starkman started Innersense Organic Beauty out of a genuine concern for people's health, hair, and the planet. Built on a shared belief that beauty could be both high-performance and deeply intentional, her work as Chief Visionary Officer is a natural extension of Joanne's lifelong commitment to clean beauty and holistic wellness, and the healing potential of the hair industry.

Following her time in Ireland at the Sacred Spiral Retreat, where she studied indigenous practices of the wise women of Ireland, this conversation moves through reflections on land, lineage, responsibility, presence and the inner work required to lead with intention.

This episode is an invitation to reflect on what it means to honour the traditions that shape us, care for those around us, return to self, create space for transformation in business and a reminder that growth is not always about pushing harder, but rather to keep re-aligning with our values and truths.

Connect with Joanne Starkman and Innersense Organic Beauty

For Joanne’s podcast, check out Trust Your Innersense with Joanne Starkman, and EP58 for her interview with Louise Keane or EP59 for her solo cast unpacking her experience at the Sacred Spiral Retreat.

For Innersense Organic Beauty, learn more about the brand and mission here and here (salon pros)

Connect with both Joanne and Innersense on Instagram @trustyourinnersense, @joannestarkman, @innersensepro, @innersenseorganicbeauty

All things Phorest

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets for 2027: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Learn more about Phorest Software.

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.

[329] AI is soon coming to Phorest, and this serves as officially non-officially the first conversation in a string of ones to be sprinkled into the podcast’s schedule during Season 10.

A version of this conversation could easily live in extremes, but this one does not. Rather, it asks a valid and core question of our time: How do you adopt new technology, AI & automation more precisely, without losing what makes your business human?

In this episode, joined by guest co-host Rich Cullen (Principal Product Designer at Phorest), we sit down with Jennifer Jade Alvarez, founder of Naperville, Illinois’ Refined Beauty, to discuss what it has been like to bring AI and automation tools into various areas of her business. And beyond discussing tools, we also spend time discussing decisions: what to automate, the trust factor, and what should perhaps never be automated in a beauty and wellness business.

We unpack the opportunities, the trade-offs, the real-world lessons—including what happens when AI gets it wrong—and the paybacks. All of it, with a deep belief that the businesses that win in the future won’t be the ones to remove the human touch. They’ll be the ones who remove friction around the craft and care.

Connect with Jennifer Jade Alvarez

Download Jennifer’s Top 50 Ways Salon Owners Buy Back Their Time: A free checklist using AI, automations, and virtual assistants

Learn more about the Salon CEO Method™ coaching program, listen to the Beauty Business Game Changer Podcast, and connect with Jennifer on Instagram @JenniferJadeAlvarez

All things Phorest

Learn more about the Phorest Summit & secure your tickets for 2027: https://www.phorestsummit.com/

Learn more about Phorest Software.

Enjoyed the episode?

Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts!

Click here to subscribe to the PhorestFM email newsletter.

This episode was edited and mixed by Audio Z: Montreal's cutting-edge post-production studio for creative minds looking to have their vision professionally produced and mixed. Great music makes great moments.