Beauty Business Strategies · Strategies Coaching & Training for Salons, Spas, and Medspas

Meet Jess Tergesen, Strategies' New Director of Education

·56 min·3 clips

Jess says leaving behind the chair meant saying goodbye to guests who felt like family.

Jen Cody takes the host chair for the first time and opens a warm conversation with Jess Tergesen, Strategies’ Director of Education for almost a year. Jess starts with her own story. She says she did not set out to be a hairstylist, and high school did not look like the usual cosmetology path. She wore her hair natural, skipped makeup, and had only gotten highlights a couple of times. She also says she had her daughter while she was still in high school. The conversation then shifts to the work she is doing now. Jen asks what education looks like when Jess is the one shaping it. Jess says education should feel like an experience, not just something taught in a classroom. She wants people to leave with real journeys and real experiences, not just information. A lot of the information is moving into Strategies Academy so people can take in the material in a more virtual way before coming together in person. That gives the live time a more intentional, personalized feel for each business. She points to topics like retention and productivity as tried-and-true strategies that have worked for more than 30 years, but says they land better in an activity-based format that builds community in the room. Jen then introduces a class experience called CoLab, and Jess sounds eager to get into it, though this source cuts off before that part fully unfolds. Overall, the episode is about making education useful, personal, and grounded in the realities of beauty businesses and teams.

As heard by us

A grounded look at salon education that connects a winding career path to a more deliberate training model.

Jess Tergesen's path into beauty education reads as practical and lived-in: she did not start on a straight hairstyling track, but that winding route gives the conversation its shape.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Hear how Jess Tergesen turns salon education into something your team can actually use.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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