Meet Your Stylist: Katie Butterfield

One of the scariest things about choosing to become a stylist is the idea that if ever you need or want to move to a new city, you have to, basically, start completely over in terms of your clientele.

Katie Butterfield, a stylist at J. Bauman since 2016, faced this very fear by deciding to move back to Orlando after eleven successful years in a Wisconsin salon, to get out of the snow and back into the sun. Katie attended Powell’s Beauty Academy in Gainesville, FL in 2002. “I was always around it; my aunt was a hairstylist and I always had fun being in the salon. I liked it, I was good at it.” She recalls, “I wanted a social career, I like being around people, and I love making people feel good about themselves.”

After graduating, Katie began working at a salon, apprenticing under a master stylist, as many people fresh out of hair school do.“One thing I learned from my first salon job was the importance of education, and how it can affect your work.

In 2005, Katie moved back to her home state of Wisconsin, and began working independently as a stylist. Over the next decade, she advanced her skills and built her clientele, but felt something was missing. After some unforeseen circumstances, Katie made the decision to move her and her then eight-year-old daughter Jordan back to Orlando in 2016. “The hardest part of starting over was probably not knowing many people to network with, to get clients in my chair; but, I missed working with a team, so I was happy to be working in a busy salon again.”

Along with the support of her new salon team, Katie also felt a renewed sense of inspiration from the regular classes and focus on product knowledge we have at J. Bauman Salon.“Working independently has its benefits, but you get stuck doing the same things and it’s easy to

feel uninspired, so I’m glad to be surrounded by talented stylists every day, it reminds me how fun this career can be.”

When asked what she would have told herself two years ago, if she’d had the knowledge she has now, Katie said, “I would tell myself not to be afraid of putting myself out there, to join groups and talk to as many new people as possible. That’s how I was ultimately able to rebuild my clientele, but also, I was able to make genuine connections with people.”