Meet Bethany Shafer | Hairstylist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bethany Shafer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bethany, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I credit my success to my family, friends and clientele! To have a successful career as a hairstylist, you have to build a relationship with clients and provide a service they love. So I believe the most important factor behind my success is my ability to dive deep and be intentional with getting to know my clients. I am a very relational person so I love having a job where I spend hours with each person and learn about what makes them who they are, all the while being creative through each different service I provide!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am most proud of how versatile I aim to be. My goal is to be able to help my clients achieve their dream color. One of my favorite things is when a client comes in and says ‘I think I want to do something a little different.’ It can be a challenge sometimes but I love getting to try new things on my clients! I believe my free spirit and intentionality is what helped me get where I am today. I’m down to try new things which helps me grow as a hairstylist as I continue to learn the new trends and colors. I also think my ability to get to know my clients on a deeper level has helped me grow in my career. Most of my clients I consider friends. It is not easy to build a business from the ground up, I moved to Arizona from Kansas without knowing anyone. I had to work hard to get to know people in order to have a successful business. I am 5.5 years into doing hair here and I have been full time for almost 4 years. It was hard work but so worth it. I have learned to be humble, be willing to fix mistakes, to truly listen to what my clients want and to work with integrity. I want the world to know that I love deeply and because of that my job isn’t just a career, it’s my passion and what brings me incredible joy.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I have so many places I love to take people when they visit. As far as exploring, I love hiking around South Mountain, there’s this small hill there where I love watching the sunset from, so usually I’ll pack up a little picnic to go watch the sunset. I also love to visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It’s so beautiful there! One of my favorite places to take people is the Henry! They are a restaurant/bar/coffee shop. So I enjoy taking a deck of cards and going to hang out there. Songbird in downtown PHX is one of my favorite coffee shops, along with Eden coffee in Tempe. I also love Snake and Lattes to go hang with friends. It is a coffee shop, restaurant and game board bar. There’s a cute bar called garden house that I also love to take friends to! And lastly, I try to visit Sedona with friends as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have so many people who deserve recognition, but my family is the first ones who come to mind. My parents and siblings always encouraged me to pursue my dreams. Even when I decided to go to college instead of cosmetology school and then when I decided to drop out of college to pursue being a hairstylist. I’ll never forget the conversation I had with my mom when I made the official decision. I called her to ask if her and my dad truly were okay with me dropping out of college. She asked ‘did you make friends that will last a life time?’ I said yes. She asked ‘did you grow closer in your relationship with Jesus’ again I said yes. Then she said ‘we couldn’t be prouder of you and we absolutely support you pursuing your dreams.’ I also appreciate all the love and support I have received from my friends, from them being some of my guinea pigs when I was learning to telling all their friends to come get their hair done with me.

Instagram: Instagram.com/baxehairstyles

Image Credits
Shannon Ly