Alumni Spotlight: Ashley Malan, Owner of Malan Salon
Alumni spotlight on Cosmetology alum, Ashley Malan! She explains how hard work and creativity helped her salon, Malan Salon, win multiple awards, including Best Hair Salon of Morris & Essex Magazine from 2018 to 2020! Ashley also highlights the importance of building relationships within your community.
- What specialty(s) did you study during your time at CV? I studied Cosmetology & Hairstyling.
- What year did you graduate? I graduated in 2018.
- What are you doing now? I’m a Hair Salon Owner and a Hairstylist. Loving what I do for a living made me humble! We won Best Hair Salon of Morris & Essex Magazine from 2018 to 2020, and the Daily Record Best of the Best from 2018 to 2020. It was a lot of hustling and hard work! I gave free haircuts for first-time clients if they received a color service, and sponsored a high school football team and fashion shows. Through this, I created relationships with many loyal clients who come in regularly. I love what I do, so I never see working at the salon as a job, it’s more like a hobby that pays!
- What was your favorite part about your time as a CV student? Even though I was exhausted from my full-time job, I very much enjoyed my evening classes. The instructors share their real-world experience and prepared me to make sure I would pass the state board.
- Do you have any advice for someone who is considering a beauty education? The advice I would give to someone who wants to become a hairstylist is to have a lot of patience and professionalism, listen and understand, and to be clean, humble, work hard and be a team player.
- Do you have any wise words for students who are about to graduate and look for their first professional job in the industry? The wise words I have are, “ Be a never-ending learner… it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing hair or how recently you started, it’s more what you can learn from others”.
Our ultimate goal is to provide our students with a strong foundation upon which to grow a flourishing career. Marina Valmy, our leader, calls this a “root system,” and it’s why our success as educators is embodied by the successes of our alumni. To celebrate this, we feature the achievements of our fabulous graduates in our Alumni Spotlight series. Each Spotlight showcases an interview with a Christine Valmy graduate about their educational and professional journeys.
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