Joanne Picton | Team Leader

Jo started her training to become a stylist in 1995 and qualified two years later in the summer of 1997. Her course took place in the salon that she was working in which was based in Northampton. She was welcomed into our team in April 2004 and has gradually taken on more and more responsibility and made excellent progression in her work. In 2006 she took over hair stock control and since has played more of an important role with the in house training that we offer to our junior team. She is responsible for putting together our yearly junior soiree evening.

She has attended several Redken courses held at their head office in London including Manhandled, Colour Creates and a hair up seminar with Leo Bancroft. Jo has also entered the Redken RAP competition for the second year in a row, given the men’s category to enter into was an extremely difficult task for the judges to judge. Jo has won the overall staff incentive for the past two years. In 2008 she won a place to the Redken Business Trip in Reykjavik and in January 2009 she attended the Redken Symposium which was an educational trip to Las Vegas and Scottsdale Arizona.

In April 2008 she became part of the management team and is a leader for the Cocktail Club “Manhattan” team responsible for motivating her fellow team members. She also attended a first aid course and management conflict and assertion course. Jo really enjoys every day challenges and is happy that she has built a busy client base.

Lauren Dunn | Junior Training Coordinator

Lauren got through to the 2009 Redken RAP national competition beating over 200 other contenders that entered.

Lauren was adamant that she was going to be a stylist as a young child. At the age of eight she was already playing around with whoever's hair seemed to cross her path! She started out as a Saturday girl in our salon in July 2004 and has shown an extremely amazing flair for hair. Due to the high standard of her work she was already offering special offer hair ups in our salon in the summer of 2005 before she was even old enough to enrol on her hair-training course! She began her hair training at Bedford College in September 2006 and gained 1st place two years running at the annual hair and beauty competition held at the college. In August 2007 she took part in 5th Avenue soiree which was a chance for the junior members to show off their talent to judges, friend and family. She gained 1st prize and also won the Nathan Fish Memorial Award for outstanding achievement within the salon. She has been on several hair courses including Redken Assistant Connection, Redken Quest, Merlin products and a diploma in Goldwell Colouring. In addition she has attended the yearly Redken Rap and Tribe events. In November 2007 5th Avenue held a charity ball in aid of it's tenth anniversary. All of the team took part in a competition which was judged by our guests and Lauren gained first place. She was so excited to learn that her prize was to be a days experience working with Lee Stafford at his salon in Soho. Lauren started her own clientele in March 2007 and fully qualified in May 2008. Due to her popularity she gained a very busy client base from the very beginning and loves being busy. She is always looking towards the next thing that she can achieve and wants to progress with new ideas and techniques. In the future she hopes to do more competition wok and enter into the Redken Rap competition.

Claire Manning

Claire who's real name is Natalie unfortunately needed to change her name in the salon due to another hairstylist with the same name! We were hoping that it wouldn't cause confusion as she built up her clientele. She is extremely passionate about her career and boasts many years experience on the shop floor. She trained locally in 1986 and qualified in 1988 starting her career based at a Biggleswade salon. She went on to work at a Redken salon near her home and then moved on after being accepted to work for the Steiner Group. After several years experience she moved away to Essex. Here, as well as starting a family continued to keep up her hairdressing skills salon based. She has entered the regional heats of the L'Oreal colour trophy twice and enrolled on several London courses. She joined our team in January 2008 and has attended a Redken Principles of Colour course and been to the annual Redken Rap show. In May 2008 she completed the look for a couple of models who took part in our salon showcase for the annual hair and beauty competition and show held at the Corn Exchange. She really enjoys completely changing a look with colour and style to make that person look and feel absolutely fantastic.

Claire entered 2009 Redken RAP competition. She took part in the men’s category and although she didn’t get through to the next round did a fantastic job with Jo on her model.

Sam Warren

Sam started studying full time in hairdressing at Bedford College in September 2006. To gain some salon experience she joined us here to help cover the evenings and Saturdays in September 2007. In December 2007, realising that she was learning quicker on the shop floor she decided to opt out of the full time course at college and change to an apprentiship which meant her being based in a salon full time and going off to college one day a week. In addition to her college based training she also receives fortnightly training at our salon training academy to help with developing her skills.  In May 2007 she took part in the annual hair and beauty competition held by Bedford College and gained a 1st place award. In May 2008 she entered the same competition again. Sam has also taken part in our yearly 5th Avenue Soiree Event which is a judged event to give her the chance to show off her talent to her family. She entered a model in August 2007 and she also entered the same competition in May 2008 and 2009. Sam qualified in May 2009.

Teresa Rosato

Teresa entered the world of hairdressing after leaving school at the age of 16. In 2005 she was accepted on a two year hairdressing course at Bedford College and completed her NVQ level 1 and level 2. In 2006 she entered the college’s yearly hair competition held at the Corn Exchange and came first out of her group for her stunning Geisha Girl look. During her 2nd year of training at college she was put forward and entered into the annual Blackpool International Championships. Her model was perfected as a butterfly which awarded her 1st place overall in the junior category and 9th place in the senior category, hundreds of stylists competed from all over the country so this was a huge honor for her. In 2007 she began working at an Ampthill based salon for 3 years and built up to senior stylist status. She loves all aspects of hairdressing including men’s barbering for which she passed her level 3 course with flying colours. She can also boast a huge portfolio of bridal hair. Deciding to re enter the Blackpool International Championships in 2009, she was awarded 1st place in the senior category and 2nd place in the junior category. For 2010 she is entering the National Redken Hair Competition.

Daniel Hopkins

Daniel started an extended work experience programme at 5th Avenue in May 2007. He gained a year experience on the salon floor before starting his two year hairdressing course in September 2008. He attended the regular hair training sessions held in salon to improve his skills and entered our salon junior soiree competition in 2008 and 2009 winning his categories on both occasions. Since then he has attended courses at Redken head office and qualified in March 2010. Daniel is a great hit with his clients and offers them the service that they want. He is a great all rounder but very popular with his colouring service and big curly hair blow dry’s! Next year Daniel looks forward to taking part in competition and further his knowledge by attending more courses.