Joanne Picton | Team Leader

Jo qualified as a stylist in July 1997.

Throughout her training she was based at a Northampton salon and worked her way up through the ranks. We welcomed her to our 5th Avenue team in April 2004 and today Jo is highly respected within the team and a hit with all her customers. Her hairdressing work has gone from strength to strength and her energy to succeed at every challenge is second to none. Jo was hand picked by Redken from stylists throughout the UK to audition for their “Talent Tribe Team.” Redken chose Jo along with 7 other stylists nationally to represent their brand. She now attends regular up to date training with Redken to help educate other stylists across the country. This makes her a fantastic ambassador for 5th Avenue.

She has entered national hairdressing competitions three years consecutively and got through to the regional heats in April 2011 beating hundreds of hairdresser hopefuls. To add to her portfolio she attended Redken Cutathon in October 2010 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, Aids Awareness Campaign – raising money for Aids awareness, Hair Raiser at 5th Aveune – raising money for St Johns Hospice, worked on the Pureology stand at Chelsea Flower Show and assisted celebrity stylist Andrew Barton for his catwalk show. She has also attended Redken symposiums in Iceland and twice in Las Vegas meeting 10,000 salon owners and stylists passionate about Redken from all over the world.

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.

Amanda Deverick

Katie Fathers

Linzi Boyden

Linzi was introduced to 5th Avenue during her school work experience placement in June 2008. After completing her work experience with us she gained further hairdressing knowledge as a Saturday and evening hair assistant. In July 2009 she gained a permanent apprentice position at 5th Avenue and started her hairdressing training at Bedford College in September 2009. During her training at Bedford College she entered the Hair & Beauty Competition for two consecutive years and came runner up in her category at the college awards in May 2011. Linzi offered reduced rate services in the salon from May 2010 until she qualified in May 2011. She is a great stylist and happy to put her hand to any service but really loves hair colour. During her 2nd year training she gained many new clients who have since stayed with her when she qualified.

Cacey Poole

Having a passion for working with hair at an early age, Cacey found herself a Saturday job at a hairdressing salon during her last school year. Before joining 5th Avenue she gained experience as an apprentice at her Aunties salon based in Bedford and Sean Hanna in Cambridge City Centre. In September 2009 she followed on her training at Bedford College and began working at 5th Avenue. During her training she entered the annual Brookes Hair & Beauty Show on two occasions and in May 2011 she fully qualified. Since May 2010 Cacey has been working on the salon floor building a good column of loyal clients who love her work. This enabled her to start fully qualified with a thriving client base in her favour. Her interests outside salon life is to help teach people with learning disabilities to ride horses. She won “Young Volunteer of the Year” award in 2008 and went to Downing Street to collect her award personally. Cacey loves her job and was so proud to be one of the 5th Avenue Models that was entered into the NYC Hair Awards in 2011. Her hair team got her look through to the regional heats where she strutted down a catwalk in Cardiff in front of 100's of guests from the hairdressing world.