Hairdressing aficionado Katina Sims received a Destination Australia scholarship at TAFE SA Mount Gambier and was offered a relief position as a lecturer for term one at TAFE.
The Destination Australia scholarship is designed to support students to undertake study in regional Australia and is a Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment initiative.
TAFE SA has offered 11 $15,000 domestic scholarships for students to undertake the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment at the Mount Gambier Campus.
The Training and Assessment Certificate will take approximately 12 months to complete and is essential to become a lecturer at TAFE.
Ms Sims is excited to begin her position as a relief lecturer and said receiving the scholarship made this possible.
Ms Sims worked in the hairdressing industry for over 20 years and ran her own business for 15 years.
She trained many apprentices during this time and after taking a break from hairdressing she wanted to reignite her passion for training and inspire the young generation of hairdressers.
“I have always had a passion for the hairdressing industry and the quality of training in the hairdressing industry,” Ms Sims said.
“So that’s something that I always thought, if an opportunity presented itself I would quite enjoy being able to inspire the new, upcoming hairdressers with all the opportunities the hairdressing industry can present.”
Ms Sims said she loved hairdressing because it was a creative industry which tied in with fashion.
She said she was fortunate to have had many opportunities to explore different types of hairdressing, which she looked forward to sharing with up-and-coming hairdressers.
Ms Sims assisted on runway shows and worked alongside creative directors with her staff at events sponsored by hairdressing companies.
She was involved with the hair team for a Project Runway finale episode and won the Goldwell Australia Colourist of the Year, where she represented Australia in Las Vegas.
“You can have many different avenues in the hair industry that can take you many different places,” she said.
Ms Sims said people who enjoy creative outlets and the fashion industry would enjoy hairdressing as a career.
She encouraged aspiring hairdressers to use social media to share their experiences, keep up with current trends and to remember the opportunities beyond the salon were endless.
“It’s a rewarding industry, most of our work is happy work, we get to make people feel good and that’s a really nice feeling to do work that makes people feel good every day,” she said.
