Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the Insync Insurance Podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Cross, and today I'll be chatting about the unlocked potential for young care leavers in the beauty industry with guest Thomas Seisay, founder and educator at the Haus of Seisay.
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Okay, well, welcome to the Insync Insurance podcast. If I could get you to start off with introducing yourself and what your job is.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Yes, my name is Thomas Seisay and I am the chair and founder of a charity called Haus of Seisay.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: That's brilliant. And how did you come to be, you know, creating this amazing charity?
[00:00:47] Speaker B: So basically what happened is myself and my husband adopted two children, one from Scotland and one from England. And when we put, when we put our children into education, they were kind of highlighted and kind of stuck out like a sore thumb.
So what we'd found that there was professionals that were labelling our young people.
So basically we just had an idea to do kind of a different education for care experienced young people and to give them opportunities that they wouldn't normally have.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Wow, that's amazing. I think it's really key as well. See, not everyone's going to want to go the traditional route of, you know, GCSEs, going into university, doing the A levels and all the rest of it. So being able to have a different pathway, I think is so key in this day and age, especially for those who want to get into the beauty industry.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: That's brilliant. So I guess what one of our main points today is like, you know, why is it key to help open education to every walk of life? Obviously this seems a bit kind of on the nose, but I think it's something we've definitely not spoken about enough.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. We feel that care experience young people, there's so many barriers within education that they face. And if you think of a traditional classroom, they are probably the only care experience person in that classroom. So what we wanted to do, we wanted to design an educational program which was still educating, but it's more of a safe space and more of a sense of belonging to. Because this organization is just built for care experienced young people.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: No, I think that's really excellent and, you know, a big congratulations as well, because you guys won the Education Excellence Award at HBAs as well recently.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Yes, we did. That was absolutely amazing. We literally could not believe it. I don't know if you've seen the videos, but we're like, literally we are just stunned and probably still, still stunned now but yeah, we're absolutely on cloud nine. It's, it's great to have you, like for a small organization like us to be on a national level and have all the hard work that everyone's putting in recognized in the industries. Yeah, it's, it's really cool.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: No, I think it's, it's very well deserved as well. What you guys get up to is absolutely amazing. And, you know, hopefully as well, you inspire other people to kind of take up the mantle and also create like different academies or different routes for those who definitely have been in care and need that kind of extra push and extra step to be able to make, you know, a good start on life.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Definitely.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: That's brilliant. So I would love to know a little bit more about, you know, kind of when you were starting up, like, what was it like kind of creating this sort of space for people, Was there any challenges?
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that obviously we started this all from scratch and, and we've been, obviously we've been hairdressing 20, 20 years, so we knew how to do that. So I think there was a load of learning that we've had to do.
But I think the main, the main challenges I would think is other professionals kind of really understanding what it's like to be carer, experienced. There was professionals that said to me, your business model won't work, you'll need to go away and you'll need to open it up for everyone.
And they've been in the game like 40, 40 plus years. So then kind of sticking to the heart of the charity and just following your gut and obviously just shaping this organization that we've got, that's, that's probably the most challenging, but at the same time the most rewarding because we've had belief in these care, experience young people that they can achieve even when professionals were saying different. So, yeah, that's the magic.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: No, definitely. It must be amazing as well, kind of seeing them taking their first steps, theoretically, of course, into the industry to then get into a point where they can go off on their own, you know, join another salon, maybe even start their own. It must be so satisfying.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. Just even distilling that bit of hope in them that they can do education even if their education has been poor, through no fault of their own, or hard then to kind of shape and give that bit of hope. And I don't want to say empower, because I don't empower these young people.
I unlock their potential and I show that they already have the power.
It's just using it in a slightly different way.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Definitely. And sometimes people need is that little push or kind of guidance in the right direction, you know, channeling their creativity. Because you know, hairdressing can be and is a very creative industry. So to being able to do that, it can really help, like you said, unlock them into a whole new world.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. And hairdressing is great because you don't have to fit in a box. So you can be, you can be as individual or creative as if as you want. So I think that's, that's why this works so well.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: No, that definitely sounds amazing.
So I think one of the main things I'd love to pick your brains on, you said, you know, you have, you know, over 20 years in the hair industry, you know, so what one piece of advice would you give to those wanting to start in hairdressing? Whether they're from a care leavers background, maybe they're from a very academic background, but actually thought that's not for them anymore. Like what would you like to say to them?
[00:06:32] Speaker B: I would probably just say like, follow your passion. If you've got, if you've got it in you, you'll know. If hairdressing is for you, you'll either love it or you'll hate it kind of thing. There's no in between. So just follow your gut. And there's so many different opportunities and different career paths within hairdressing. You don't have to be behind the chair five days a week.
So it's kind of, yeah. Exploring and see where you go and where you kind of fit in.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: No, I think that's key as well because there's so many different avenues. You could be, you know, scalp specialist, you can be a barber, you can get into really creative looks. I know there's awards just for kind of making sculptures out of her.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely.
And I think, yeah, that's the beauty of the industry that you can do, you can pretty much do whatever you want to do.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: That sounds amazing. So I guess my last question for you today is like, you know, what's next for you guys? Have you got any big plans? Are you just carrying on doing the amazing work?
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Yes. So we have just been funded by the National Lottery and basically what that, what that means is that for over the next two years we, we are hitting about 40 care experience, young people on our courses.
So obviously that'll keep us really busy.
But yeah, we've already done, we've already done 20 already. So yeah, we're working hard but he's paying off, obviously Got the award to show for it.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Definitely. That must have been kind of the feather on the hat, especially if you've had some funding from the National Lottery.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Absolutely. Like I say, we were just stunned and shocked and still can't believe it. We like, we rewatch the videos and yeah, it's mental.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's great and you know, it's very well deserved being nationally recognized, you know, some amazing work and I'd love to see more, more of the. You guys get inspired to then go and do it elsewhere in, you know, in aesthetics or in, you know, the nail salons. Like, you know, I think it should be just everywhere.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah, so do I.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: But you never know. You'll go eventually go national.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: I know. Who knows? Never say never.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Never say never. That's brilliant. Was there anything else you want to leave us with? Any pieces of advice or anything you'd like to say before we wrap up the episode today?
[00:08:57] Speaker B: I just think if you want to see some really inspirational work, then obviously head to our socials and yeah, kind of never say never. You don't know what your potential is until you start chipping away.
So, yeah, just follow your gut. That's what I would say.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: I love that. Oh, another thing I'd like to add is, is there any way that any members of the public or any other hairdressers in the industry that would love to support you guys as well, Anything they can do to help.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So obviously the biggest thing for us is visibility. So if you like and share the posts. And we also have a donation link as well that's on the website.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Oh, that's brilliant. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and congratulations once again for winning Educational Excellence Award.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Perfect. Thanks very much for having me.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Thank you to my guest today, Thomas, for chatting about his amazing work in helping care leavers have a second chance through the Haus of Seisay. If you'd like to know more about their training, please click the link in the description.
I have been your host, Dawn Cross and tune in next week for another episode.
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