Francapelli Fabulous

With over 30 years in the hairdressing industry, Frank Sobrio, Artistic Director of Francapelli Hair Academy acted on his vision to create an academy with a difference. In 1998 he set out to produce and mentor high quality hairdressers in a bid to address the skills shortage.

Having travelled the world extensively as a trainer, Frank saw the need to pass on his experience and help maintain the future of hairdressing.

"From day one when I first held a pairs of scissors, I had a vision to set up an academy. My personal experience as an Artistic Director, working for haircare companies such as Wella, Alpha Parf, L'Oreal Professionnel and Goldwell, was all part of the process. It was my sole desire to become a leader in my profession so I could simply share my extensive knowledge," says Frank.

It's not hard to see Frank is passionate about what he does and how it's become a viable, exciting career for him and many of his students.

"As a teacher I take my responsibility seriously. My passion constantly propels me to improve my craft and experiment with creating new techniques and passing on skills."

Frank began training his own staff, before relocating from Melbourne's Hawthorn in 2003 to set up the Academy, a registered training organisation in Box Hill.

Screening tomorrow's talent

Francapelli devised strong registration criteria and an interview process to ensure that students are financially supported throughout the duration of the course. They look only for candidates who display an extraordinary commitment and passion for hairdressing. Frank and his teachers believe passion is essential.

The team are fully committed to promoting hairdressing as a career too - since they know first hand that the skills shortage is a rising tide.

The course focuses on life in a salon as an employee or salon owner, but also the career diversity hairdressing has to offer in areas such as freelance, education, television & film hairdressering, advertising and magazine work.

Salon and beyond

This year, Francapelli has plans to introduce additional curriculum and inviting freelance stylists, who have expanded their careers beyond the hair salon, to come in and give the students inspired motivational talks.

"To keep the industry alive and healthy, we need to highlight and celebrate the fact there are many successful Australian's who are doing well, making a lot of money from hairdressing and are internationally recognized."

The students are also introduced to salon business management and career management.

Frank and his teachers emphasise that the students shouldn't be under any illusions about the hard work required to be successful.

Skills shortages are the key issue

There has been much discussion and debate within the hair industry, as to why there is such a shortage of new recruits and professionally trained hairdressers. For some it is the expectation that a University course and office career will serve them better, but this is often not the case for people seeking hands-on work.

"Like the rest of my peers, as a salon owner operator, one of my biggest issues was recruiting new apprentices, finding the time to train them and keep them on. It was a real issue for me so we devised the scholarship program," explains Frank.

Photo courtesy Francapelli Academy.