We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Austin Scott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Austin, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
Well honestly, and fortunately, I haven’t had to deal with much hate yet, but with the small things I have dealt with, I just kinda brush it off. The past few years I’ve realized that I’m getting myself into a position and career path where I could potentially gain a platform, or reach fame soon. We’ve all seen how it is on social media these days, theres always something someone will have to say. I’ve just gotten it into my mind overtime that if I’m proud of what I created, that’s the only thing that matters. I also take it not as an insult, but as a way to do something better, and an opportunity to grow.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Since I can remember, I’ve always been interested in hair! I’d always do things to my Barbies’ hair like cut it and color it with washable markers! That’s something I never really let go of. I’ve also always had a love for creating, and fashion. I was always very particular about what clothes I wore and owned. I used to sketch little designs of clothes when I was younger. Little did I know, at that time, that my two of my passions were intertwined! I went to cosmetology school straight after high school, and through that school I was able to join the Aveda team at New York Fashion Week and style hair for some of the runway shows! Thats where I fell in love with editorial hair, runway shows and began wanting to model. Seeing and being a part of the experience gave me a huge outlook on where I could end up in life. Once I returned from my second NYFW season, I began doing hair for photoshoots with a Detroit fashion haus called Haus of Raya! I started off as just the hairstylist, and eventually started doing more for the brand like modeling, hand painting garments, and eventually designing! I love what I do because not only do I get creative freedom, get to work on so many cool projects, but I also get to make so many amazing connections. One thing about this industry is that those connections you make can change your entire life in the blink of an eye. I’m so lucky to be apart of so many top secret projects right now and I can’t wait for them to be shared with the world!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think my 3 most important qualities, skills, and areas of knowledge are 1. My charm, because being friendly, like able, and easy to work with, which will get you so far. 2. My ability to pick up on skills quickly. I’m fortunate enough to have a “gift,” I guess you could say, to be able to pick up on skills in the arts very quickly. This allows me to be able to bring more things to the table, and create things in ways that I wasn’t able to before. 3. My innovation skills. I consider myself to be a very innovative person. I think for me personally this comes with my creative mind. I have the ability to think fast and make things work when they wouldn’t normally work together! I don’t know how much advice I can really give because I am still very early in my journey as well, but I will say the most important things you can do are set goals for yourself, try to create some things aligned with those goals that you may also think are outside of your wheelhouse, and then practice it over and over again until you can produce a version that you’re happy and confident with. You cannot forget that you not going to be a professional overnight. It takes time and practice, you will mess up time and time again but that is just apart of growing. I know that sounds cliche but it’s very true. I still have so much growing to do, it’s really just about time, and growth.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I think it’s very important to at least try to be more well rounded in areas you aren’t as strong in. Obviously you have your strengths if you know them, and those aren’t going anywhere. If you explore other areas you don’t think you’re as strong in, you could find not only a new strength you didn’t know you had, but you could also find a completely new passion. For example, when I started cosmetology school, going in, the only thing I wanted to partake in was color. It wasn’t until I started training for NYFW that I realized I absolutely loved editorial styling. It wasn’t until I started designing at Haus of Raya that I learned how to sew! So it’s really just a matter of how bad you want to reach your goals, and if you’re willing to do what it takes to get there. Plus, the more skills you work for, and discover you have, the more you have to offer to people and the more money you have in your pocket!
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Image Credits
Derek Juntunen
Jordyn Ward
Kamryn Schell
Hannah Zimmerman
Sam Rao
Kevin Nazarko
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