Meet the Influencers

With a celebrity clientele that lists Miranda Kerr, Delta Goodrem, Rachael Finch and Cheyenne Tozzi as regulars, Kirby Lago is esteemed for her hair expertise as well as providing a second-to-none luxury salon experience. 

The 33 year old, is a mother of three and founder /owner of Pélo by Lago, a leading hair salon located in Sydney Australia, which was established in 2020. With a team of hair stylists selected and trained by Kirby, the salon is known for enhancing natural hair; creating low maintenance, lived-in colours and cuts that won’t compromise the health of your hair, only enhance it. Kirby's aim is to give confidence to women via their hair and to create the perfect culture and vibe within the salon, providing a completely tailored experience to each client. 

Kirby opened her first salon when she was just 19 years old and had multiple salons over the years in sought after locations such as Surry Hills, then followed her dreams to L.A. where she was able to be educated through the top salons. 

If that isn’t impressive enough, Kirby's work has also been featured in Vogue, RUUSH, Elle and Women’s Health Australia (to name a few). 

I’ve had many amazing opportunities to work with worldclass hair brands such as Kevin Murphy, Goldwell, KMS, GHD, and Philip Kingsley, I have assisted them with education, platform work, fashion shows and TV work.

As a salon we undertake a great deal of educational hair shows for our “open mic nights”, where we host seminars for our industry colleagues, In August 2019 I was the hair Director for a fashion show for the Australian fashion label Nique clothing. The Show attracted a lot of media attention and was a huge success and was featured on the landing page of the SMH. I have also been interviewed for Marie Claire with a feature about the new trend in perms.

For the last 15 years I have also been the Hair director for Australian fashion designer Dan Jones. We work closely together on concepts and content for his campaign shoots and look book, and although his success has grown massively in the USA, I still feel so privileged to be a part of his label.

I am also the hair director for another Australian label Ame nue intimates. We work on hair concepts and themes for the campaign shoot and look books I am a regular at fashion weeks, working with designers Ginger and smart, Manning Cartel, Alex Perry, Toni Maticevski, Double Rainbouu, Hansen and Gretel, Camilla, to name a few, I also work on look books and photographic campaigns for Hansen and Gretel, Double Rainbouu, Bec and Bridge.

I’m always so pleased to say that our Wild Life family has given back to charity, whether it’s giving makeovers for the Salvation Army Oasis groups, or raising funds for a number of different charities.

Delivering bespoke fashion-forward shades for each client, while maintaining hair health. She knows that colour can transform anybody’s look; mastering how to match skin tone, compliment bone structure, creating illusions through adding volume or shrinking shapes, are all elements that she incorporates into her colour work every day. To help someone find their authenticity, their unique colour thumbprint, nothing is more powerful.

An obsession with the science at the core of colour work has driven Alannah to develop both internal and external education programs focussing on mastering the technicality of the craft. She believes technical colouring is sexy and absolutely overlooked. As a colourist, it is more important to understand the Why and How, to understand what affects the colour is having on the hair, and to always revert back to the science rather than just being creative for the sake of it. Being able to back yourself in any colour decision is paramount.

This world-class precision, coupled with her focus on delivering fashion-led hair, is the reason she’s built not only a large customer following, but has established herself as a Creative Artist. Alannah has been the colour director on Ella&Jade’s last four editorial shoots, which have seen Ella&Jade finalise for Salon Team of the Year every time.

Though colour is her first love, as Salon Director she’s also passionate about reimagining the salon experience. She believes her salons can and should deliver more, both on a personal and environmental level. Alannah has led her team on main stage at the Gen Next Gala, where they presented a showcase in front of thousands, highlighting the importance of waste removal in the industry.

Alannah’s ability to bring together and further train an award-winning team, is at the heart of Ella&Jade’s success. It speaks to her unique history in the hair industry. Having been on the floor of the family-owned salon since the age of 14, and having travelled and trained extensively outside of Australia since then, Alannah was in a unique position when she took over ownership of Ella&Jade. She wanted to both honour the salons long history of community-care, but also push her clients experience further, delivering bespoke, healthy and fashion-forward hair in a luxurious and relaxing space.

But as time went by Chris knew he wanted more and moved from Melbourne to Sydney to chase the dream of being an editorial hairstylist. Honing his craft at Swanky Eastern Suburbs Salon, Chris lent his skills to the Australian creative teams and multiple fashion weeks.

These days you will see Chris behind the scenes talking all things WILLOMINA & CoMMMunity Events.

Stemming from this passion, Megan proudly holds a place on the National Artistic Team where she can share her capacity to influence color direction through teaching commercial color techniques. In 2018 she was encouraged by her peers to start entering hair award competitions, and was hugely humbled and empowered when she was awarded the title of Australian Hair Fashion Awards SA/TAS Hairdresser of the Year in 2019 and was a FINALIST for the award in 2020! Education with the focus of growing our industry is something that Megan is incredibly passionate about and involves her staff in as much as possible, encouraging them to dream and imagine beyond more than what they see.

Alana quickly realized that not much attention is given to curly hair in terms of education. Alana endeavored to learn, research and ask question’s wherever she could. Watching other stylists who were working with enhancing natural texture and paying special attention to how the curl reacted , bounced back and falls.

  As Alana continued on the curly hair journey, she realized there is a massive stigma around curly hair that has travelled through the decades. Still to this, clients don’t feel comfortable wearing their natural curl as society stills has idea that curly hair messy or unprofessional. Together, we can shift this mindset.

Ali adopts a never say ‘no’ approach whilst making sure the client looks their best. This is achieved by numerous methods via interactive chats ensuring you get to the end result for the client. During this Look and Learn session, Ali will show case 2 models and outlining different scenarios that you are presented with on day to day basis.

Ali is a highly skilled all round stylist that understands color and cutting in a way that only experience can give you. Her knowledge and insight is translated in creative and functional way and living the life from a busy salon floor.

Just four days after completing his apprenticeship in 2008, Jason opened the second salon within the Parlour Hair franchise in the affluent Adelaide suburb of Unley. Between completion of his apprenticeship and opening the salon Jason also found the time to win AHFA Australian apprentice of the year for the second consecutive year and had a rewarding stint with The Australian Fellowship For Hair FAME Team , which included a national education tour and a live stage seminar at Salon International in London. In the following years between running the salon and as an integral part of a national education team , Jason further developed his skills in editorial hair fashion through involvement as hair director for several runway shows and magazine editorials, as well as AHFA and Hair Expo collections ,which saw him awarded AHFA South Australian Hairdresser Of The Year in 2011.

Throughout his career Jason has always had a heavy involvement with Hair Expo taking out New Creative Force in 2009 and co directing the Hair Expo Gala in 2012 which remains a career highlight.

His greatest achievement to date was being named 2017 Australian Hairdresser Of The Year , His collection, Ingénue, a personal favourite, highlighted the correlation between hair and fashion through the use of editorial styling and directional hair.

Now residing in Sydney, jason is a key player within the Willomina family. Through Jason’s relaxed, hands on approach to education, he strives to inspire others the way so many great Australian hairdressers have inspired him. 

Shane has judged for the 2018 Goldwell Global Zoom color awards, and in 2017 he was a guest artist presenter for Goldwell Global Zoom Barcelona. His patience and passion sees Shane supporting many industry events and coaching and mentoring young stylists to reach their true potential.

Shane's accolades include: 6x Australian Hairdresser of the Year | 4x Salon Team of the Year | Hall of Fame Recipient and Masters Award Recipient.

Having worked closely with both Shane Henning and Jayne Wild and many international stylists Dave has not wasted any opportunities to take from the best to form his own signature style. Patient, understanding and fiercely dedicated, he educates with both precision and inspiration. Dave is one of the principle trainers of the Goldwell Master Stylists program.

Dave's accolades include: Finalist Australian Hairdresser of the Year 2017 | Finalist New South Wales Hairdresser of the Year 2016.

Built on Love, Trust & Creativity - the Salon quickly became a hub for an abundance of incredibly talented hairstylists. Within the first 3 years of being open WILLOMINA relocated to a much larger premises on Queen St Woollahra. Housing some of Australia’s most talented hair artists, WILLOMINA is a collective of talent waiting to be unleashed on the industry.

Our exclusive use of environmentally sustainable, socially responsible products reflects our motivation to care for the world we live in. All of our hair products are essentially damage free, to both our clients and the environment.

Our Mission: To champion a culture that fosters sustainability, strives for excellence and connects with community – And we do great hair.

I would love to welcome you into our salon, with more than half my life dedicated to the hairdressing industry, I am proud to be the name behind the expanding hairdressing empire that is the Tribe Lifestyle Group. Being the founder and owner of four award-winning salons my aim is to continually raise the bar in both salon service and hairdressing excellence.

My Why is the feel good factor. Making people feel great about themselves through tailored hairdressing.

Luke Smart

The Lee Preston Artistic Team is made up of individuals that share a passion for hair and education. Each member is encouraged to participate in many activities as they are responsible for the production of photographic collections, participation in educational activities and work alongside leading companies and designers to promote the salon and their work.

This dynamic and diverse team are extremely trend focused, bringing the latest, most fashionable looks to their salon clients and humbly sharing with others that want to learn to be the best at their craft.

Larissa was a co-creator of the Goldwell 2018 Color Zoom Elemental Collection, followed by being on the jury at Goldwell Global Zoom in Toronto 2018 and Global Zoom Creative Colorist Gold Winner 2016. Alexandra has represented Australia in Las Vegas and Stockholm at Goldwell Global Zoom, as well as many other major shows and events locally and globally.

Rachael, Larissa and Alexandra believe continual education is an important part of the Mazí culture and the team are always pushing themselves creatively, which is reflected in their many accolades on both a national and an international level.

Being able to partner with such events has given the team the opportunity to devise and design creations and looks that hold world class recognition, including a feature of their creation 'Mohawk Long Spine Sea Urchin' in the alluring 2019 art publication ‘Eat The Problem’ by Creative Curator Kirsha Kaechele.

As an extremely busy salon, the team work constantly at making the salon brand a great success. This can be shown through accolades such as - Australian Apprentice of the Year 2016, Finalist in Creative Force, TAS/SA Hairdresser Of The Year, Australian New Talent and Hot Shots Best New Talent.

The team have been driven by many creative opportunities such as co-directing Sydney and New York Fashion Weeks and are aligned with many design teams in Perth and Melbourne. Determined to be unique in the market place, the team are focused on more than just doing great hair, the salon is known for exceptional service and attention, such as winning the Top 40 in the world with Customer Service Award.