A hairdresser in Mapperely has shared the secrets of her success as her salon won the award for Best Customer Service UK at the Safety in Beauty Diamond Awards. Dr Olha Vorodyukhina originally opened the hair and beauty salon, Angels 12, in West Bridgford but relocated to Mapperley in 2013.
Dr Olha said: "It feels amazing and we still can't get over it because it's a national award. It's one of the biggest and most prestigious in the industry and it's usually the clinics that are London based that get most of the awards. As far as I am aware, we are the only clinic in Nottingham to win this award.
"The clinic was nominated and then shortlisted and your customers need to vote for you which ours actively did. But it was announced at the ceremony that the winner was selected not just on votes but a mystery visit where salons needed to score ten out of ten so achieving that was one of the highlights for us. We demonstrated our business is strong on all sides and we work well as a team."
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"I would say the secret to our success is having a clear vision and passion for what you do as a business owner because you transfer this clear vision to your team. Your team need to be on board with the passion, too, but there is also the hard work as there is no such thing as an overnight success because there are years of hard work and difficult decisions," she added.
The salon offers a range of services including hairdressing which they incorporated into the business when they moved into the current location. It had previously had a hairdressing space so Dr Olha decided to keep it.
She said: "Hairdressing hadn't been on my radar but the premises had an established hairdresser so we kept it and we grew it so it's been fantastic. We also have a skin clinic where we offer different treatments that help our customers to improve their skin health. This includes medical facials to skin peels, medical micro-needling and laser skin resurfacing.
"We also have an anti-ageing and wellness side which focuses on the customer's overall well-being. It's not necessarily about Botox or big lips but is about trying to find what's right for the patient and offering them a holistic approach to that. It could be an IV infusion, a non-surgical facelift or a skin resurfacing with laser PRP.
"That's where we take your blood and it goes through the centrifuge and it is injected into the face to stimulate growth which restores skin's youthful appearance and tightens the skin." Dr Olha moved to the UK from Ukraine when she met her husband who was based here for work.
She has been horrified by what is happening back home - Russia's invasion - and has just brought her goddaughter, Anastasia Ishchenko, to work with her here. Anastasia is now studying at Nottingham College and is working in the salon.
Dr Olha said: "It's really horrible what has been happening and every Ukrainian's life changed in February last year whether you live there or not. I remember waking up on the day and I couldn't stop crying. It's not just my goddaughter who is here but my mom as well.
"They have been really affected as they are from Bucha which was badly affected at the start of the war. They spent a few days in a basement as they lost their normal lives which is when I suggested we help them find a sponsor and get them here.
"They moved west across Ukraine and then went to friends in Romania who helped them. They stayed there for a few days before we flew over. One of my patients kindly offered accommodation where they are staying now. Anastasia is quite young but we had available space for an apprentice and she was interested and wanted to learn new skills she could utilise here."
Anastasia said: "It's good here and I really like it as it's safe. I can be myself here and it feels safe. I like working in beauty and I love speaking with clients and styling their hair. My teachers are really happy with my progress too. I would love a career in beauty but maybe in the future I can open my own business."
The salon has just launched a book called Beyond The Mirror, which Dr Olha wrote with manager Jean Veratrum. At the launch, they realised how much they enjoyed organising events where like-minded people could get together.
"It made us realise how important it is to organise events where our customers and partners can get together to have some fun, share ideas and have a nice relaxing time," Dr Olha added. "We are hoping to organise more big events like this and showcase the treatments that we offer because often the aesthetic business can have a negative reputation where the media show when things go wrong or people go over the top."
She added: "When things are done correctly, it can have a huge positive impact on your day-to-day life and how you are as a person. We want to empower more women through educational events. We are hoping to maybe expand it wider than Nottingham and hopefully Derbyshire."
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