Olivia Gordon

My name is Olivia.  On leaving school I was divided as to which of my two passions to pursue, either beauty therapy or shoe design and beauty therapy won.  After sitting my A Levels in Business Studies and Sociology and an AS in Computer Studies I attended Blackburn College for 2 years and completed an NVQ level 2 & 3 in Beauty Therapy. 

During my second year at Blackburn College I started working part time in a busy hairdressers, performing beauty treatments in their small salon upstairs.  It was a lovely welcoming salon and was perfect for me to gain valuable experience before moving to a larger busier salon to work as a full time therapist.

After this, I moved into the beauty retail industry, I worked at the Trafford Centre Manchester as account manager for Estee Lauder within Selfridges for around 6 years. 

I loved my time there (especially the freebies and the hefty Selfridges discounts!) but decided to move back into the salon spa industry.  I worked for Kimia, a natural luxury skincare brand, as national sales manager and trainer.  This role gave me the drive and desire to set up my own salon after visiting so many stunning and prosperous businesses and in 2009 I set up ‘Liv Spa’.

The salon (and also working mobile), has grown from strength to strength and after attending a course through Gateway a couple of years ago I knew that I needed to get back into training.  I loved the concept behind Gateway and found the whole booking experience and attending the course really simple, friendly and professional.  The courses are all really informative yet fun and come with invaluable and in depth manuals. 

Training has always been a real passion of mine and formed a large percentage of my role with Estee Lauder and at Kimia.  I feel extremely lucky working within the beauty industry, from the flexibility of working for myself to the great warmth of being able to pass on my experience and skills to others.

Tutor Feedback

Really lovely lady. Explains everything in great detail and makes it very easy to understand. Makes you feel at ease.

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