Ray Civello, Aveda Canada President, has a certain cool and demeanour about him that allows those in his company to be at full ease and comfort. He is a man of great stories and has an amazing way of elaborating on them. His use of words and storytelling skills had us fully intrigued and almost hypnotized! I always find that when people become successful at what they do, it is almost always due to the amount of uncontrollable passion that they have for what they’re doing. Ray Civello is no exception. He truly loves being a part of the hairdressing & beauty product industry.

He started out by telling us himself about his day, and trip to BC, and getting a little in-depth about Aveda and their current operations. He told us about a seminar that he had which is called “A Day with Ray” in which he talks about his personal characteristics and experiences which have allowed him to become such a great success, while also discussing Aveda and all of their goals and achievements.

Ray describes himself as a creative thinker and he told us that as a kid, he was looked down upon and was considered to have a learning disability of some sort. But as he grew up, and his career expanded, he realized that people pay a lot of money to people that are creative thinkers because they are always bringing new things to the table.

I wanted to hear from Ray himself about his journey to becoming Aveda’s Canadian President. I was positively surprised to see how detailed he got and how fascinating his career path has been. He told us about how there are moments or certain encounters in people’s lives that change one’s life forever. I will give a quick summary of his career path, because I think it will show his level of integrity and passion and a better understanding of why he became the successful person that he is today.

His Career Journey:

The encounter that changed Ray Civello’s life was when a famous photographer was sitting in his chair. He told Ray he was a photographer and Ray showed his own portfolio to him. This led to the photographer asking Ray to do hairstyling for photo-shoots which took him all over the US, Canada and Europe. Ray then came back to Canada and opened up an agency with free-lance hairdressers. His business became extremely successful and the agency became a $1,000,000 business while experiencing the highest rates in publishing. The recession hit in 88/89 and his business suffered. He went to Mexico to get away and mediate a little. This trip led him to opening his own salon. He wanted it to be the best salon there was, he believed that at the time hairdressers were generally arrogant and unprofessional, so his main focus in his salon was to provide great service. Proving world-class service to each and every client led to him having 20 – 23 clients a day, booked fully six weeks in advance, and the business hit $1M in its first year of operations. In his own words, the business became too successful. He had to turn away clients.

Aveda comes across his path in quite an interesting manner. He had Aveda products at his salon, and he kept sending pictures of his styles and the salon to Aveda because he believed that their image branding was not matching. This led to him getting invited to the Aveda conference. There, Horst Rechelbacher, the founder of Aveda, saw him and recognized him as the man that sends him pictures from Canada. From then on, he had Ray sit in meetings with him as an advisor, and Ray eventually became the Canadian Distributor and finally the President of Aveda Canada.

Q: Tell us about the Aveda School Institution and how Aveda is implementing its values and beliefs (eg. Environmental beliefs) into their student’s educational experience.

There are two main purposes of The Aveda School Institution. Firstly, there are over 700 salons in desperate need of a feeding system which means that students can choose from any of the salons in Canada to work in. There are over 7000 salons worldwide, which means that students have the amazing opportunity to choose from any of those salons as well. To have Aveda salons hire Aveda school Graduates, means that Aveda is maximizing its profits. Therefore, job security is made available to students which not only makes them happy but also their families or whatever other support system they may have.

Secondly, Aveda aims to train and educate their students technically. Students are trained meticulously and are shown every skill of determining the right angle, stance, movement and posture that it takes for them to become successful. Students will come out as efficient, technical and passionate hairdressers who are always practicing and developing their skills as their careers continue.

Ray pointed out an interesting point about technical skills. He asked us to go into any hair salon and see how the hairdressers are holding the scissors and cutting hair. There is a right way and a wrong way to hold a scissor, the correct way is to only move your thumb as you’re cutting hair because scissors are made to have only one blade move while the other remains constant. He was willing to bet that we could find hairdressers in any local salon using scissors incorrectly!

Each school is capable of graduating 70 students a term. The program runs through 10 months of training for understanding hair. They are taught about the service realm (client enters salon, offer beverage, massage, etc). They are taught the basics of photo-shoot styling. There is also an intermediate level of education available through which students can skip through having to go through apprenticeships and get hired as hairdressers. And the advanced level offers 2 day training sessions to further their skills.

Q): I personally had no idea about the depth of effort that Aveda puts into producing their organic and environmentally friendly products. Please elaborate on this matter so that our readers can be informed of the great lengths that Aveda goes through to produce their products.

Horst’s initial intention was never to produce environmentally friendly or responsible products, but rather to produce high quality products. Horst’s mother was an herbalist and he had previous knowledge of organic medicine and healing techniques. This is why all Aveda products are made from ingredients that are truly earthy and organic. Aveda has established several relationships with indigenous tribes from all over the world, who are solely responsible for producing certain oils and organic products for Aveda. Now, what happens when such relationships are established, is that tribes and villages are given jobs which means that the people of the tribe do not have to travel away from home for work, and the tribe or village becomes self efficient and sustainable. Aveda does not get involved with the operations of the production; they solely provide the necessary equipment. They also provide a couple of other notable necessities, which is to offer educational tools for the tribal people and also certain herbs that have medicinal usage which is surely helpful to the tribes and villages.

It is important to note that the herbs and oils used in the Aveda products can be produced in labs at a much greater pace and in much more inexpensive ways. But Aveda feels that such methods of production are not real. There is a great cycle of pure energy that takes place from the beginning of the production of Aveda products up to the point when the consumer uses the products at home. Ray genuinely believes that since there are actual people planting and picking the crops and producing the necessary herbs and oils for their products, there is a certain energy that comes with every Aveda product. It’s a great cycle that they have going, and the earthly, pure, and natural energy of the products is then transferred on to the consumer. Ray mentions that all the leaders of such tribes and villages possess the same characteristics of innocence and great knowledge. “There is one guy that knows 5000 plants and their uses from the top of his head, passed on from his grandfather and father.”

• The most important point that Afoot wants to make is that a great deal of respect is due to Aveda for not exploiting the methods that they use in their productions. In the current economy, almost all corporations are making an effort to mention the fact that they are a “green” company and helping the environment. Aveda does not do this, they instead make the information available for their consumers and as clients become repeat consumers (Aveda has the highest Try&Buy Ratio in the business) they then communicate their production methods to their consumers, which establishes a concrete level of loyalty from consumers. Afoot finds this to be greatly respectful and Aveda proves to be a company of great Integrity.

It was truly an honour to meet with Ray and his own personal story, as well as Aveda’s core corporate morals and values are inspirational. We urge you to visit an Aveda salon and experience the tranquil and genuine environment and products.

By Atousa Ebrahimi

LUVNGRACE
&
SOCIAL CITY NETWORKING

Present

JACQUELINE CONOIR
2010 FALL/WINTER FASHIONSHOW & CHRISTMAS SALE

+ VIP CHRISTMAS PARTY

DJ SEBASTIAAN VAN BEEST

MUSICAL GUEST: SOPHIA DANAI

HOST: MEENA MANN ( FMA)

WEDNESDAYNIGHT DECEMBER 1
VENUE: 560
TICKETS $20 ( INFO BELOW)

EXCLUSIVE CHRISTMAS SALES BY JACQUELINE CONOIR (25-30% OFF)

ACCESSORY & COSMETICS DESIGNERS:

BUN

KIEHL’S

EARTH ESSENCE JEWELLERS

STREETCAT DESIGNS

LUXE BEAUTY LOUNGE

NEW IMAGE

Hair by JUJU SALON & OWEN PIERSON, MAKE UP by
NEW IMAGE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY:

PATRICK PARENTEAU
NEIL J PELMAN
MORGAN BEARE
DAN POH
TAMMY MALTESE
A FOOT MAGAZINE
NORM LEE
SANDRA NIEUWENHUIZEN
DALE ROLLINGS

Sponsors/Media : Social City Networking, BUN, A-Foot Magazine, The Fashion Guard, FrockOn.Com, Hush Magazine, Kiehls, JUJU Assignmentfashion.com, Novus TV, FMA, Vancouver Fashion E-Zine

Tickets $20: call Vernard Goud (604) 374-5610
(M-S/9-9) and online via Paypal
http://www.luvngraceaffair.com/
or contact Krista and Sara McKenna of Social City Networking
at 778.822.9224 & 778.389.9318

**Featured art work by Dmitri Litvinov (Afoot Magazine’s Founder & Creative Director)

We are hosting an evening of outstanding music and art to raise funds for the Bavubuka Foundation’s goals to instill artistic education into the youth in Uganda. We want the youth in Uganda to be inspired to raise their voices and make a change in their country!

- Sponsored by -
Fortune Sound Club
Social City Networking, Inc.
Nova Music Services

- Featuring Music By -
Boombox Saints
Carly Rae Jepsen
Cry Of Silence
David Blair
David Morin
HeatWave
Lamar Ashe
NessaV
Quest Poetics
Shane Carling
Sophia Danai

- Featuring Artwork By -

Dmitri Litvinov

Iwona Handley

Katie Fagan
Phresha
Taka Sudo
Yared Nigussu
**Artwork will be sold by silent auction. 50% of all proceeds go towards the Bavubuka Foundation**

TICKETS | $20/ADVANCE | $25/DOOR | $30/VIP
**100% of all ticket proceeds go towards the Bavubuka Foundation**

For ticket reservations:
CONTACT info@bavubukabenefit.org

HARD COPY TICKETS
Available October 25th

- Additional Sponsors -
Brellow Productions
The Digital Panda
VancityBuzz

Monday November 29th, 2010 is the “THE POWER OF MUSIC AND ART: UGANDA BENEFIT EVENT” at Fortune Sound Club. This will be a great event filled with artists, entertainment and visual artists, all for a great cause! I (Dmitri Litvinov) will also be displaying my vector art for the silent auction called “It’s Tragic, Funny & Modern”. Check the link below for some of my previous art work.

Official Website for Uganda Benefit Concert – bavubukabenefit.org

Previous art work by Dmitri Litvinov

If you have not already been inside FiveSixty, NOW is your chance! It is Vancouver’s biggest premier nightclub and boasts 3 levels of uncompremised luxury. With a capacity of close to 1000 it is the perfect setting for Vancouver’s NEW Thursday night.

STRAIGH UP Thursday will be bringing you the best in Hip Hip, Top 40, Funk, House, Tech house, Electro and Dub Step split over three floors.

In the basement, Dj Kemo and Dj Abel will get your booty’s shakin’ with the hottest Top 40, Hip Hop and Funk WITH a live performance by Alonzo Wang!

On the Main floor and VIP (3rd floor) area, Sebastiaan van Beest, Pritosys and Dj Stylust will be bringing you the loudest and most bangin’ House and Electro!

There will be drink specials and a complimentary “one-of-a-kind” drink waiting for you apon arrival.

For Guestlist, VIP, bottle service and/or birthdays please contact our host:
Hamza Adams 6047153246
(or contact your DJ)

Afoot | Tell us  a little bit about yourself?

I’m Jesse Abraham, a human man person alive on the planet right now. I was born relatively recently and exist as a grateful, jolly individual. My life has been a pleasant balance of heart-warmth and heartbreak, and I aim to achieve such equilibrium throughout all of my endeavors. I run a tutoring company in Manhattan, I am a hip-hop artist and an avid student of life. I like smiling, inspiring thought and appreciating the under-appreciated.

“If it’s not from within, it’s without.”

Afoot | Where  were you born and raised?

I was born and raised lower in Manhattan, New York City, in the neighborhood of Tribeca. A ten-minute walk from The World Trade Center, my neighborhood (the downtown NYC scene) played a vital role in my development both as a person and as an artist. Twas a diverse, burgeoning area, and it was there where I was introduced to break-dancing, graffiti, DJing and rapping as a youngen. I learned many lessons of integrity, self-sufficiency, cooperation and awareness as a child in NYC in the 80′s. I am very much so a reflection of my city.

Afoot | Where does your sound come from?

Like all entities of mine, my sound comes from my good ol’ brain box. I don’t pattern myself after many specific individuals or movements, as my style’s power comes from its individuality. However, I’ve been an avid student of music my entire life, and to claim that artists such as KRS-1, Michael Jackson, Outkast, Otis Redding & Homeboy Sandman don’t compel me to create the most splendid sounds possible would be silly. My sound comes from the truest place within me, aimed for the truest part of every listener. My sound comes from pain, from smiles, from dreams and from promises. It comes from you.

Afoot | Where do you get your inspiration and motivation  from?

Everything I experience, from the mundane to the magnificent, acts as inspiration for my music. My thoughts are lyrics and my everyday moments are catalysts for songs and sounds. I’ve gone through quite a bit in my years as a person named me, and it is a beautiful combination of all of these experiences that comes out in my music. Tis purity, it is. The underground community in NYC of which I’m a part acts as an incredible source of motivation, as I am consistently surrounded by some of the most talented and inspiring individuals on the planet. We all force each other to step our games up constantly, and as we see one another ascend and progress it’s only natural to reciprocate such attempts. Effort is one thing, but my city forces me to achieve, not simply try.

Afoot | What does the  future hold,  what are your plans?

Tis impossible for me to claim that I know what the future holds, for I do not. I suppose it will be some combination of triumphs and disappointments, lessons learned, love lost and emotions run rampant. But these are merely guesses. I have a variety of plans – my general plan is to continue to pursue life with a sense of wonder, appreciation and creative expression. My hope is that the universe will hear my music – I’m in this for the ears. I will be continuing to perform, promote and persuade the unaware to become acquainted with my work. I am currently working on my next project which will be a double EP, the first of which is due to be released early ’11, and his younger brother will emerge later on that year. I plan to continue to make people smile, consider and react to my music. I aspire to inspire; tis my ultimate goal.

“My lyrics are a reflection of my innermost ideas, which just happen to rhyme…which is odd.”

Afoot | Do you  find  it’s important to send out  a  positive message  in your lyrics?

I find it’s important to send out a balanced, honest message in my music. Positivity is a subjective idea, as what one may deem positive another may deem positively ridiculous. However, as long as I am being true to myself as both a person and as an artist, and am mindful to maintain ultimate integrity within my work, I think that is as universally positive as one’s intentions can be. I don’t think that art need be positive as a requirement – but it should be a fair portrayal of the artist’s purity. My lyrics are a reflection of my innermost ideas, which just happen to rhyme…which is odd.

Afoot | What are some current projects you can tell us about?

I recently released a mixtape entitled Bars & NoBull, which is available on iTunes at http://tiny.cc/irkm3. I also recently released two music videos (shot by Noisemaker Media) for the singles off of that project. Yoga (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs0X3InJenQ), and Little Bit of Everything (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x04_QWRY7OE) . Earlier this year I released a mixtape entitled XS, which is available for free download at http://jesseabraham.bandcamp.com/album/xs . Also in 2010 I put out a compilation album with my homie Spills entitled Alphabutter, which is available for free download at http://alphabutter.bandcamp.com/ . Produced, written and recorded in less than 6 weeks, it is a joyous project that features a slew of NYC-based talent, such as Premonition, Jeanette Berry, Warren Britt, Top $ Raz and more.

Afoot | Any crazy fan stories?

Yeah one time this was working at the venue where the show was taking place. While on duty he hid in a bathroom next to the backstage entrance during soundcheck for like 15 minutes, just waiting for a glimpse, some eye contact, a handshake. When the time came he jumped out and pleasantly said whatup and threw some dap. That fan was me. The artist was Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Good times.

Afoot | Favorite quote to live by?

If it’s not from within, it’s without.

Big Mafia Networks is proud to announce that due to its great success after the first month of launching a new business line, it has decided to expand on new projects. The following project creates a unique JOB opportunity for highly motivated Students that are interested in a flexible & fun job that can contribute attractive compensations.
Please contact us if you are interested or if you would like more information at:
bigmafianetworks@gmail.com

Featuring carvers – David Billings, Fred Dobbs, Bruce Waugh, Craig Mutch and Roger Chaisson were carving Atlantic Giant Pumpkins ranging in size from 50 to 1000lbs over the event.

Check out the official website for more info - www.sandemons.com

Locally, LAZY RICH can been seen at his residency – the Lotus Nightclub – on Saturdays. You can hear Rich globally on his radio show, “The Lazy Rich Show” every third Thursday of the month.

His record label, “Big Fish Recordings” has hit the 24 release mark, promoting Rich’s taste in Electro House & Techno.

Originally from England, Rich has set up camp in Vancouver, BC and has helped this city gain notoriety in the global dance music community. He is a constant source of inspiration to myself and those around him. Be sure to catch him in action as soon as you can… he is certain to be the next big thing out of Vancouver. (Words by DJ Timeline)