Monika Snips to Success

A Walsall College Hair Student was recently presented with a top award by the Francesco Group chain of salons.

Monika Balu snipped her way to success by winning first prize in the Level 3 Hairdressing College Competition, where students from a range of colleges had to compete to produce a commercial look and present it in a 10 × 8 photograph.

The hairdressing hopefuls had to give their model a haircut, colour and finish, complemented with an overall polished look for the photograph.

The competition was extremely fierce as all colleges working in partnership with Francesco’s could enter, but in the end, Monika impressed the judges with her professional entry to claim the top prize. Fellow Walsall College student, Jill Clarke also impressed the judges in the competition, winning third place.

Monika commented: “I always knew the standards would be high, having experienced the event last year when I was a finalist. I put a lot of thought and preparation into creating what I thought the judges wanted to see. I was really proud to be a finalist again but when I was announced as the overall winner, the feeling was just out of this world. None of this would be possible without the staff of Walsall Graduate Academy. I can’t emphasise enough how much support and encouragement I have been given by all. I would like to thank them all for believing in me and share this award with them”.

Paula Seeley, Hairdressing Lecturer at Walsall College said: “Monika worked extremely hard in creating her commercial look colour and cut and final image. The Francesco Group judges were impressed with her concept and felt that the image spoke for itself. I am extremely proud of the hard work Monika put into preparing the model for the photo shoot and was a deserving winner of first place”.