An exciting new social enterprise which deals with the 'hair necessities' is now open at the Carinity Fassifern Community Centre in Boonah.
Express Yourself Hair Co. is a hairdressing salon which Carinity hopes to utilise to provide skills training for local job seekers.
Profits from the hairdressing service, which opened this week, will support more community engagement programs run by the not-for-profit organisation.
Carinity Fassifern Community Centre Community Development Coordinator, Samantha Caves, said the salon initiative was made possible with the support of the Boonah Shire Disability Support Incorporation.
The operation of the salon is being overseen by Carinity Fassifern Community Centre staff member and resident hairdresser, Maggie Wood, who has over 30 years of experience in the hairdressing industry.
A qualified workplace trainer and assessor, Maggie started her career in hairdressing in 1976 after training at the Vidal Sassoon and Schwarzkopf training academies, both in Sydney.
"During my career I have owned and operated nine salons on the Gold Coast. My greatest achievement was training our apprentices and see them grow into confident talented stylists," Maggie said.
The Express Yourself Hair Co. salon will supplement numerous other skills development courses at Carinity Fassifern Community Centre, which have helped job seekers to commence careers in fields such as hospitality and aged care.
For its efforts the community centre was one of three finalists for the Community Training Initiative category of the recent Queensland Training Awards.
"We are looking forward to being able to use the hair salon to provide hands-on experience and training for more Scenic Rim job seekers," Samantha said.
