Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Marshall Wright
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m not going to lie, I knew I wanted to do hair in middle school. Growing up in the 90’s almost all my friends were girls and having all-girl cousins, I played with Barbies and learned how to braid on a My Little Pony. I am a Nashville native and went to Nashville School of the Arts with a focus on theatre, but I still knew I wanted to be a hairstylist. I entered cosmetology school as soon as I finished high school and now am 20 years in the industry. I started as an assistant for a whole year learning as much as I could and used every opportunity to take classes outside of the salon. I always and still love watching other artists behind the chair. There is something about an artist, whether hair or creative, in their element. I never thought I would own a salon but being the Virgo I am, I worked in many salons and saw what not to do and use that to my advantage. I am very observant and can say that it is hard when something doesn’t go your way. I have experienced all realms of the hair industry and owning is rewarding and challenging. I work with the brand Davines which is from Parma, Italy, and have had the opportunity to travel there 5 times. I love that our industry can give us opportunities far beyond the chair. I entered a national contest in 2022 where I became a Denman North America Stage star. The opportunity landed me a trip to London to compete on stage with British Hairdressers.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it has not been a smooth road. My brother was tragically killed when I was 24 and I went back to work 3 days later. There is no rule book of how these tragedies help you and I wanted to escape reality and hair is how I did that—focusing on making others feel better about themselves. As selfish as that sounds, it helped me and I have saved a lot of money by not going to therapy and being very vulnerable with clients and friends, which has given me long-lasting relationships with my clients.
I worked in Franklin for the first 7 years of my career and once I moved to Nashville I lost nearly 80 percent of my clients. Rebuilding your whole clientele takes a lot of patience and hours. Nashville showed me that word of mouth is the biggest referral you will ever receive. Now, being the sole salon owner, building other people’s businesses is the struggle I face. And as a business owner, people want to see the owner which is very tough. I am learning to say no the older I get, but being from the south it’s hard. We want to be polite but also not taken advantage of.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I can say I am most proud of building a loyal following of clients, some of whom I have seen for almost 20 years and their commitment to following me all over middle TN. I have made it my goal to further my education in the beauty industry by traveling all over to fully understand the brand we carry, Davines. In Tennessee, cosmetologists do not have CE hours to keep up with so continuing my education is very important to me. While I do not specialize in one thing, I think knowing as much as you can to help my salon staff further understand means a lot to me. And teaching them in return what I have learned. Being in the hair industry I have spent over $75,000 to further my education and its not required to do so. I want to always grow and never stop learning. What sets me apart is I have never given up. I was fired from a business I co-owed and that gave me with ambition to open up my own salon.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
As a Nashville native, I can say I love how diverse the city is becoming. Growing up, I remember all we had were chain restaurants, and seeing the opportunities we now have with the food scene is incredible. What I don’t like is how often I hear people complaining about Nashvilles problems. To me, Nashville is a small city that’s just grown entirely too fast. There is only so much you can do about it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ericmarshallsalon.com
- Instagram: ericmarshallsalon
- Facebook: eric marshall salon
