8 Game-Changing Career Secrets from Beauty Industry Titans Ted Gibson and Jason Backe

A master class with Ted Gibson and Jason Backe isn’t just about learning technical skills that lead to repeat bookings with celebrities, Fashion Week designers, and deep-pocketed clients. It’s also a crash course in career building, packed with advice and honest insights into the industry.

Gibson and Backe have done just about everything there is to do in beauty. Styling A-listers like Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, and Lupita Nyong’o? Check. Building prestige salons in competitive markets? Check. Launching premium product lines? Check. Starring on reality TV? Check. Old-fashioned hands-on teaching with white boards and doll heads? Check, check, check.

At the recent 2025 International Beauty Show in Las Vegas, stylists who signed up for Gibson and Backe’s master class, “Cutting-Edge Hair Techniques & Career Secrets,” were served valuable wisdom alongside knockout technical skills (and some insider tea.)

Here are eight top takeaways from their master class!

1. Get a Mentor. Be a Mentor.

“If you’ve ever had someone who believed in you more than you believed in yourself, you know how powerful that is.” – Ted Gibson

Mentorship changes everything, says Gibson, who credits his mentor, Aveda founder Horst Rechelbacher, with showing him how to “dress hair, see hair, create, and build a brand.” Mentorship helped Backe turn his salon dreams into reality, with prestige locations in multiple cities.

Now, the two mentor others in the industry mostly through Worth Up Alliance, the nonprofit they founded to support and champion beauty professionals.

Advice: Don’t just follow mentors online. Connect. Message them. Show up. Ask questions. Offer value in return.

2. Identify (Exactly) What You Want

“You have to get clear about what you want. If you don’t know what you want, you’ll never get there. No amount of praying, hoping, or asking will help if you don’t know what you’re asking for.” – Jason Backe

Whether you’re starting your business, pivoting it, or leveling up, the first step is to get crystal clear on your goals. Write them down.

Then meditate on them. Visualize your future. Plan for them to happen.

Try This: Choose just one or two goals to focus on this quarter. Be specific: “I want to work at New York Fashion Week this fall” or “I want to increase each client ticket by 20%.”

3. Understand that Relationships > Resumé

“The reason I’ve been successful isn’t just talent. It’s because of my relationships with clients, with collaborators, with my team.” – Ted Gibson

Both Gibson and Backe credit their success to deep connections with teachers who became mentors, clients who turned into champions, and industry peers who opened doors.

Pro Tip: Invest in people, not platforms. Your best opportunities will come through authentic connections as opposed to sliding into their DMs.

4. Know the Value of Social Media

“Your Instagram and TikTok are your currency. Use them wisely.” – Jason Backe

Like money, in this digital economy, social media presence holds value. It’s a resource that can easily be wasted unless you recognize its worth.

Don’t give free promotion to brands that don’t support you. Use your platforms to build leverage, get visibility, and align with partners who appreciate your voice.

Power Tip: Create three buckets in your social media content: education, transformation, and personality. Rotate them to build trust and engagement.

5. Ask. Ask Again. Keep Asking.

“I used to send my agent a list of five clients I wanted to work with during awards season, and guess what? I usually got two or three.” – Ted Gibson

The key? Ask. Follow up. Stay persistent. Don’t wait around until someone discovers you. While you’re waiting, stylists with better networking habits than you will be booking the clients you want.

Career Hack: Make a list of top projects and clients you want to work with, and start putting them out into the world. Share it with your mentors and with potential collaborators. Pitch yourself constantly.

6. Brand Purposefully, Intentionally, and Habitually.

“If you’re a salon owner or part of a salon team, create your own imagery. It’s inspiring for your clients and your team. It reinforces your brand and your value. – Jason Backe

Branding is more than just selecting the right business name or framing your own custom photoshoot images to use as wall art. Gibson and Backe emphasized intentional branding as a daily practice.

DIY Tip: Buy a seamless paper backdrop, a stand, and a ring light. Use your phone to shoot editorial images in-house. Blow them up and brand your space like a magazine in your signature style.

7. Partner Up to Grow Big.

“If you want to be on stage, manufacturers are already there.” – Jason Backe

Backe says his partnerships with industry biggies such as Aveda, Clairol, and L’Oréal opened doors to international travel, education opportunities, and brand ambassadorships for him and Gibson.

The key, he says, is to find a brand aligned with your values.

Smart Strategy: Don’t just rep a brand; build a partnership. Whether it’s education, exposure, or compensation, know what you’re getting in return for serving as a brand’s advocate, cheerleader, and spokesperson.

8. Take Care of Inner You. Like, Right Now.

“I meditate, I journal, I ground myself daily — and yes, I take our supplement Ascension.” – Ted Gibson

The philosophy behind Gibson and Backe’s new brand, Ted Gibson Beauty Wellness Science, is that outer beauty always needs to start from wellness within.

They’re so committed to that message that the brand’s first launch, Ascension, isn’t a topical hair or skin product — but a daily supplement rich in the beneficial adaptogenic mushrooms that 's the hero ingredient of all products in the new line.

Reminder: Wellness doesn’t require a bougie retreat, but it does require consistency. Start with 10 minutes of journaling or breath work before clients walk in, and go from there.