May 14-16, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – With their immense collective talent Samuel Cole Salon stylists performed stunning hair transformations on the 150+ models at Raleigh Fashion Week. The salons were selected again this year as the official salons for the event after their exclusive involvement in Strut ’08 last year.

“It was my honor to select Samuel Cole Salon as the official salon for Raleigh Fashion Week. Their involvement elevated this event beyond my expectations. The entire team is dedicated, passionate, and professional at all times and was an absolute pleasure to work with. It still amazes me that they created unique runway hair designs for over 150 models with some of these models walking several times during one show which required extremely tight turnaround times on hair design changes,” said Brian Williams, Raleigh Fashion Week producer.

The salons’ stylists delivered hair designs ranging from conservative formal updos to over-the-top, high fashion avante-guarde hair. “These types of events give our stylists a chance to grow as runway artists. They blew me away with their creativity. After working the 9:00-2:30 shift each of the show days in the salons, they would arrive backstage at 3:00 ready, willing, and able to work their magic until midnight each night, not to mention all of the hours they spent preparing. Now that’s dedication and passion. I couldn’t be prouder of our teams,” said Joelle Ray, co-owner of Samuel Cole Salon along with her husband and Master Stylist, Jack Ray.

One of the greatest highlights of the event was the “live” hair makeover performed on center stage by Samuel Cole Salon as the grand finale, Strut ’09. With the audience and teams from both salons cheering on, Jack Ray and his team flawlessly executed a 6 minute hair transformation on the model whose waist-length hair was cut into a chic, angled bob. A Samuel Cole Salon Director delivered a makeup makeover while the cut was in-progress. The model’s 12 inches of hair was generously donated to Wigs for Kids.

“I was so proud to watch Samuel Cole Salon shine up on stage doing what they love to do,” commented one of the Managers at the salon.

April 22, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Samuel Cole Salon styled hair for five designers and their models for a Press Conference held to kick off Raleigh Fashion Week featuring Strut ’09. The stylists created hair for both the designers and their models for this event. NBC-17’s Sharon Delaney was on hand to MC the conference which discussed the upcoming fashion extravaganza. Raleigh Fashion Week’s charity of choice, Interact, was presented with a large donation during the festivities.

April 25, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Samuel Cole Salon stylists were at it again when they created hair designs for 15 models and 10 designers for a promotional event for Raleigh Fashion Week held poolside at the RBC Plaza. The stylists delivered high-fashion hair for all involved. Samuel Cole Salon donated a “Day of Beauty” to support Susan G. Komen’s Fight for the Cure.

May 2, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – The “official salon” of Raleigh Fashion Week featuring Strut ’09 designed hair for 19 models for a promotional event held at The Oxford Gastropub on Fayetteville Street. Samuel Cole Salon stylists showed off their talents and created sexy, chic hair.

“The excitement is building for this first ever Fashion Week in Raleigh. As the event’s “official salons”, we get to show off our passion for the art of hairdressing on the 150+ models. These types of promotional events really allow us to rev up for the upcoming 3 nights of fashion shows culminating with Strut ’09. I can’t wait to see the “runway artist” come out in all of our stylists,” said a Salon Director and Event Coordinator.

April 27, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Bumble & bumble educator, platform artist, and runway editorial artist, Alejandro Jimenez took center stage at Samuel Cole Salon to share his expertise and inspire the design teams. Jimenez has been doing editorial hair with Bumble’s elite runway team for many years (Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show being one of the many). He serves as the Bumble Educator in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Jimenez shared his favorite aspect of hairdressing – styling. “Styling is the moment in the overall experience when you can really make the color and cut come alive,” said Jimenez. He demonstrated many styling techniques using Bumble’s newest products, Gel and Gellac. “This demonstration really gave us ideas and inspiration on what we could bring back to our clients. Alejandro’s use of textures, shapes, and movement combined with different products was phenomenal. I can’t wait to incorporate some of these new techniques into my styling,” said a Samuel Cole Salon designer.

According to Jack Ray, Master Stylist and co-owner of Samuel Cole Salon along with his wife, Joelle Ray, “It was such an honor to have Alejandro in our salon sharing his passion for hairdressing with our teams. He was engaging, inspirational and had a great sense of humor. Samuel Cole Salon is an exclusive salon with Bumble & bumble which allows us the opportunity to bring industry experts, like Alejandro, right here to inspire and teach our teams. This is what helps set us apart from other salons in the area – continual and exceptional education – and a world class salon experience, of course. We are committed to it”.

April 26-30, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Jack and Joelle Ray, the husband and wife owners of the award-winning Samuel Cole Salon, enhanced their business acumen and leadership skills at an intense five day seminar offered by The Summit Salon Business Center in Tampa, FL. This Redken-sponsored event is designed to provide salon owners with clear-cut guidelines to elevate their businesses to the next level through classroom time and on-site salon visits. All aspects of salon business were addressed.

“It was tremendously beneficial to incorporate on-site salon visits into their program. We were able to see first-hand how actual salons have taken these Summit guidelines and translated them into tangible increases to their customer service model and their bottom line. We have attended many courses, seminars, and classes and none have given us more concise and usable information as The Summit has provided. We came back energized and eager to implement what we learned into our salon,” said Jack Ray.

April 21, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – Mayor Meeker proclaimed May 10-17 Raleigh’s first Fashion Week at the Raleigh City Council meeting held on April 21st. The event will encompass three nights (May14-16). Each night will include a cocktail party and a high-end fashion show. Thursday will feature “Emerging Artist” night. Friday will feature “Formal” night. And, Saturday night will be the grand finale with Strut ’09 where fashions will be showcased from national designers, such as Alexander Julian, Mechantes, Peter Milar, and Rachel Weeks.

Joelle Ray, co-owner of Samuel Cole Salon and her Salon Directors were on hand to accept the honor of having the salon named as the official salon of Raleigh Fashion Week featuring Strut ‘09. “What a thrill to be named the exclusive salons of Raleigh’s first Fashion Week. It was an amazing experience to be the exclusive salons of Strut ’08 last year. We couldn’t wait to be a part of this event again and on such a larger scale. Our stylists get to shine and express their creativity during runway events such as this. They take this energy back to the salon and its clients. It is awesome,” said Ray.