19 March 2024

Gimme-5 with Frank Gambuzza, President of Intercoiffure America/Canada

For the very first time the new President Frank Gambuzza took the stage at the Intercoiffure America/Canada Spring Atelier 2015, where he presented the crowd with the brand new ICA Fashion Director, Van Council.

Estetica Magazine got the chance to discuss the new announcement and what we can expect from Intercoiffure America/Canada in our edition of “Gimme-5 with Frank Gambuzza”!

So first of all – how are you feeling this being your first Atelier as the President of Intercoiffure?
Well, it has been very exciting! Before hand you hope for the best but you expect anything, but I wouldn’t change or do one thing different from the team that helped me make these decisions – they made it a very successful weekend. Usually how I measure the success of a weekend is by the Sunday night party – if you can get on the dance floor it’s not a good Atelier… if you cannot get on that dance floor, it’s fantastic! Last night was so crowded and everyone was having a great time, it was awesome.”

We also have to mention the great announcement for the Fashion Director… he is a really big name to have on board!
I’ll tell you – for us to have Van Council as our Fashion Director is really humbling because he does not have to do this. There is really nothing in it for him to get, but there is really a lot for him to give. He’s wanted to give back to this industry, he has wanted to give back to this organization and I think that says a lot about him as an individual. My phone blew up last night, when Estetica posted that he was the new Fashion Director and it didn’t blow up with only just hairdressers. It blew up with the market leading best hairdressers in the United States. Dwight Miller post if he had to pick a Fashion Director it would be Van Council. I had people from all around this room asked, ‘How did you do that?’ How I did it – I simply asked Van and the respect that I have for him, if he said no it wouldn’t have changed our relationship. The fact that he said yes I feel like Intercoiffure won the lottery.”

Van mentioned one of his challenges is going to bring young blood to the organization. Is that one of your goals?
Yes, I think it’s important but I don’t want to just focus on the new, because I think there are people who have so much to offer, that we can make the older members new again. We’ve got members who have been so successful in their businesses that is going to be up to the leadership to extract it from them so we can pass it on to the new. This industry has been unbelievable. I’ve had a lifestyle that I can’t imagine having in any other industry. Especially not being a college graduate and coming from an area in New Jersey where education wasn’t a focus – but yet we’ve had this ability to have a phenomenal lifestyle because of hairdressing. It’s important for the people who had been successful to teach the people who want to get to the top – and that is what Intercoiffure stands for. Look at Don Shaw, who was here with us today: Don was Fashion Director for 23 years for Intercoiffure North America… 23 years! I cannot even imagine the amount of work and the amount hours he put in to the organization for no pay. The guy traveled around the world, he did 8 world congresses. To have Don here today supporting us was an absolute privilege. Now, as of this weekend he became an Honorary Member so he will be a member for life to an organization he gave so much to.

One of the things you mentioned to us when we were in New York last October was that Intercoiffure America/Canada will work closer than ever with Intercoiffure Mondial.
My wife and I were just with Klaus Peter Ochs and some of the other Presidents from around the world in Paris and it showed the spirit of Intercoiffure. Although everyone was successful in their own way, to sit down and break bread, drink some wine and talk about the beauty business and what is going on around the world, it’s like being a student all over again when you are hanging around with people like this. So it is very important that America plays a very active role in Mondial. We are a very important piece to the puzzle, to make this benefit everyone. Any relationship that is a good relationship, is when it’s good for both sides. America is going to give Mondial what they need and I’m sure that Mondial will give America what it needs in return so that together we both win the race.

Can you share with us a sneak peek of what will happen in the ICA Fall Atelier in New York?
I can give you a sneak peek, but I can give the entire thing away! So October in New York is going to be a grand event. The theme is going to be ‘Honoring the past, embracing the future.’ One of the thing I can tell you what I am hoping to do has never been done before, is bringing the last 5 fashion directors from Intercoiffure America/Canada and have them on stage together. It is a very big initiative but I’ve reached out to people and they’ve been unbelievable. Calendars are always the problem. I think you can either think big or think huge – so we are thinking huge and if we miss our target we will still have a very big successful event.

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