Jo McKay, Global colourist: The Journey So Far
As an artist who has travelled the world inspiring future generations of colourists, we were excited to sit down with Jo McKay and hear about how she got started and where her new journey may take her.
Jo McKay's Trend Moodboards for Keune, Spring/Summer 2023
Jo's love of colour started at a very young age. At just 10 years old, Jo was spending her afternoons at her mother's salon in Canberra Australia, preparing perm solutions and straightening perm papers for her mother's clients.
She grew up with hairdressing in the family—her mother, grandmother and great aunt were all hairdressers. Jo knew from an early age that she wanted to follow in their footsteps.
In her early years, Jo would often spend time in the salon with her mother, learning the ins and outs of the industry. With strong women around her she had a great work ethic, passion for the industry and love of people.
Having completed her apprenticeship with her mother and having the opportunity to take over the family business Jo had set her sights further a field to start her career and declined the offer of taking over her mother's salon.
Jo says;
“I was exposed to incredible talent in the industry from such a young age, as my parents took me to trade shows around Australia and I got to meet all these incredible people. The first time I went to Sydney and Melbourne, I knew that this was where I needed to be. The bright lights and the big city were just so exciting, and it felt like the perfect place for me to grow as a person. .”
“I wanted to be on stage and do shows, even though i didn't know what that mean't it looked like it would be fun!” so this is what Jo pursued…
After Jo's mother retired, she went to the best hair salon in town.
The salon was called Next, owned by Adam Noble. Adam was well known in the industry as an Australian hairdresser of the year winner and supported by brands such as Redken and Goldwell. He travelled all over Australia creating hair looks for shows set to inspire the next generation of hairdressers, including Jo!
His work helped her grow to start working at the next level. Jo became Adam's assistant, travelling with him and working on editorial shoots and shows across Australia.
Jo says;
“Adam was highly creative and he inspired me, and took me to that next level. We would go to a quarry, warehouse or abandoned places on the weekends to shoot following a full week of work and a training night mid week. It was super exciting! He taught me how to do photographic work and inspired me and gave me the confidence to try new ideas and said I could do it. When i went on tour with him i had to speak on stage and it was scary so i booked myself on a public speaking course to help build my confidence.”
Jo was given the opportunity at 20 years old to take the position as the main colourist when Adam’s wife left to have a baby, and never looked back. Progressing to Art director and developing new looks with Colour Jo was on her path to success. Sharing her ideas across Austrailia it was an amazing time of growth for Jo.
Jo felt she needed to upskill more, so she reached out to premium hairdressers and asked if she could work for free whilst on annual leave. Jo also connected with fashion college’s and gained experience on set working with the students and their colections. She did this quite a few times building her protfolio and this then opened up an opportunity to move to London. A chance encounter with Antoinette Beenders in Sydney gave Jo the chance to leave Austrailia and follow her passion overseas.
At 30 years old Jo came to London, she worked varying roles included educator for the EU and globally. Her final role enabled her to travel for 16 years opening up countries for the brand and educate the in country educators on new collections, new colours, trends and formulations. Jo looked after 15 countries including Spain, the Nordic countries, Kuwait, Dubai, Turkey and Russia.
Fast forward to today! Jo’s new role as UK Master colour Ambassador for Keune
Jo is currently researching Spring / Summer 23. Developing new colour trends, formula’s, placement’s etc.. for Keune. She’s looking at what tones and colour palette’s are coming through for the season. Jo is also excited about the new colour’s Keune will be launching soon. She is anticipating silver’s and gold’s, pearlised tones, irridescent colours and opal are what Jo is working with right now. Multi dimensional tones in the hair that have clairty will be important.
So, what can we expect from Jo's future? Well, she'll be continuing to develop new colour trends and formulas with Keune. She'll be rolling out colour education across the UK, getting hands-on with new formula's to inspire the next generation of colourist. She'll also be travelling to countries all over the world to talk about her work and give talks on how to create beautiful looks for clients and collaborating with FrontRowPro on future courses’s so we can share in her skills and knowledge of all things colour!!
‘Create your colour’ a 1 day course with FrontRowPro
If you're looking to take your colour game to the next level, then join us on Jo's debut course with FrontRowPro. You'll learn how to work at her level and how to create unique colour trends for your salon that will set you apart in your area. Colour supported by Keune UK.
Follow Jo McKay here
Click the button below to discover more about ‘Create your colour’ course
