Features

Pam Gillespie always had a plan… and her independent and fearless nature allowed her to pull it off.

Really, her plan started long before she was an adult when she worked at her grandfather’s hairdressing business in Owatonna, Minnesota when she was in seventh grade.  She loved the smell of the products used at the Gillespie Beauty Salon to fashion the hairstyles her grandfather and aunt created.  Anxious to help, she fetched coffee for customers, swept hair clippings and delivered flowers to customers who were ill.

“What I wanted to do all my life was go into the hairdressing business,” Pam says.  “My favorite smell as a kid was the permanent wave solution!”

In addition to his hair salon, Pam’s grandfather also ventured into real estate after a customer paid him $200 to sell his land for him – a deal was done in those days with a handshake and a simple receipt book.  It was an unusual pairing, hair and real estate, but it suited her grandfather well and Pam was destined to follow the same path.

She always intended to live on the East Coast, then the West Coast and return to the Midwest… and that’s exactly what she did.  After high school, Pam dutifully followed the wishes of her family and attended college at Winona State.  After two years majoring in art and music, she followed her first true passion which was cosmetology and finally enrolled in the Vera Slater Beauty School.

“I vividly remember sitting in beauty school and I literally had to think about something else – take my mind completely off where I was – because my eyes would fill with tears because I was so joyful to be there,” she says about attending cosmetology school.  “It was truly my passion!”

Following her dream, Pam worked her way to becoming a successful hair and makeup artist – forging her career at John Doll Salon and Horst Salons in the Twin Cities.  Horst was the mastermind behind Aveda products and Pam served on the first Aveda Show Team, a position that afforded her the ability to travel around the country designing hair and demonstrating products.

“Horst was my favorite boss of all time,” Pam smiled.  “He was inspirational and eccentric, but great!”  At Horst, Pam blossomed as a leader in the hair industry.  Always enjoying a challenge, Pam soon worked her way up as an instructor at the Horst Education Center.

The East Coast

After becoming a seasoned hairstylist, Pam soon ventured on to the Big Apple in the early 1980’s.  As Pam built a reputation in Manhattan as an innovative stylist, she eventually worked as the manager of the famed Bergdorf Goodman’s Salon.  Then on a fluke, when a hair and makeup artist got sick, Pam filled in at the last minute on an ad campaign for Mademoiselle.  It was then that she branched into magazine advertising doing hair and makeup on the side for Seventeen, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping and others.

The West Coast

After those eight years in New York, Pam then made her way to the West Coast where she lived in San Francisco for 13 years.  There she had her daughter, Arianna, and continued to work in hair and makeup, returning twice a year to visit family in the Midwest.  It was in San Francisco where Pam began to work on the Gap^Ò baby and kids advertising campaign team and still does to this day.  Pam leads the team responsible for the perfect hair and rosy cheeks on each child in the company’s ad campaigns.

Working in the advertising business, Pam has been to many exotic destinations including Tokyo, Mexico, Mauritius as well as all over the United States working with well-known celebrities Cameron Diaz, Ingrid Bergman, Nicolas Cage, Joan Baez (who Pam says was particularly fun to work with), supermodel Iman and many, many more.

Back to the Midwest

Wishing to raise her daughter with the fundamentals as she had been raised, Pam decided it was time to venture back to the Midwest to be near family.  While living in the Midwest, Pam struck out into a completely new field – selling real estate at Edina Realty in Northfield, Minnesota – following in the footsteps of her grandfather, father and brother.

Staying true to her first passion, Pam continues hair and makeup responsibilities with the Gap^Ò – still traveling six times a year with them to complete their children’s photo shoots.  Pam has since begun working for the Children’s Place as a “wrangler” – the person on the shoot that keeps the children engaged and smiling to obtain the poses desired.

Of course, working two demanding careers as a single mom has not always been easy.  Many times, Pam has been pulled away to fulfill her career obligations while grappling with providing for her daughter.  Pam overcame that obstacle by developing a strong network of friends to help with Arianna when she was called away for work.

“It’s just the regular life stuff, the balance between responsibilities and personal enjoyment/fulfillment,” Pam states.  “I’ve just been blessed that in my life, there’s rarely been a distinction.”  Independent, bold, stylish and courageous – Pam says with no regrets, “I’ve always been who I am!”