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Grooming expert’s determination drives success Schmidtke
By Emily Thurlow Lioness Intern
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fter finishing up her time at her high school in Lindenhurst, Ill., Diana Schmidtke knew that halls of academia wouldn’t be able to adequately nourish her professional ambitions like that of the creative world that she craved. But it was before she let those doors close behind her, that she discovered a glimpse of the destiny that transport her beside actors at the biggest movie premieres, red carpets and award ceremonies all over the world. While participating in a work program that the school offered at a portrait studio, her boss suggested that she consider being in front of the camera as a way to make some extra money. And although she did have a few jobs, it wasn’t in the spotlight that she found her future fate, but actually along the sidelines. “I found myself very attracted to the [jobs of the] hair and make-up artists at a particular shoot for Nexxus,” she said. “The make-up artists specifically were just having a blast. I could see at that point, not only how they made me feel, but the way they made the models feel –they had more sass in their step. It was after that show that I decided to go to beauty school.”
bigger. Upon her graduation she worked at Chicago’s Trio Hair Salon where she trained under Phillip Palmeri, a former head colorist at Vidal Sassoon, where she was offered her own chair after training for 11 months. And after bounding out on her first “real” vacation to Mexico, she realized she never wanted to see a winter again, so she quit her job, packed up her things and headed for the west coast with only $800 in her pocket. But despite her spontaneity, the road to success wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. “I failed, I couldn’t get that lucky break into the industry for the life of me,” she said. Driven to achieve her dreams, Schmidtke returned home taking every possible class “under the sun,” –from wigs to weaves to long hair, bridal hair, anything and everything –saved up $1,100 and moved back to Los Angeles, where she has been for the past 13 years. As she started to craft her career in a more financially and flourishing direction, her agent at the time suggested working exclusively with men's grooming expert. “It just wasn’t clicking with the actresses, for whatever reason, it just wasn’t a match,” she said. “It was at that point that we refocused my portfolio on men, starting with bands, which then transitioned into the actors…And now here I am, a men’s grooming expert.”
And even though the promise of a new career bubbled up inside her, Schmidtke’s parents weren’t as pleased with her decision.
At 37, Schmidtke never imagined she’d be where she is today –jet-setting around the globe to meet the needs of celebrity clientele like Robert Pattinson, Ryan Gosling, Viggo Mortensen and many more.
“My parents weren’t happy about it, because for whatever the reason, being a hairdresser in the United States isn’t prestigious, but is prestigious in other places of the world,” she said, noting that she ended up attending Pivot Point International against their initial wishes for her. From there, Schmidtke said she just kept dreaming bigger, and
“Friends used to tell me that I was so ambitious and determined, and I knew that I always had that tenacity and maybe that’s partially because I knew that I didn’t have ‘mommy and daddy’ to fall back on financially,” she said. “But I never had any idea that any of this would happen.”
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