On March 8th, all eyes might be on the new Captain Marvel movie, but there’s one name that ought to be on your lips for International Women’s Day this year – Amber Manning. The 34-year-old has just been placed at Number 10 in the Top 30 Franchise Executives in Australia, as well as being named as the UK CEO of Just Cuts, the Australian hairdressing franchise that is successfully bringing their model to the UK.
Amber proves instrumental in the franchise being a success on international shores as her experience with the brand helped it to reach new heights – quite literally too, its grown to be the biggest hairdressing company in the Southern hemisphere. Amber is thrilled to be announced as the first female taking charge of the brand and to be recognised by Inside Franchise Business. She believes that International Women’s Day is important in today’s business world – you don’t have to wear a cape to make a difference.
“It’s great to be able to celebrate the work women do every single day all around the world. A day like this means we can all come together and celebrate our achievements, as well as call for a more gender-balanced world. In business, women are still regularly overlooked for senior positions, so I think it’s extremely important for us to be able to raise that issue whilst applauding success.”
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BalanceforBetter, which aims to get everyone – yes, both sexes, there’s no favouritism here – involved with creating a better world. Amber has been a great role model for women in business, as her career that saw her work her way up through the ranks spans over 15 years. Since joining Just Cuts in March 2014, she has implemented significant changes in the business model and rolled out a number of innovative projects – which in turn has seen the business, and herself, flourish.
The Just Cuts community is working proof of #BalanceforBetter with the group boasting amazing statistis that demonstrate the importance of women to the overall success of the brand:
- 50% of of the 100,000+ Clients that visit Just Cuts each week are women.
- 55% of the Franchise Owner network are women.
- Just Cuts is headed up by General Manager, Amber Turnbull
- 93% of the Just Cuts Stylists network are women.
In such a short time, Amber has been fundamental in the direction the brand has taken. Her first order of service was to remove the old paper-based docket book system to introduce a bespoke POS and marketing system just for their franchise owners. Her intuition saw the system become a huge success and, not long after that, she developed Just Cuts’ five-year strategy for international expansion. First stop, the UK.
“The UK launch feels like my baby. I had these plans established a few years ago and to see it really start to take shape now, it feels amazing! I always knew that the market over here was extremely lucrative and I feel honoured to get to see the whole project through.”
The 2019 #BalanceforBetter campaign runs all year long, it doesn’t just last for 24 hours. It provides a unified direction to make way for continuous and collective action. The activity should be reinforced and amplified throughout the year, something which Amber wishes to put emphasis on for the remainder of 2019.
“This year is a great one for me personally, but women everywhere have a lot to celebrate too. We have come so far in recent years and I believe we are seeing a shift in the way people think. There’s still a long way to go, but women certainly are beginning to get recognised more for their skills and achievements. As a woman in leadership role myself, I’m proud to say that, at Just Cuts, we’re big advocates for women in business. The only capes we need at Just Cuts are the ones we use to cover our clients for the 100,000 Style Cuts a week.”
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Attachment: Image - Amber Manning
For more information, please contact media@justcuts.com - 02 9527 5444.