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First impressions are everything. Marc Voci, from Ninth and Wolf streets, knows how to make sure his clients make the right first impression.
The hairstylist is the mastermind behind the upcoming Style Me Hired, a citywide event taking place Sept. 26 that will reveal 100 unemployed women’s makeovers, in the hopes of giving them the competitive edge in the current tough job market.
“I’ve been a hairdresser for 25 years and doing these makeovers for many, many years,” Voci said. “I’ve seen the outcome of what a makeover does to women day in and day out.”
The lucky winners of the Style Me Hired makeovers will be paired with one of about 15 participating salons, including L.A. Hair Design, 1309 Mifflin St., and Indulge Hair Salon, 1603 Federal St. They also will receive a suit from Career Wardrobe, a nonprofit organization that assists in outfitting women who are transitioning into the workforce.
“We teamed up with the Omni Hotel [in Old City] and they are extremely happy to be part of this community event in Philadelphia, the first-ever makeover event,” Voci said. “We are going to change the lives of 100 women. Six hundred women put in their application and photo. We had a hard time picking 100 women, but this is where we are at now.”
The winners will receive star-studded treatment, which includes an initial consultation that Voci feels is of the utmost importance.
“I want to meet the girl that I’m giving this makeover to. I want to hear about her life. I may know someone in her industry that I could pair her up with,” the 36-year-old said. “I know a ton of professional people, and if I have the opportunity where I can tie her up with a person, another person where I do their hair. I talk about their hair and enhance their look.”
The event began as a more modest version that Voci instituted at his own Delaware County location, Marc Voci Salon and Colorbar, in December 2010 called Style Me Happy. The launch of the larger event is the result of the overwhelming response Voci said he received.
“I am an entrepreneur and hairdresser, and as an entrepreneur, I have that vision and I love to drive business and take as many people along on the ride,” he said. “I said … look at the response we’re getting. I had e-mails from across the country. They would say, ‘We love Style Me Happy. Bring it down south.’”
In the face of clamoring demand, Voci expanded his vision to bring the service to more deserving women and realized Philadelphia was the perfect spot for the first larger-scale launch.
“We’re so excited to be working with some really great salons,” he said. “We’re really excited how our beauty industry partners have come on board with open arms and said ‘we really want to help out.’”
Voci relocated to Southwest Philly at age 11, but his memories of the area are still strong.
“One of the best memories has to be New Year’s Day. Everybody outside and the parade is going on,” Voci said. “You would just walk into somebody’s house you don’t know, and you know they’re going to feed you a pork sandwich or veal scallopini or whatever. Everyone was just friendly.”
The South Philly attitude was something Voci kept, and when it came time to make a career move post-high school, he decided to keep it in the family.
“I went to hairdressing school, Messina’s Beauty School, right there on [West] Passyunk Avenue. I went here right after high school in 1985,” Voci said. “My mother and my grandmother are both hairdressers. She said to me, ‘We have to make a decision. You have to go to college or a trade school and I’d really like to see you follow in my footsteps and become a hairdresser.’”
He took his mom’s advice to heart and became a stylist, later starting a Southwest-based salon where he and his mother, Rosalie, worked for 12 years. Later, he set up shop in his current Folsom location, where his mom still does hair.
“I came up with the concept I was going to build a bar, a regular bar with bar stools around it,” Voci said. “I’d have my guests that came in to the salon be able to grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, there’d be Internet service and I’d mix the hair colors right in the open, behind the bar like a bartender would a martini.”
The “European-style” spot has been a successful venture thanks to loyal customers.
“I still have my grandmother [Connie], she’s 93,” he said. “She comes to my salon every Friday and hangs out. It’s definitely a family tradition.”
And it seems that there is hope the Voci bloodline will carry on with the next generation, which includes Voci’s two children, Marc, 8 and Olivia, 4.
“I can actually see my daughter following in my footsteps, following in her grandmother’s and my footsteps,” Voci, who also swept for his mom as a young child, said. “She’ll come in and put a comb in somebody’s hair.”
The family-like atmosphere of the salon made it important for Voci to give back, which began with the Style Me Happy event. During that event, media coverage enabled one of the five women to be contacted during the broadcast. She was offered a job, which she currently holds. As Voci readies himself to embark on the next level of expansion he is excited for September and the future.
“I think [Style Me Hired] is going to be a success the moment they walk in that morning,” Voci said. “What I want most for them to take home, when they leave the hotel that afternoon, whatever dream they have, they’re ready to look great, feel great and that it’s the moment to go do it.” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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