Beauty Changes Lives

The American Association of Cosmetology Schools (AACS) is a network of more than 900 schools dedicated to providing excellence in beauty education, and to champion a message of "Beauty Changes Lives."

Discover how beauty changed the lives of Gill-Tech Academy of Hair Design owner Sheryl Bruemmer, school director Sandra Wagner and a young woman from Ukraine, and how their Dream Project is helping to change the lives of others.


Anya Afanasenko preparing for her role as lead instructor for the Dream Project.

Last year, while on a mission trip to Ukraine, Wisconsin's Gill-Tech Academy of Hair Design school director Sandra Wagner learned of the challenges young women in Ukraine face in terms of learning to support themselves. Too often, young women find themselves in compromising and dangerous situations because they do not have the vocational skills to earn a living wage. They fall victim to human trafficking and prostitution when they want to learn and grow to leave their impoverished lives.

While on the trip, Wagner visited the Hope Center, a place where orphans in Southern Ukraine can have a life-changing summer camp experience. Wagner learned that the education director and staff were working on a mentoring program for young women to help them with life skills and self-esteem. Although the program taught young women to seek a better way of life, the program did not give women any means for removing themselves from dangerous situations once they realized they wanted more.

Wagner knew this is where Gill-Tech Academy could make a difference. She decided to launch the Dream Project, to provide cosmetology instruction for graduates of the Hope Center's mentoring program. The project is fronted by Ukraine's Anya Afanasenko, who is receiving instruction through Gill-Tech, with additional support from Fox Valley Technical College, to prepare for her role as lead instructor for the Dream Project.

Afanasenko is staying with Wagner until she completes her education, and together they are raising funds for the project, aimed at 16- to 18-year-old girls who have completed the Hope Center's mentoring program. Afanasenko will then travel back to Ukraine and teach the cosmetology skills to graduates of the mentoring program.

When other students at Gill-Tech Academy learned of the program, they supported it with car washes, bake sales and other planned activities, using the money earned to purchase equipment for the cosmetology program in Ukraine.

"The Dream Project has changed the hearts of students showing them that doing what they love can make a difference, and in this one situation also change the lives of young women around the world," Wagner says.


How has beauty changed your life? Share your thoughts with Editor Alison Shipley ashipley@vancepublishing.com, and your story could appear here!

Originally posted on Modern Salon