Introduced by Beauty Changes Lives at CosmoProf North America, ScholarTips is bringing the beauty and wellness community together to share tips of treasure and wisdom with the future beauty professionals.  As ScholarTips gains momentum (more than 1M impressions and hundreds of tips shared!), Beauty Changes Lives Foundation President Lynelle Lynch shares how stylists, salons, brands and industry supporters are “tipping” their success forward in this one-on-one interview with SALON TODAY:

What inspired the ScholarTips initiative?
Lynch: We were looking for a way to make Beauty Changes Lives more inclusive for all members of the beauty and wellness community — especially licensed professionals. Beauty Changes Lives has experienced tremendous success in our initial years, raising $3.5 million and changing the lives of hundreds of professionals.  However, participation in BCL has historically been limited to the BCL Board, sponsoring companies and the scholarship judges who as industry icons generously volunteer their time and expertise.  We wanted to create a fun, interactive challenge that would allow all professionals to unite behind an industry cause supportive of the beauty and wellness profession.  ScholarTips allows every professional to mentor the next generation and pay forward their success.  Gifts of wisdom can instill confidence in a young professional while a donation of a “Tip” can help fund scholarship programs.  We hope that every professional will join us in this challenge to donate their wisdom and wealth.

How has the industry responded?
Lynch: The support has been amazing. For example, Wella has created a video challenge and is sharing the video with the Wella family of brands. Wella has also promoted ScholarTips on its Instagram and Facebook pages and produced promotional ScholarTips for its educators to use in their outreach with Salons. CosmoProf has created an in-store retail promotion to drive donations at the Point-of-Sale in September and October. The company has also created a License to Create® cosmetics bag to serve as a royalty item, donating a portion of sales to support BCL. And CND has supported us with a very generous financial contribution. Finally, media outlets such as SALON TODAY, are helping us share the message throughout the industry via their print, online and social channels.

What is the “challenge” component of ScholarTips?
Lynch: This is where ScholarTips gets really fun. Check out the #igaveatip or #ScholarTips hash tags on Facebook or Instagram and challenge your peers. Check out the video from Kim Vo when he challenged his peers Tabitha and Ken Paves to donate their own tips of wealth or wisdom.

What are some easy ways for individuals to make a tip?
 Lynch: The Beauty Changes Lives web site makes it easy to donate wealth and wisdom with just a few clicks. We encourage stylists and salons to get creative. For example, in the spirit of Giving Tuesday, a salon might select a day to designate all tips, or a portion of tips. Or a salon might have a challenge to see which employee offers the best tip of wisdom. Or a brand might develop a royalty item or collect donations at an industry event. Our industry is known for creativity, and we encourage creative philanthropy!

Do you have a favorite tip?
Lynch: That’s a hard question, but we really love all of the video tips. For example, this tip by NAILS associate editor Sigourney Nunez shares her advice to NextGen artists, encouraging them to find a mentor.