From apprentice to tutor/assessor and much more in between, Paul Curtis has had an amazing career in hair! He started out working every Saturday in a Chelmsford salon and became a stylist at 18! In 1990 he was named Essex Hairdressing Champion (Men’s) and has worked on shoots alongside some of the biggest names in the business. With his own apprenticeship leading to such a successful career, Paul’s greatest love now is education. As well as teaching young learners with Central/Joshua Galvin Academies, Paul works as an educator for Balmain. And, wherever he is teaching, Paul never fails to tell his apprentices that the sky really is the limit when it comes to their careers.

Learner Lillie Sutton has a real passion for hairdressing. Having left school at 16 and begun her hairdressing career with Phase 2 salon in Canvey, Lillie literally grabbed every opportunity that came her way. She combined working hard in the salon with entering lots of competitions via her training with Central. At the age of 21, Lillie pretty much swept the board at the Central/JG photographic competition finals winning her Year 3 Avant Garde styling category and taking home the Joshua Galvin cup awarded to an apprentice who most impressed the judges. But that’s not all! The competition also landed Lille her dream job. She was spotted by the Daniel Galvin team and after a day in the salon, was offered a full time position!

Kerenza Rouse joined the apprenticeship scheme in May 2015 and has never looked back! She started her career as an office administrator at AJ Chambers Recruitment in Rochford and now, at the age of 21, she is the firm’s Office Manager! Along the way, Kerenza also managed to win the Apprentice of the Year award at the 2016 South East Essex Business Awards! And, having got the learning bug, she is now studying for an Association of Accounting Technician’s qualification. In a short time, her career has soared and Kerenza says none of it would have happened without the apprenticeship scheme.