When Susan (pictured: left) told her high school counselor she wanted to become a hairstylist, her counselor crushed Susan’s dream, declaring she could never be a stylist because she’s deaf.  

Sadly, Susan took her counselor’s words to heart and decided to enter the banking industry instead. She worked in banking for many years until the bank closed and she was faced with what to do next. Susan thought about accounting, but her husband noted that Susan didn’t seem happy. “What do you want to do?” he asked. 

Susan told Scott she wanted to be a hairstylist. 

So, Scott went to Lanier Technical College to pick up information about the cosmetology program and “before I knew it, I was enrolled — thanks to my husband,” Susan said.  

After graduation, Susan worked at various salons but couldn’t advance her career. She was frustrated. “They weren’t going to move me up,” Susan said. “I felt like they used my deafness as a roadblock. That I could not move on because I can’t hear, so I can’t do certain functions — even though I tried to explain [that] I can.” 

That’s when Susan joined the salon team of Great Clips® franchisee Greg Thomas. At her time of hiring, Susan was told she would have the chance to advance her career at the Great Clips franchised salon and, one year later, Greg’s organization delivered on that promise. 

Today, Susan has been a salon manager for nearly four years. “Susan is running our fastest-growing store, and she’s killing it,” Greg said. Greg owns and operates 72 Great Clips salons in Georgia and Florida and says Susan is among his top five managers. 

Susan chats with her clients in the styling chair by reading their lips in the mirror, something her mother taught her to do as a child. She says Greg, his managers, and the salon team have all been incredibly supportive of her journey, offering tools to help her participate in salon activities, such as an extra tablet so she can watch a translator during team Zoom meetings. Some of her peers have even started to learn sign language so they can communicate with Susan and deaf customers. 

Susan says that with her other jobs, employers saw her difference, not her potential. “I can’t believe I’m with a company that doesn’t see me as a disability. They see me as a person. I have a name … I’m not the deaf girl or disabled girl or the girl that’s limited or however everyone calls it. They see me for who I am, and I love that.” 

“Don’t let somebody tell you [that] you can’t do something,” Susan says. “I want to continue climbing the ladder and showing people that you can do it even if you have a disability of any form. You can move up.”  

Susan’s story recently inspired a feature article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read it here.  

Great Clips® salons are looking for talented stylists and barbers! Use our search tool to find open roles near you.   

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All Great Clips® salons are independently owned and operated by third party franchisees. Franchisees, not Great Clips, Inc., are responsible for all hiring and personnel matters at their individual salons.