Platform Artist • Educator
Mitzi Spallas began her platform artist/educator career as a member of the Zotos International Creative Design Group in 1987, just three years after graduating from Cosmetology school. The Design Group was made up of over 100 exceptionally talented hairdressers in North America, as well as several other countries around the world including Japan, Great Britain and France. Zotos, now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shiseido International Corporation, is and has always been an industry leader in permanent wave technology and manufacturer of several different product lines, including the acclaimed “Bain de Terre” line. Zotos also created and trained other hairdressers in their own advanced haircutting system, leading the way in education and salon support. Advanced education was given to each and every Creative Group member, which brought in some of the industry’s top educators such as Michael Aleman from Bumble and Bumble, Nicky Clark and John Frieda, not to mention their own highly esteemed Artistic Council/Artistic Directors Eric Fisher from Kansas, Van Council from Atlanta, John Donato from Toronto, and Dwight Miller. After being a member of the Zotos Creative Design Team for three years, Mitzi was also chosen to be a member of the Zotos Artistic Council, a five-member group of select individuals from the Creative Design Team, who would develop and design the trends for the upcoming season. Those five individuals would then go out and teach these new designs to the rest of the team, so that they could then teach them to hairdressers outside of the company during in-salon workshops and hair shows. The Artistic Council also were responsible for teaching onstage at all of the top hairshows in the country such as the IBS shows in New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas. The last responsibility that the Artistic Council had was to do a photoshoot for the company to back up the education with imagery and printed information. This is where Mitzi got her first taste of the freelance world, which eventually brought her to be represented by the prestigious Cloutier Agency in Los Angeles, where she stayed for 20 years.
Mitzi has done work for several other companies in the hair industry, which included doing makeup for shows for “The Cheynes Group” and “Irvine Rusk” from Scotland, “Trevor Sorbie” from London, as well as makeup for photo shoots for Joico and KMS.
Mitzi’s other platform work includes work with Tresseme’ in the early 90’s and Iden International in 2009 at the Long Beach Hair Show.
Thermasilk Hair Products hired Mitzi to promote their products while on tour with Michelle Branch in 2003, as they sponsored Branch’s tour. This included giving radio interviews, and meeting contest winners at each show in cities across the country to present and educate them on the Thermasilk product line. Mitzi was given extensive and invaluable media training by a media expert hired by Thermasilk.
In 2003, Mitzi was recognized for her talents and won the prestigious “Lucie Award” for “Hairdresser of the Year”, voted on by the International Photographer’s Association.
With her years of experience doing both hair and makeup, both onstage and behind the camera, Mitzi’s passion for her art stands clear. Combining all of her knowledge and experience continues to move her forward as a top educator and artist.
