Cooper & Co hairdresser Mary Evans has risen above all other hairdressers from around Australia, competing at the 2021 WorldSkills National Championships, to win the gold medal.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It's not the first time the Armidale salon has produced a national champion; Courtney Baldwin won the gold medal in the 2018 WorldSkills competition.
"It shows how well Janelle (Cooper) must train her girls; creating two national winners is a pretty big achievement," Mary said.
READ ALSO:
"She was a big part of training me up for the competition and has been such a great support. She's been a massive part of my journey, becoming a hairdresser."
Mary has spent her entire career thus far at Cooper & Co, completing her apprenticeship two years ago.
The road to the national championships has been a long one; she competed in the regional WorldSkill competition at the end of her third year as an apprentice. However, like nearly everything else, COVID-19 threw the competition into disarray.
"It gave us plenty of training time!" Mary said.
The national competition was originally to be held in Perth this year, but due to the border closures the finals were held in different venues in every state, with the top point scorer being crowned the national champion. In NSW, the competition was held on the weekend of October 24 and 25.
Mary competed against three other hairdressers in Sydney over the full two days, covering "all bases of hairdressing".
When it came to competing, Mary said she was terrified.
"It was very overwhelming but amazing. It was an incredible experience getting to be in the room with so many other talented hair stylists."
Until the awards ceremony, which was livestreamed on Wednesday night, October 27, Mary had no idea that she had won.
"All of us girls from the salon went to Janelle's house and had a sip of champagne and watched the stream together. I think we nearly blew the roof off her house, we were just screaming so much when the announcement came up," Mary said.
The next day, Mary says it still didn't feel real.
"It's all still fresh and new. I'm walking on cloud nine," she said.
As the national champion, Mary is now invited to represent Australia at WorldSkills at Shanghai, China in October 2022.
"At this point I think I will be taking it up because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity," she said.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark armidaleexpress.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters here
- Follow us on Twitter: @ArmidaleExpress
- Follow us on Instagram @armidale.express
- Follow us on Google News
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
