Marianna Industries announced last week that leading beauty educator Ivan Zoot, also a dual record-holder in the Guinness Book of World Records, will join the Marianna team as the new Director of Education Sales. Zoot is an internationally renowned barber, cosmetologist and salon owner. He has given numerous educational presentations in the industry, and also the author of the ClipperGuy Says book series, founer of the Zoot! hair brand, and former technical trainer of a major salon chain. As if his resume in the industry isn’t extensive enough, Zoot teaming up with Marianna Industries means many more great things are coming down the pipeline. We caught up with Zoot on the phone to talk about the job change.
“It’s exciting, but it isn’t real yet,” Zoot told us. “Things are good, it’s a cool opportunity, and it’s an exciting new world. It’s time for the next chapter.”
Zoot spent 7 years at Andis, one of the largest vendors of clippers and blades in the industry. He said the departure was on excellent terms, and he will still continue to be a huge advocate for Andis and will actively support the brand on others in that category.
“There are a lot of things I need and want to do that don’t necessarily fit in with what the Andis family is all about,” Zoot said. “They have given me a lot of latitude to do things on my own – I wrote and published all my books, launched my own brand of hair care products. But in the end I had limited time to pursue some of the other activities, and it was time for the next big adventure.”
Zoot will now lead the national sales team for schools, a group of eight people who divide the country into territories and help connect barber schools and cosmetology schools with student kits and equipment.
“I’m working primarily with a big educational focus,” Zoot told us. “We’re launching great educational programming and tools. Marianna is the number one student kit distributor and provider in the industry, and that’s only going to increase.”
He says he plans to help Marianna grow their market share in the education industry by adding value to the brand, and adding value to their relationships with schools through education.
Stay tuned for more news and insight from the reputable and talented Ivan Zoot. In later articles, we will discuss the importance of barbering education and where the business is going, barber license deregulation, and the new surge in “barber focus” cosmetology programs – all featuring commentary from this revered industry icon.
