VENUS AWARDS…THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO NOT WIN
On Friday 27th November, Tracie Gunningham accompanied by her husband attended the Venus Awards for women.
After becoming a finalist for the ‘Business of the Year’ award earlier this year, Tracie engulfed in an evening to help celebrate different achievements by women in business from across the Devon region.
Tracie unfortunately this time didn’t become the winner for her category, Please watch the video below of when someone else took the title.
Tracie was disappointed with the result, however completely respected why the sponsors ‘Sampson Hall’ decision to mark Kathy Murdock the winner, as she has overcome some difficult personal circumstances to ensure her business continued to grow, and be a thriving success.
The evening was held at The Great Hall, in the University of Exeter, both Tracie and her supportive husband had an enjoyable evening.
TRACIE GUUNINGHAM ATTENDS FOOD AND DRINK GROWTH SEMINAR AT BOVEY CASTLE
Envy director Tracie Gunningham recently attended along with 75 others, a
seminar held by Plymouth Business, Bluestone 360.
Hosted in Devon’s prestigious Bovey Castle, the event was attended by all major
food suppliers, with a variety from pubs, restaurants, trade and manufactures.
Tracie was originally attending to support her husband Ian, but enjoyed it so
much she ended up staying at the event all day.
The event was supported by PWC, Visionise, Natwest Bank, Bond Dickinson and
Bowater Comms, each individually give short 20-minute talks on the insight of
techniques and tools to help grow a business.
The event also provided attendees with a buffet lunch, and networking dinner
which was hosted by Jo Butler, Marketing manager of ‘The Eden Group’.
Tracie came away, feeling very positive after learning from a variety of different
business people. 'It gave me a great insight into large corporate businesses' she said.
ENVY PLYMPTON ST.MAURICE MARKS ITS FIRST YEAR OF BUSINESS.
The Plympton St. Maurice branch of the Envy Hair Salons celebrates its first birthday.
A year ago tomorrow, the salon located in one of Plymouth’s most historic areas,
opened its doors for the first time.
The salon, which is the 3rd to open by Tracie Gunningham, has had a successful year, offering a variety of hair services.
Olympic diver Sarah Barrow opened the boutique salon in 2014.
To mark its first year, PSM stylists George and Clare, will be offering a FREE cut with any colour, FREE deep conditioning treatment with a cut and blow-dry, and also 3 for 2 on all products (excluding gift packs). (Tuesday 1st December Only).
PSM have also added 'Express Beauty' to their services this year. This consists of CND shellac manicures, pedicures, facial waxing, brow and lash tinting.
Envy would like to thank all current clients for their continued support of PSM, and are looking forward to its second year of business.
ENVY CREATES HAIR AND MAKE-UP FOR LOCAL CHARITY FASHION SHOW.
ENVY CREATES HAIR AND MAKE-UP FOR LOCAL CHARITY FASHION SHOW.
Two weeks ago Team Envy took part in creating a high-end and successful fashion show in correspondence with The Lady Taverners autumn lunch.
The annual lunch this year took place at Le Bistro Pierre located in Plymouth’s prestigious Royal William Yard. The purpose of the event is to raise money for a charity that supports disabled and disadvantaged children.
Team Envy showed off their creative talents by creating catwalk worthy hair and make-up for 8 individual models. The team consisted of Pao Panawam Ham, Tracie Gunningham, Sarah Chapman, Kerra Day, Georgina Nail and Lynda Penny.
ID Fashion, a local clothing brand, stepped in and arranged the fashion show last minute for the Lady Taverners lunch due to guest speaker Katie Hopkins cancelling last minute.
ID fashion, based in the Royal William Yard and Totnes, showed off their latest one-off clothing collections. Owner Deni donated a simple ‘LBD’ to auction at the event, which alone raised £120 for the children’s charity.
A successful fundraising afternoon was made extra special as Judy Spiers announced her new role of president for the South West Lady Taverners, with the help of Gus Honeybun.
Team Envy did a fabulous job, and enjoyed helping a charitable event in hope to give children a sporting chance. Please check out our hair and make-up look book below.
Anyone who fancies joining the Lady Taverner's Devon and Cornwall should contact Shelley Coleman @shelleyjputt@icloud.com
Photo credits to Emma Barrow Photography.
ENVY MAKE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR FINALS.
Tracie Gunningham has made it into the final round of the Venus Women Awards for‘Business Of The Year’ within the Devon region.
In competition for the annual award, Tracie was originally against twenty-two other business nominees, and now sits within the final three.
The official sponsor of the award, Sandra Sampson of Sampson Hall, stated ‘It was a difficult task choosing 5 businesses for the semi-finals, and even harder to reduce down to 3 finalists’.
Tracie Gunningham, shared her experience of the moment she found out she’d become a finalist as ‘an honour’. The owner of Envy, also stated “When I heard my name called out as one of the finalist, I couldn’t quite believe it. To be in a final is such an honour as it now feels like the hard work and determination that I’ve put into growing and sustaining Envy has now been recognised not just locally but regionally.’
The final is to be held in the Great Hall at The University Of Exeter on the 27th November, where the winner will be revealed. Regardless of the result, this is a real achievement for both Tracie and her team of professionals.
Business of the Year Finalists with Sandra Sampson from Sampson Hall
Sarah Chapman is through to the Venus Awards Devon Semi Finals
Sarah Chapman said 'I Feel very honoured to be a semi finalist in the 'Employee of the year category'.
It means a lot to me that my hard work and commitment to Envy is recognised and appreciated. I have had to overcome some shyness issues and become more assertive in my new management role. I am now confident in my management approach and have also taken on the challenge of training and developing the apprentices. I am really enjoying this aspect of my new job description.
Tracie Gunningham said 'she nominated Sarah for the Employee of the Year Award because she 'naturally' stepped up and showed true leadership qualities, when being faced with her immediate manager having to have an unexpected operation, resulting in her being off for 3 months and also Tracie herself suffered ill health at the beginning of the year'. Tracie said 'I really do not know what I would've done if Sarah hadn't stepped in and up to management of the Broadway salon and for that I am eternally grateful.' Going to the public vote would've been a big challenge for Sarah 9 months ago, as she admits she hates speaking publicly.
Sarah has produced a great video, where she speaks confidently and clearly.
'I'm so proud of how far Sarah has come and in such a short space of time' said Tracie.
Please help Sarah win her category of EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR, she really does deserve the recognition.
VOTE FOR SARAH HERE
Tracie Gunningham makes it to business mother of the year semi finals
Venus Awards Devon has selected mum of four and salon owner Tracie Gunningham to be one of just five-semi finalist in Business mother of the year from 90 applicants all over Devon. The category is sponsored by Sampson Hall, experts in leadership and business development.
The prestigious awards recognise women from across Devon for their achievements in business.
Tracie is also currently one of 10 semi finalist in Business mother of the year, sponsored by Heart 97-103.0 fm.
For the chance for Tracie to win this title, she needs as many public votes as she can get.
Tracie will find out if she has been selected as a finalist on Oct 9th so fingers crossed.
To vote for Tracie click here!
ENVY RWY TURNS 3
Envy’s second opening salon located in Royal William Yard has been up and
running, growing from strength to strength since 2012.
Now three years on, Envy RWY has added many additional services including
beauty & nails to their services.
To celebrate Envy’s three years at Royal William, owner Tracie will be refitting
her Plymstock Broadway salon to bring the salon interior designs together as
one.
We can wait to see the finishing product!
Envy gets first place at the Skill's Group hair competition!
Envy’s junior apprentice, Ellie Kittle claimed 1st place at this weeks Skills Group
hair competition.
Each year salons from all around Plymouth- including Envy- take part in the
Skills Group hair competition.
Young apprentices’ with as little as 12 weeks experience take part in the
competition for a chance of winning first place within their categories of
different themes.
This years themes included: pure & simple, pomp & ceremony and lets party.
Envy had two stylists competing for the winning titles in pure & simple and
pomp & ceremony.
Ellie claimed her 1st place in the pomp & ceremony category using Zayli
Gunningham as her hair model to create a geisha girl theme.
Salon owner Tracie Gunningham said: “They all did a fantastic job and I am
extremely proud of my whole team for their support towards the younger
members at Envy who each showed their skills and passions for hair”.
Envy enters the Skills Group competitions every year and are always motivated
to aim for the top- Lets hope they smash it again next year!
Ellie Kittle and her Geisha Girl Winning Look
ENVY WELCOMES ANOTHER NEW STYLIST
Envy welcomes another new stylist to the team.
Claire Harris age 24 specialises in cutting, colouring, perming, gents cuts, long hair dressing and wedding hair and she will be joining Envy based in Plympton St Maurice.
Outside of Claire's career she enjoys walking, exercise, cooking, love pets, days out, seeing family, spending time with my lovely niece, cinema, shopping and having a drink with friends.
Claire is looking forward to welcoming clients old and new and will be available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
ENVY TEAM TAKE ‘HIGH TEA’
Birthday celebrations for team Envy took place on the 15th June, with a vintage theme to mark the business’s 15th Birthday.
22 members of the team indulged in High Tea at Wills @ One, located on the Royal William Yard for a sunny afternoon of fun filled celebrations. The afternoon consisted of a chance to chat whilst sipping prosecco in the courtyard, followed by a selection of freshly cut sandwiches, homemade scones, and mini cakes with the side lashings of jam, clotted cream and tea.
The event was to not only to celebrate another year of Envy success but to also celebrate each member of staff’s birthday for the year. Tracie Gunningham, used to give her staff individual birthday presents but due to the ever growing amount of employees, Team Envy decided to all celebrate together annually in June.
This year’s theme was vintage inspired and each staff member dressed in vintage attire, including hair and make-up to complete the style.
Emma Barrow captured the afternoon, check out the images below. Happy Birthday Team Envy!
HIGH TEA
HIGH TEA
TEAM ENVY
‘ENVY ‘S GOT TALENT’
The Lady Taverner’s summer ball went off with a blast last week, with a ‘Plymouth’s Got Talent’ theme. The annual ball held this year at the Holiday Inn raised money for young disabled and disadvantaged children ‘to give them a sporting chance in life’, the total raised on this evening was £14K.
Envy’s Directors, Tracie and Ian Gunningham were part of the judging panel for the evening where they played the roles of Alesha Dixon and Simon Cowell. With moral support from all 4 salon managers, and local artist Peter Blacker the evening was certainly one to remember for team Envy.
Plymouth Got Talent was the real deal, with the ballroom decorated in traditional British colours, Union jacks could be found on each table, and the judges were even equipped with ‘X’ buzzers for the show.
Talent poured in from across the city for the evening, with a wide variety of acts to put on the show. The talent consisted of a tap dance from Marie Hewitt, singing and dancing from Wolferstans solitors and Mark Holt and a solo trumpet player from Astra Recruitment.
The talent show was followed by an evening of dancing the night away to Hot Candy (a local band).
A fun and successful evening was had by all members of Envy who attended. Check out our photos from the evening below.
THE JUDGES
IAN GUNNINGHAM PLAYED SIMON COWELL
TRACIE GUNNINGHAM PLAYED ALESHA DIXON
LOCAL ARTIST LAUNCHES 'THE PLYMOUTH SERIES' AT ENVY
Local artist Peter Blackler launches 'The Plymouth Series' from Envy RWY.
Tracie Gunningham actually appears in some of the Plymouth Series paintings.
Peter started coming to get his haircut with Tracie about 21 years ago, being a regular client of the salon for all that time, Tracie said that 'she felt honoured to have be asked to be a subject in his recent collection of paintings'.
Peter trained with the late Robert Lenkiewicz.
The series are a collection of well known historical buildings and places.
Original oil paintings and limited edition prints and canvases are available to buy in salon or online @www.maherartworks.com
PETER BLACKER
ENVY BWY TURNS 13
HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY BWY
THANKS TO MY BRILLIANT TEAM.
13 years ago today, Tracie Gunningham bought ENVY BWY, after selling a smaller salon that she'd had for two years previous.
ENVY has definitely seen a lot of changes since moving in 13 years ago. Unfortunately not all positive ones, Envy is currently surrounded by empty units, the Natwest bank is moving out, it's a concerning time for them as a business.
THANKFULLY, the brilliant team have enabled the business to be a stable one, however growth within this location is slow, due to declining foot flow, as people are no longer seeing The Broadway as a great place to visit.
ENVY WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY TEAM AND THE BWY SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY, without their hard work and commitment to actively market us, Envy would have no 'walkin trade ' coming through ours doors. The walkin trade has dropped by 2/3 in 13 years.
Envy BWY is to undergo a makeover, in the next few months, this will consist of new signage, new chairs, new backwash and reception area, new lighting, the idea is to bring the interior branding of all 3 salons together.
Let's see what the next year brings.
ENVY WELCOMES ERMINGTON LADIES GROUP
Envy regularly hosts pamper evenings for ladies groups or corporate companies.
Last Thursday was the turn of the Ermington Ladies group.
A group of 16 ladies were hosted by Steve Dyer, Georgina Nail, Lauren Crossley, Ellie Temple and Kerra Day of the Envy team.
Envy's salon owner Tracie Gunningham couldn't be present at this event, so she enlisted the help of Sara Soper from Admin Angel to provide meet and greet services, gather information and to get the party started, Sara has helped Tracie organise many of these events before and Temple Spa Consultant, Jan Reckless, who Tracie thought would add another pleasing pamper experience to the evening.
Sara Soper from Admin Angel thought that "It was an absolute delight to meet the ladies from Ermington and to watch them relax, giggle and be pampered in a the salon"
Tersesa Drew emailed to say 'On behalf of the Ermington Ladies Group I wish to thank you and your team for such a wonderful evening. The ladies thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we were so warmly welcomed and looked after by your wonderful team.
Thank you so much for arranging the evening and there is nothing we would have changed.'
Tracie Gunningham said 'my presence was clearly not needed, the team did a marvellous job'!
ERMINGTON LADIES GROUP
JAN RECKLESS TEMPLE SPA
ENVY WELCOMES 2 NEW SENIOR HAIR STYLISTS
ENVY RWY welcomes Kerra Day age 25. Kerra has joined RWY as a senior stylist. Kerra worked in Plymouth City Centre previously but fancied working in the luxurious surroundings of Royal William Yard.
Kerra specialises is Cutting, Colouring, Blowdrying, Long hair Dressed, Wedding hair and Kerastraight services. Kerra has a young daughter so she strives to get her work/life balance right and can be found at RWY Tuesday 9.30 -4 Thursday 9.30- 4 Friday 9-5 Saturday 9-5.
KERRA DAY AT RWY
ENVY RWY welcomes Joshua Brook- Hewitt age 25. Joshua has recently left behind his fully booked clientele in Cornwall to move to Plymouth with his husband.
Joshua is very proud that his wedding, was the first gay ceremony to be held at HMS Drake.
Joshua specialises in colouring, cutting, blowdrying, wedding hair and perming. Joshua is a senior stylist and can be found at RWY Monday 9-5 Wednesday 1-8 Saturday 9-5.
JOSHUA BROOK-HEWITT AT RWY
ENVY MAKES THE BOX OFFICE
Envy is always keen to be involved with the local community.
Tracie Gunningham owner of Envy was very excited about the invitation to support the community of Plympton St Maurice with their latest venture in trying to bring 'life' back to the historic Guildhall with the idea of a Pop Up Picture House.
Tracie was approached by local resident, Jonney Steven about the idea of being the box office for the Pop Up Picture House seen as the salon is opposite the Guildhall.
Jonney explained that the idea is to support the not-for-profit group, Friends of the Guildhall (FROGs), who are campaigning to stop Plymouth Council selling off the hall and to try to get the local community using it more.
They are going to be putting on monthly film screenings of recent and classic films, probably on the first Friday of each month starting in June
Jonney said "Hopefully it'll be a fun thing for people living within walking distance, to see a film and have a couple of drinks in an informal and friendly atmosphere".
Tickets are now on sale from Envy PSM Tues-Sat price £4. Call 344885 for more details.
LADIES THAT LUNCH
Envy’s management team wined and dined this May, at the Lady Taverners lunch.
The management team, which consists of managers from all 3 of Envys Salons, were rewarded for their hard work at the Boringdon Park Golf Club.
Team Envy enjoyed the lunch whilst supporting the Lady Taverner's charity. From the raffle alone £800 was raised and a grand total of around £3000, from the whole event.
Steve, Envy’s Royal William Yard manager will be taken on a Golf day for his ongoing hard work.
Check out the images below of the Envy Girls and the Lady Taverner's at Boringdon Park.
Shelley Coleman, Chair lady @Lady Taverners, Rosie Bowden, Sarah Bowden and Tracie Gunningham.
Lynda Penny, Envy Area Manager, Sarah Chapman Assistant Manger @BWY , Georgina Nail Assistant Manager @ PSM , Lauren Crossley Supervisor @RWY.
Sara Soper from Admin Angel, Tracie Gunningham owner of Envy.
ENVY WORK WITH FLOURISH
This spring, Envy had the opportunity to work alongside Flourish, in an exciting Bridal Editorial.
Owner, Tracie Gunningham was on location in Torquay where she once again worked with talented photographer Emma Barrow.
The set looked beautiful with flower arrangements and props that were arranged by Jane from Flourish.
The shoot is to be published in ‘Inspired Bride’ magazine at the beginning of July (Issue 4).
Check out the behind the scenes photos below.
