Celebrity Hair Stylist Rashard Marshall Talks Of His Multi-Million Dollar RVM Hair Empire
“As a stylist I believe in honesty, patience, creativity, and hard work all functioning together to produce a beautiful end result for my clients,” said Rashard. "Hair is my art and I love the process of transforming someone from start to finish."
With 3 upscale mega-salons on the same corner of Wilshire Blvd and 80 employees in Los Angeles, Rashard Marshell, 31, has certainly created a multi-million dollar empire, and he continues to grow and build the integrity of his establishments with exceptional service as the primary focus of his RVM Empire. With RVM Salons, RVM Cutz, & RVM Twists, Rashard has created salon environments where clients feel welcomed and stylists feel appreciated.
All three salons have serviced many notable guests from celebrity actors, musicians, athletes, media, politicians and more. A professional stylist for a few years, Rashard used hair as his canvas, bringing a distinctive aesthetic and fresh approach to draw out each client’s unique beauty.
Rashard has used his salons to give back in a major way as he has facilitated annual back to school drives, consistently fed the homeless, given free hair cuts to youth who couldn't afford them, given annual "mommy make overs" to deserving mothers, hosted Halloween parties for kids so that they would have a safe place to trick or treat, spoke to students at various beauty schools, volunteered hair services for troubled teens, held police seminars to raise community awareness, and gave government workers free and discounted hair care services during the government shut down.
The RVM Empire which includes RVM Salons, RVM Cutz, and RVM Twists, continues to be the premiere destination for exceptional hair care service in Los Angeles. RVM Salons has also expanded across the United States with a number of traveling hair professionals as well.
Exclusive Interview
When did you begin with hairstyling? I began hairstyling about 6.5 years ago. Before I checked into school I’d never touched or thought about doing hair. From your career as stylist, what has been the most beneficial?
Helping people through difficult times in their life. You never know the impact you can have on a person. Also by just being there when people get a new look or have the opportunity to change their appearance. They will always and forever love you, cherish you, support you and be there for you. So my biggest and most beneficial moments would have to be seen in the lives that I have touched along the way.
I’m sure the day and life of a hair stylist can get rough and you have difficult clients. What has been the most challenging thus far and how you overcome it? What speaks of the quality of your customer service?
At the end of the day, people just want to feel like you’re taking care of them. Every day I go to work. It’s a job. I treat my salon,clients and everyone like my 9 to 5. When you go into a grocery store , restaurant, gas station clothing store you want customer service. You want people to say "Hi" to you. You want them to be friendly & you want to get your product or service done in a timely manner. The same thing goes for a hair salon. People just want to feel like you care and you want to take care of them. The daily overflow of clients or problems can vary depending on the day, but it’s how you take care of people and you over deliver customer service. That makes every day pleasant and enjoyable. No matter what anyone needs. I don’t care what time it is. I don’t care how much service I had to over deliver to make them happy. I’m always willing to go to the extra mile to make sure that when they leave that they return or they tell someone else to go. With the increase in hair stylists, what sets you apart from the rest?
Other than just being popular, we have amazing stylists who can really do hair. A lot of stylists these days are lacking the basic guidelines to being a hairstylist. You have to know how to do hair.... natural hair.... you have to know the basic foundations of hair. How does it grow. What makes it breaks off. How to keep it healthy. Those type of things. Also I have stylist who can accomplish any style you desire. I have barbers who can do any type of haircut. There’s nothing in the hair world or hair community that I cannot offer you as a business. You have to think about everyone that every demographic, every nationality, and every type of hair texture needs, so the thing that sets me apart is I will never tell someone we can’t help you. You have a barbershop, braid salon, and a hair salon, how do you manage them all?
It’s not the different locations that’s hard to manage, you have to know how to deal with people. Everyone has different personalities. Everyone goes through things, and everyone is one step away from losing it. You have to know how to keep it all together and keep moving at the salons. You have to keep the latest trends and change the hair game. My barbers are next level barbers. They look amazing and they cut amazing. They give you what you want, so it’s easy for me to manage when I hire people who want to grow.
What other creative hats do you fill?
Right now, I’m actually working on getting my own TV show as I used to write screenplays. People never knew but I was a total nerd and love to read Shakespeare. There’s a lot of things that I want to get involved with like education, but the main hat that I’m wearing is just trying to get me back right. A lot of people get lost inside the business and lose track of themselves, and I feel like that has happened to me so the biggest hat that I’m wearing right now is a self hat. I want to spend my free time, my extra time, and my undivided time focusing back on me.
Describe yourself in a few words. Describe what others would say of you.
I’m very hard-working, dedicated and driven. People will say that I am giving, understanding and I’m one of those people that like to see others win. I don’t mind if I’m not in a spotlight. I don’t have to be the center of attention if everyone is eating then I’m happy. Everybody deserves a seat at the table, but what you bring to the table will set you apart, and I bring happiness, I bring wealth, compassion, and I bring a lot of things that people overlook trying to get to the top, but these things will help your journey. Describe the importance of having self care within this industry. Self-care is very important. If you are not mentally prepared to deal with chaos/problems, then maybe you need a little more time. I mean yes it’s a lot of good, but you have to mentally prepare yourself to be ready for the bad as well, so take that day off every now and then. Yes I preach work 24 7, but take a nap. You can work 24 7, and take a quick nap while you wait on the email to come back in. Just make sure that you mentally take care of yourself, and self-care can also be going to the spa to get a massage. Don’t feel like you have to neglect yourself in order to be successful. Look good. I preach looking good. You have to look good. When you look good, people take you serious. When you look good, you feel good. When you hear the word “determination”, what comes to mind?
When I hear the word determination, all I think about is how I always refused to quit or give up on myself. What drives you? Financial freedom drives me. Knowing that I can work my ass off and one day be able to relax and enjoy the rest of my life is amazing.
Who’s your inspiration or motivation? Believe it or not, I’m my own best friend. My motivation is myself. My inspiration is myself. It might sound selfish, but at the end of the day, I’m the only one who believes in me like I believe in me. I talk to myself. I get advice for myself. I push myself. Without me, there will be no me; no one ever gave me anything. Yes I have supportive people around me, but at the end of the day, people come and go. Friends are not forever. Family won’t be around forever. Nothing is forever. You only have you until your days are over. Never forget that.