Key Takeaways from the Beauty Changes Lives Data Roundtable at the PBA Executive Summit

The Beauty Changes Lives (BCL) Data Roundtable at the 2025 Professional Beauty Association (PBA) Executive Summit marked the industry’s first coordinated effort to address one of its most pressing challenges: the lack of consistent, reliable, and unified data.

Leaders from beauty schools, brands, manufacturers, software companies, associations, and media aligned on a shared reality—without common definitions, baseline metrics, and inclusive market coverage, the industry struggles to plan effectively, advocate for itself, and control its narrative.

Participants identified fragmented data, missing market segments, and unclear workforce and licensing metrics as key barriers. Despite this, the roundtable revealed strong alignment and willingness to collaborate across sectors.

The group agreed on two priorities moving forward: establishing industry-wide data standards and building a unified, data-supported narrative that clearly communicates the industry’s value, scale, and impact.

A cross-industry data task force is being formed to set priorities, develop a roadmap, and turn alignment into action.

Key Takeaways from the 2025 AACS Technology & Beauty Education Presentation Report

How beauty schools are leveraging technology to strengthen connection, streamline operations, and lead cultural change.

At the 2025 American Association of Career Schools (AACS) Annual Convention, beauty school leaders, educators, suppliers, and technology partners gathered with Pivot Point for an interactive discussion centered on one critical question:

How is technology reshaping beauty education—and how can it better support the people at its core?

Informed by insights from the Beauty Changes Lives (BCL) Industry Leader Technology Roundtable at Premiere Orlando, this report captures the perspectives and priorities of the beauty school community as it navigates rapid shifts in technology, culture, and learner expectations.

At the heart of the conversation was a shared belief: technology should act as a true enabler—freeing up time, deepening human connection, and accelerating the cultural and digital transformation already underway in schools across the country.

85 top executives across the beauty, barbering, nails, and wellness sectors participated in the third annual Beauty Changes Lives Industry Leader Roundtable.

The Roundtable explored the impact of technology and featured a conversation with Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist and one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Dr. Vint Cerf.

Facilitated working group sessions with industry leaders representing schools, salons, brands, distributors, and associations explored key beauty industry technology-related topics:

• Preserving the Human Connection
• Making Smart Technology Choices: Partners, Priorities, and ROI
• Driving Internal Buy-In and Adoption

This white paper features Dr. Cerf’s comments, in-depth working group takeaways, and participant polling insights and feedback.

Recent developments, including concerns about college debt, the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on traditional white-collar careers, and questions about the value of a college education, have reshaped the conversation about choosing between college and a career.

From 2023–2025, the Pivot Point Research Team and Beauty Cast Network (BCN) conducted studies at the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Annual Conference. The goal was to gauge counselors’ interest in promoting vocational paths alongside traditional college and to identify the resources needed to better highlight careers in beauty.

Findings show strong support for beauty careers—hairdressing, barbering, nails, skincare, and massage—as rewarding alternatives to college degrees, along with a clear need for more information to help counselors guide students effectively.

Pivot Point International and Beyond the Ponytail, the leading bridal stylist community, are excited to release a new white paper: “Bridal Stylists Unveiled: Benchmarking and Understanding the Bridal Stylist Community.”

This research explores the career paths, business models, and educational needs of bridal stylists—a fast-growing, highly specialized segment of the beauty industry.

In addition to profiling their businesses, the study highlights key goals and challenges and includes real-world advice from working stylists—offering practical insights for success.

Generational differences in beauty schools are reshaping education by affecting communication, technology use, and wellness concerns. These divides influence student engagement, instructor satisfaction, and retention—key factors for a productive learning environment.

Explore Pivot Point International’s latest research on how the beauty industry’s education landscape has transformed in response to the pandemic. This white paper offers insights from leading hair color brands, focusing on shifts in professional learning behaviors, both online and live in-person. Learn how top brands are adapting and how education can evolve to engage today’s learners.

Key topics include:

• Salon professionals’ evolving expectations and behaviors
• The balance between in-person, live online and on-demand online education
• Differences in generational learning preferences
• Strategies from top brands

In the fast-paced world of beauty education, compliance challenges are a constant concern for schools striving to meet regulatory standards. This groundbreaking research benchmarks the compliance practices, attitudes, and needs of both single-campus and multi-campus beauty schools, providing a valuable point of reference for educators, directors, and owners alike.

Proposed gainful employment standards could lead to approximately half of the private beauty schools in the United States (U.S.) shutting down over the next few years. To better understand the impact of potential school closures. Pivot Point used data provided by the Department of Education to create the following visualizations:

• An interactive map showing the availability of public and private beauty school education within U.S. zip codes.
• A graph displaying the total number of beauty schools in each state, categorized as public or private.

The data highlights that if the new gainful employment standards are implemented “beauty deserts” would emerge, mean large areas of the country would be without access to beauty school education. The beauty industry, which is already facing staffing shortages, would struggle to meet customer demand. Consequently, many salons and barbershops might have to reduce services or even close.

Pivot Point hopes that these visualizations will serve as a valuable tool to inform rule makers about the consequences whether intended or unintended of implementing the current proposal for gainful employment standards.

In a rapidly evolving world shaped by social media and diverse values, understanding and bridging the gap between generations is essential for the future of our industry.

This white paper shares key findings from the Beauty Changes Lives Industry Leader Roundtable, which brought together 70 leaders across beauty, barbering and wellness.

Through facilitated discussions, participants explored:

• The generation gap in the beauty industry, and the unique priorities, perceptions, and expectations of each generation.
• Strategies to attract, retain, and empower talent across different generations.
• Actionable guidelines aimed at closing the gap and fostering a more inclusive, future-proof industry.

In a rapidly evolving world shaped by social media and diverse values, understanding and bridging the gap between generations is essential for the future of our industry.

This white paper shares key findings from the Beauty Changes Lives Industry Leader Roundtable, which brought together 70 leaders across beauty, barbering and wellness.

Through facilitated discussions, participants explored:

• The generation gap in the beauty industry, and the unique priorities, perceptions, and expectations of each generation.
• Strategies to attract, retain, and empower talent across different generations.
• Actionable guidelines aimed at closing the gap and fostering a more inclusive, future-proof industry.