Faces of Empire: Tracy Balan—Manhattan
Her list of celebrity clients, TV work, and resume is enough to make your headspin. It’s almost as if she has been a beauty professional for decades; but for Tracy Balan, her career life started out much different than it’s ended up.
After High School this Brooklyn native went about as far from beauty as you can get, enlisting in Military Intelligence school, later serving in the U.S. Army while attending Georgia Military College.
From there she finished up her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing at Medgar Evers College and went to work in the corporate world. But after a few years, her lifelong love of doing hair and makeup was calling her down a different path.
Empire Alumni & Celebrity Stylist
“When I was in the military, people had something to say about my hair.” says Balan. “Then at my marketing job, people had a problem with my hair. I said OK, I think it’s time I do hair!”
She admits before beginning classes at Empire she felt like she knew nearly everything there is to know about hair.
“When you grow up in an African American family you know how to do hair. It’s part of the culture. We are raised braiding and straightening.”
But the first day of school was an eye opener for Balan who said her instructor told her to forget everything she thought she knew about hair.
“You’re going to learn texture and type. It’s not about black or white when you walk into Empire. Empire has the most diverse curriculum in all of NYC.”
During her time in school, Balan used her marketing background to get her website and social media accounts going. Once she graduated, she hit the ground running, doing hair all around New York City.
“I did a lot of free work in the beginning. I had to get my name out there. I had to save up money to do that because I knew it would be a rough first year.”
Eventually, she started to get freelance jobs on her own. Styling hair for network tv programs, magazines and celebrity clients. Eventually, producers took notice.
“Lifetime TV was doing a makeover show and they wanted people with big personalities and they needed people who were licensed.” After auditioning for the part, Balan was chosen as a host on Lifetime’s ‘Girlfriend Intervention’.
“In this business you become a therapist. And that’s one thing I didn’t realize would happen.”
She still keeps in contact with many of the women she helped makeover on the show. The whole experience taught her about the passion she has for education and more importantly, she says, the importance of being licensed. “It opens up so many more doors. I test new products for companies, I serve as a spokesperson for different brands at trade shows, and my reality TV career was based on the fact that I have a cosmetology license.”
Her advice to students? “Learn as much as you can in school. That knowledge combined with your license and good marketing will get you where you want to go.”