How I Made It: Anthony Nader
If you’ve ever heard the story of a business person who climbed the ranks in unlikely circumstances or succeeded against all the odds, you’ve probably wondered how they made it. We have too, which is why we’ve decided to go straight to the source. How I Made It is T Australia’s column where we dig into the journeys of inspiring businesspeople, entrepreneurs and creatives who’ve hit the big time, and ask them how they did it.
Tucked away on the corner of Commonwealth and Campbell Street in Sydney’s Surry Hills, you’ll find what may well be the buzziest hair salon in Sydney. Since 1997, RAW Anthony Nader has been credited with the cuts and colours of many a Sydney model and magazine editor, its popularity inextricably tied to the fondness many clients hold for its namesake founder.
In addition to his salon, which prides itself on providing a unique, elevated beauty experience (see: its zen room), Anthony Nader is a seasoned presence backstage at fashion weeks and on photoshoots. With a portfolio honed over three decades and several continents, who better to ask how to make it in an industry that’s notoriously hard to crack?
Cody Simpson for T Australia, photographed by Jedd Cooney with hair by Anthony Nader.
Nader found his passion early, at around five years old, when he used to play dress-ups with his twin sister’s Barbie and Ken dolls. “This completely did it for me and I’ve never looked back,” he says.
“I grew up in a very small town about 300 km south of Sydney and did my schooling and apprenticeship there. My older sister was a hairdresser who owned her own salon, which I worked in,” he says.
“While I was doing my apprenticeship, I would save all my money and spend a four-week holiday in LA staying with my cousins. I’d write letters a month or two in advance (and yes, I’m that old) to hair salons in Beverly Hills to see if I could help out on the salon floor without pay. I wanted to do it purely for the experience. I did this every year for four years throughout my entire apprenticeship, and I guess that’s where the spark really started for me.”
The first hurdle
Session styling is something Nader says has always been a hurdle, even today, and the first time he was rejected on a shoot is an experience that has stuck with him. Unfortunate as it was, he recognises it was this experience that taught him valuable lessons, like not taking rejection so personally.
“You really do ask yourself over and over, ‘What did I do wrong?’ or ‘If I were with a better agency, would I have gotten the job?’ or ‘Would it have helped if I’d done a celebrity’s hair?’ It’s all those questions!,” he says.
“But fast forward to today, and I have my beautiful salon, now approaching its 29th anniversary, and I feel very lucky. I haven’t questioned the ‘what if’s’ for a very long time because there’s always a good reason why I didn’t get on that shoot, and I’m completely at peace with that. I’ve been in this game for close to 40 years now, and I feel very blessed that I can still wear two different hats and move between both landscapes with ease.”
Anthony Nader, photographed by Seung Rok Baek.
A sliding doors moment
“I remember back in 2007 when I went to New York to look for an agent, and all 19 of them said, ‘Your book is very Australian,’” Nader recalls. “This basically meant that I had a lot of natural, textured hair images in my book — this was a typical styling look for the editorial hairstylists here in Australia at the time.
I feel like my career of hairstyling had changed from all these meetings which was loud and clear and taken on board.
From this point I started learning and playing with wigs more, as this was a given when working on shoots in New York. What I loved about the advertising and editorial clients and photographers was that I was pushed to perform, otherwise you were never re-booked again. This was the game changer for me and I thrived on the pressure.”
Fast forward to now…
Nader is in what he says is the “best place” — his salon, at 100 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills, which is coming up to three decades in business. He is also still working with editorial clients (see: T Australia’s Cody Simpson cover shoot).
“I feel like I’m doing everything I want to do to stay stimulated and happy,” he says. “I love being on photoshoots, and I absolutely adore seeing my salon clients. My salon clients truly mean the world to me.”
Sage advice
- Stay bright-eyed and open to change.
- Don’t try to be anyone other than yourself.
- Stay humble.