Ocea grew up homeschooled and barefoot on Protection Island, free to explore before she ever picked up a pair of shears. That kind of childhood built someone who trusts her own instincts, stays open minded, and knows there's a lot she still gets to learn, which turned out to be exactly what this work needed.
She went straight into the Hairstylist trades program after high school, graduated from VIU in the middle of the COVID shutdown, then went back not long after to finish her Red Seal certification. She joined VHL as an apprentice in 2020, came up through our training program, and has grown into one of our senior stylists since.
Cutting hair is where Ocea started, and it's still her first love, though she's had every colour in the rainbow in her own hair and loves building colour for clients just as much. What people remember after sitting in her chair usually isn't just the cut. It's the conversation. Ocea reads people quickly and makes space for whoever sits down, whatever they came in wanting to say about themselves that day.
Her chair is built to be a safe one. Everyone is welcome in it, and that isn't a slogan for her, it's how she was raised to see people. She chose VHL because our values lined up with hers: equality, self-expression, and choosing eco-friendly products and practices where we can. Since 2020, she's been part of building that into what this salon has become.
Whether it's curls that finally feel understood or a cut that just feels like you, Ocea does it with heart.
