Hellen completed her hairdressing training with a chain of concession salons within department stores upon leaving school in 1983. At the tender age of 19, she realised her future lay in salon management and she started running the salon where she trained and ran a column. The impressive results she produced ensured she quickly progressed through the company and Hellen was promoted to Assistant Regional Manager then Regional Manager, managing in-store salons up and down the country from Kendals in Manchester to Rackhams in Birmingham, and gleaning a wealth of knowledge that led her to experience salon management at every level. She returned to the South East region in 1990 and was then promoted to General Manager of Harrods Hair and Beauty Salon, Children’s Salon and Barber Shop, the youngest person before or since to hold that position, transferring in 1992 to grow and develop the bankrupt Neville Daniel business that her bosses had purchased.

After meeting Richard, the couple bought the business from the receivers in a management buy-out and married in 1994, becoming parents to Elysia and Oliver. The couple set about the task of turning around their bankrupt business by combining Richard’s creative abilities with Hellen’s business acumen, and now celebrate the businesses 33rd anniversary.

In expanding the Richard Ward brand, Hellen helped oversee the company’s manufacturing and product division at a global level – creating the Richard Ward Salon Professional for Waitrose and co-founding the Tangle Angel brush – dealing with UK and overseas distributors and stockists, as well as supplying the professional sector.

A first for the sector, Hellen pioneered the use of an EOT (Employee Ownership Trust) in 2024. She continues to be and active CEO - responsible for the finances, marketing, HR, branding and development of the company — a role which she relishes for its challenges and diversity.

With four decades of industry management experience at every level and having developed her own company’s brands globally, Hellen is the leading business trend commentator, educator and lecturer in her sector. The go-to business expert in the industry, Hellen works with salon-exclusive brands and manufacturers, creating tailor-made, bespoke content for in-house seminars and events.

Widely regarded in trade media, she regularly conducts seminars, hosting workshops and events and chairing forums and panels as well as guest speaking both in the UK and internationally.

Hellen is renowned for conducting private business coaching and consultancy for prominent salon and spa owners, manufacturers and suppliers; also advising a diverse array of fledgling brands, training, tech companies and start-ups looking to provide ancillary services to the sector as well as investors and VCs looking to break into the market.

As well as mentoring other salon owners, her best-selling textbooks, now available as updated webinars, remain the go-to bibles for every working salon manager.

Hellen’s media profile is a testament to her success. A regular guest on TV, Hellen has appeared on BBC Breakfast, ITV’s Good Morning Britain, London Tonight, Sky News and GB News as the ultimate business authority on the sector.

In 2025, Hellen, together with her long-term friend and fellow salon owner, Haylee Benton, launched The BlowOut Podcast. Fast attracting an army of loyal followers, the duo share their trials and tribulations as salon owners, reflecting on changes in the sector to their peers.

Hellen has been writing her long-standing must-read column for trade publication Professional Beauty magazine for over 200 editions and is also a regular contributor and columnist for many leading industry magazines as well as a sought-after panellist and guest speaker at business focused industry events.

Vice-President of BAWE (British Association of Women Entrepreneurs), Hellen is also a board member. BAWE is an invitation-only association and the UK division of FCEM, a worldwide network with a unique provenance. Started after WW2 for the war widows left to run family businesses, its modern-day incarnation BAWE is a unique platform run by women entrepreneurs for like-minded businesswomen to connect, mentor and inspire each other across all commerce sectors.

In 2019, Hellen was awarded the coveted FCEM Mondial Award for her work with BAWE UK, one of only a handful of recipients in the organisation’s history.

As Vice President as well as having served a term as past President, Hellen is a long-standing supporter of The Hair & Beauty Charity. Hellen has been a dedicated committee member since 2005. Passionate about the cause, she is a Director, Trustee and board member of the charity, which supports those who have worked/are working in the sector in difficult times.

Hellen was appointed a Trustee of VTCT Skills (Vocational Training Charitable Trust) in 2024.

Hellen co-founded SEA (Salon Employer’s Association) to represent VAT registered, PAYE salons and campaign not only for fairer taxation for the sector but to safeguard the future of apprenticeships within the industry, having started her career as an apprentice herself. In 2024, SEA joined forces with key industry associations (MHFed, Hair & Barber Council, Freelance Hair Association and Fellowship for British Hairdressing) to form the British Hairdressing Consortium (BHC) ensuring the industry is represented cohesively for the first time by all professionals working in the sector and feeding back on industry concerns at government level. Hellen is also a member of the Finance & Governance Committee for the Hair & Barber Council.

Hellen was appointed Chair of the hairdressing arm of government initiative Trailblazers from its inception in 2014 until 2018, leading a group of industry specialists working with HM Government Department for Business Innovation & Skills and the IFATE (Institute for Apprenticeships) in recommending on the framework of Apprenticeship education in the hair and beauty industry to ensure trainees are job ready from the employer’s perspective.

Hellen was the first fully-serving female Chairman of the Fellowship for British Hairdressing, chairing the Finance, Council and Events committees from 2014-2016. She was also appointed the inaugural Beauty Ambassador for the NHBF (National Hair & Beauty Federation).

At the helm of the largest and highest grossing independent salon in the UK, Hellen’s expertise has seen her share her knowledge in her series of 3 text books written for the City & Guilds Diploma in Salon Management (equivalent to a foundation degree).

Best-selling for over a decade, the series remains the go-to management solution for any progressive salon in the sector, incorporating her best practices and management strategies into easy to implement programmes.

Hellen recently created the digital, updated version of her series. The HW Blueprint contains all the detail of the original books but with the latest information - all explained in her trademark clear and concise manner, but in webinar format. The series of 3 comes complete with a workbook to accompany each module, including worksheets, checklists, case studies and action plans for salon owners and their senior leadership teams.