15. Ameet Kallarackal: Leadership, AI and the Future of Salon Discovery

[upbeat music] Hey, everybody. Welcome to The Connector, Intercoiffure's weekly podcast connecting salon owners and professionals with the leaders, artists, and innovators shaping the future of the professional salon industry. I'm your host, Gordon Miller, General Manager of Intercoiffure America-Canada, the industry's only not-for-profit association representing employment-based salons across America and Canada. To learn more, head over to intercoiffure.com, and while you're there, watch for the pop-up to sign up for our weekly newsletter. It's free, keeps you up to date on everything that we've got going on at Intercoiffure and some interesting info, uh, articles, of photos, more. Um, yeah, go check it out. Um, to members, the Fall Atelier is right around the corner. It's in New York City October second through fifth. Yeah, it's just 15 weeks, and if you're not a member, shoot us a note. We've got a, a bunch of slots available to special guests, and, uh, we'd love to see you in New York City if you happen to qualify. Um, more on that on the website. So, uh, today my guest is Amit Kalrako, Co-founder and CEO of Glomatic, a company that is helping salons rethink digital discovery and marketing, um, in an increasingly tech-driven world and industry. At just 30 years old, Amit has quickly become one of the industry's emerging leaders. I'm putting that label on him. I've, I've gotten to know Amit over the last couple years and am most impressed with pretty much everything he's done. Many of you have seen him on the Intercoiffure stage over the past few years. Most recently, Amit was the opening keynote presenter, kind of a big deal, at Salon Today's Data Driven Salon Summit. Welcome to the Intercoiffure Connector podcast, Glomatic's Amit Kalrako.

Thanks, Gordon. Good to be here.

It's good to have you here, um, always. Um, I've gotten to know you over the last few years, um, by way of Intercoiffure really. I wanna say to the audience, you know, that you have really grown into, I, I think, um, not only a great presence in the industry and, and your company, which we'll talk about, but I, I see you as an emerging leader in the industry, and we're gonna talk about leadership as, as much as we talk about tech and other things today. So kudos to you.

I really appreciate that. No, I think it helps to be surrounded by a lot of inspiring people in the industry and people who are really open armed and welcoming. So I've had a fast track and accelerated path because of everyone around me, but I appreciate those kind words.

Yeah. You have. So, so let's, let's talk about the quick version of your journey. Anybody who's heard you on other podcasts, and I, I had you on my personal podcast. Um, but, um, yeah, let's, let's talk 'cause this, it's... You took a fascinating left turn into beauty.

Yeah, sure did, and it's only been a two and a half years that we've been-

Wow

... fully in this industry, all in exclusively. So it has been... I, I feel like I've been here for a lot longer than that. [chuckles]

And I feel like I've known you longer than that. So it has been... It, it was really post-COVID then.

Yeah. You know, I started going to events before that, but I, yeah,