Tabatha Coffey Takes Over: INTERVIEW

Tabatha Coffey has shocked and delighted TV viewers since she was voted fan favorite in 2007 on the hairdressing reality series Shear Genius. After that came her Bravo spin-off, Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, in which the no-nonsense lesbian entrepreneur helped the owners and staff of failing salons make a turnaround in only a week.

After a grueling year in which she nursed her mother through cancer and then eventually lost her, Coffey is back with season 4 of her show, only now it’s retooled and renamed.Tabatha Takes Over, which premieres tonight at 10 on Bravo, finds the blunt but captivating business owner taking her brutal honesty and tough love rehab not just to salons but to a variety of struggling businesses around the country, from a B&B to a frozen yogurt joint. Two such ventures are sure-to-be-queer California businesses she makes over: Ripples, an LGBT dance club in Long Beach, and Barkingham Palace, a West Hollywood doggy day care.

We caught up with Coffey to talk about the new season, losing her hair, her mother's death and the superwoman myth.

SheWired: Tell me about the retooled series.

Tabatha Coffey: We've expanded Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, so now it's actually going to be called Tabatha Takes Over, and I'll be taking over not just salons, but other small businesses.

Is that something you suggested to Bravo? How did that come about?

Honestly, I just had great support from fans out there, and a lot of the people that watch the show are not hairdressers and don't have anything to do with the industry. People would stop me all the time — and I know they would tell the Bravo people as well— and they’d say, “I wish you took over this and I wish you took over that.” Bravo decided that it might be fun to start taking over other businesses, and I was open to the idea.

What do you like about this new format?

You know, I'm a hairdresser, but part of what I really love about the show and really love about what I do is to help people, help them get their businesses back on track and help them look at things differently. So for me, I'm really excited about the challenge of going to other businesses. I really do believe that business is business and the rules apply to a lot of different businesses out there.

One thing that I love on the show is that you go back and visit six weeks later to see if they stick with it. But I was reading on your blog, you have revisited some of the businesses a year later.

Yeah, you know I really take it seriously. I keep in contact with a lot of the salon owners and the stylists. I run into them at hair shows, a lot of them reach out and email me, and we talk and they tell me what's going on. So I love hearing how they're doing and I love hearing how they have continued their success — or even surpassed what they thought they could do to their business. So it is always so much fun for me. Especially this year because on tour with the book, I went to one of the cities that I went to previously and had taken over salons there, and a lot of the stylists and owners came to my book signings and it was great to see them and hear their success stories and hear how great they are doing.

What's surprised you the most about doing the show?

I'm always surprised by the resistance to change. I think change is really hard for all of us and I think it's something that we resist. I guess I'm always surprised by the resistance because obviously things aren't working; by the time you call me in, it's not working, and to some people I am their last hope because they don't know what else to do and they need that fresh set of eyes. So the resistance is always so surprising, because if someone can show you a better way to do things or a different way of doing things, and that's going to have benefits and positive changes, why wouldn't you do it?

Do you think there is a great fear of losing control?

A huge fear of losing control. And I understand that. I think we all can. And again, I think by the time I'm called in, people really have lost control and they’ve fallen so out of control that they really don't know how to get it back — and that's scary within itself.

You lost your mother a year ago. Has this been a difficult year for you?

It's been an incredibly difficult year. It's definitely been a journey.

Can you tell me a little more about that?

Sure. I think it's such an interesting thing. I took care of my mother because she was ill. She had cancer, and I wanted to keep her at home and actually take care of her, which was a journey unto itself.

More on next page...