PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
Bette Pritchett, CPE
It is with great enthusiasm that I look forward to my tenure, once again
as President of the Texas Association of Professional Electrologists. I am setting goals for both myself
and the entire organization. I
believe that if each of us wants an active, interesting and motivating
organization we can double our
membership in the next two years. I
want each of you to make a concerted effort to locate uninvolved electrologists in
your area and invite them to attend our next educational conference.
Do you realize that the reputation of our profession is
only as good as the WORST, most educationally challenged persons who call
themselves electrologists? The
only way we can achieve the respect of
the public and regain our status as the only professionals doing truly
permanent hair removal is to have all
the electrologists in Texas be adequately trained.
It is unlikely that we can gain licensing in this economic downturn as
the legislature could not even justify funding a licensing board for us when
economic times were far better.
But we do have an avenue to
achieve the respect we desire. It is
through the certification program administered by the International Board for
Electrologist Certification (IBEC).
Through this program, electrologists who have minimal training can learn more
and be better electrologists. By
sitting for and passing the exam to become a nationally recognized Certified
Professional Electrologist, electrologists are telling potential clients that
they can depend on the service they provide.
We have the fewest CPE’s, per capita, of any state our size. We have fewer electrologists involved
in our educational programs as well.
In a state that is not licensed, such as Texas, the ONLY credential the public
can rely on, to know that the work is being done properly, is the CPE
credential. Once you achieve it, you
can charge higher fees because the service you offer will be greatly improved. With higher fees, you will be better
able to afford to attend more conferences and learn the latest, cutting edge
techniques, learn about new equipment, and gain advertising tips to help you
succeed in your business. And isn’t
success what all of us want?
To help you with this, I am going to suggest that we include an hour in
each convention for “officer training.”
It is my hope that this training will give you the tools and confidence
to hold a position in this organization and help us grow. For several years now there has been
one person holding this organization together with the assistance of one or two
others. She is Terry Adams. Terry is awesome to do the work she
does for both TAPE and AEA, but I know from experience that one person can only
do so much and that a strong organization needs a collective effort from all its
members. So please contact me if you
are willing to help TAPE achieve greatness in the world of organized
electrolysis. Together we can
produce a service of which we can all be proud.