When Milla graduated high school, hairdressing was not an option. Growing up, Milla would sweep the floors of her mother’s salon Total Bliss – it was a chore to her. She says, “I wanted nothing to do with it. I hated it.”
It was a bad job in retail that had made Milla, who was 18 at the time, reconsider her resistance to hairdressing.
To Milla’s surprise, a one-day trial had turned into direction.
Milla enrolled in TAFE to get her certificate in hairdressing and found a natural ease for learning the craft. She says, “I’m hands-on with everything and I think with mum owning the shop, it was a lot easier for me.”
Three years out of TAFE, Milla settled into the groove of the industry, built a clientele and all signs were pointing toward a regular career trajectory.
At 23, Milla was only a decision away from changing everything.
Coming out of lockdowns, Milla was itching for change. She thought to herself, “I can’t keep boring for the rest of my life.”
A great personality - you have people lining up. It ’s who you are and what you attract as a person.
It was in TikTok that Milla sought after this change. She was bored by the most popular videos. She wanted to see creators like herself, she wanted to create hairdressing content that she wanted to see.
Setting up the tripod in the shop and filming client consultations and results became the focus of Milla’s online presence but it was her personality that got engagement rocketing.
10 seconds was all Milla had, she considered, to draw people in—she knew because she experienced it herself. Milla’s Hair Diarys, her TikTok handle, is a platform where Milla’s playfulness and charm shine.
Milla says she has a formula now – she hooks us in with the unexpected. A banger between her and the client, a fake reaction to clearly unfinished hair, a shocking sentence that stops our scroll in our tracks. While her videos don’t always land for some, others love it, but what is more is that both sides of this audience engage with her. Whether expressing their dislike, or in on Milla’s joke, the young hairdresser’s TikTok had the right components for a viral video. Like she had discovered with hairdressing, Milla had a natural command for content creation.
Milla’s growing internet following was translating into her work. She says clients more and more came to her from TikTok. Her online presence became a tool to show clients what Milla could offer, not just in hair results but in the experience of the appointment.
Milla says that clients look for more than just skill. She said if you have “a great personality, you have people lining up. It’s who you are and what you attract as a person.”
Milla’s unique personality has attracted continual career growth and inspired an entrepreneurial spirit within her.
When her mother closed Kembla Street’s Total Bliss, Milla worked on a rebrand. She wanted to build a community base that could support other creatives like her who wanted to work for themselves. She decided on a rent-a-room model, but it proved difficult. Milla says she endured an arduous process finding the right home for the business, setback by unfit places and Council restrictions.
Yet, hope came for Milla after over a year of trying to realise her vision. Only a few streets over from where she got her start as a hairdresser, a space on Auburn Street came onto the market and Milla was sold.
Blonde Denm in Wollongong CBD is a “creative space”. Milla says she wanted a name that could “embody everything” from the mix of services that would be offered at the studio to holding space for future goals for Milla like fashion. In November 2024, the studio opened its doors and Milla’s tenacity continues to thrive.
Two years on from starting Milla’s Hair Diarys, the account has reached over 30K followers. Surprised at her own achievements, Milla says she is learning to move the goalposts.
Milla is creating community, online and in real life. A mother/daughter hairdressing duo, a service aimed to “treat clients as best friends”, a refreshing approach to social media and a studio of interconnected services, designed to be “safe space” for all – Milla’s career is for others as much as herself.
Milla’s not afraid of ambition, “I want an empire, not only for myself, but for when I do eventually have kids. I want to show them that, being a woman, you can do it on your own.”
Follow Milla at @millashairdiarys on Instagram and TikTok or visit Blonde Denm.
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