Jacquie Horgan

Jacquie Horgan teaches the New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing (Professional Stylist) (Level 4) programme at our Whakatāne Campus, bringing more than four decades of industry training experience to Toi Ohomai.

Jacquie began her education career at Premier Hairdressing College, before joining our legacy institute, Waiariki Institute of Technology, in 2000. Over the following 10 years, she taught hairdressing ākonga (students), delivered training to HITO apprentices, and later moved into the position of Sector Manager of Hairdressing within Waiariki’s School of Trade Training.

Jacquie left Waiariki to open her own business, Jax Hair Studio in Ngongotahā, just outside of Rotorua. There she provided salon services, trained apprentices and served as President of the Bay of Plenty Hairdressing Association. Next, Jacquie joined Salon St Bruno in Rotorua where she worked for 10 years while maintaining strong links to training and assessment. She returned to our institute, now called Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, following the merger of Waiariki Institute of Technology and Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. She was based at our Rotorua campus for two years before moving into her current role at the Whakatāne campus.

Jacquie’s professional achievements include multiple industry awards, training apprentices who’ve gone on to own their own salons, and serving as a HITO Assessor and Moderator. Along with holding multiple hairdressing qualifications, a key milestone in her career has been developing a business plan that led to the establishment of an off-campus training salon for hairdressing students who provide salon services to customers in Rotorua.

Jacquie says her teaching approach is practical, visual and supportive, with theory integrated into hands-on learning.

“Hairdressing is a great career! It’s a trade that you can do anywhere around the world. I’ve been doing hairdressing for 44 years now and I still have a huge passion for it. I love sharing the trade with up-and-coming hairdressers and seeing where their career takes them,” she says.