Alli Webb founded Drybar in 2010 after spending 15 years as a professional stylist. She attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and began her career in fashion in New York City in the early ‘90s working for designer Nicole Miller. In 1996, Alli left fashion retailing to pursue her true passion – hairstyling. After training at the Toni & Guy Academy, Alli sharpened her skills as an assistant to celebrity stylist John Sahag, famous for his signature dry-cut technique. Having struggled with her own extremely curly hair, Alli was always in search of a great blowout but was often disappointed with the two available options – an overpriced blowout at a traditional salon or a less-than-desirable experience at a discount chain. After leaving the professional hair workforce in 2005 to start a family, she decided to find a way to continue pursuing the creative side of hairstyling at a new-mom pace. Alli began offering weekly in-home blowout services for friends, but her little side business quickly grew into more than a part-time gig. The business exploded strictly by referrals from loyal clients, which led Webb to the decision to expand her mobile operation to a physical location. The first Drybar opened in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles in 2010 and was an overnight sensation. Drybar has since expanded to 37 locations throughout Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, San Diego, Chicago, Atlanta and Washington, DC. Alli remains active in the business as the chief creative officer at Drybar, overseeing the hiring and training of more than 2,200 stylists across the country and leading the development of Drybar’s line of styling products and tools. However, that all comes second to the raising of her two little boys, Grant (9) and Kit (6) in Tustin, California, where she lives with her husband Cameron and beloved long-haired Chihuahua, Cooper.
Michael Landau is the co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Drybar. An entrepreneur at heart with a talent for branding, he has more than 20 years’ experience in building, growing and investing in new companies and innovative brands. Prior to co-founding Drybar, Michael was the executive vice president and co-founder of Ground Break Marketing, a full-service sales and marketing firm that has helped companies such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and The Plaza Hotel develop, market and sell mixed-use real estate projects around the world. Before that he was vice president of Brand Marketing at Yahoo!, where he spent almost 10 years in various marketing and management roles. When his sister Alli came to him with the idea for a blow dry-only shop in 2009 he quickly recognized the magical formula they could create and agreed to develop and grow her blow dry bar empire from the ground up. Despite his complete lack of hair, Michael’s instincts led him to believe that Drybar filled a niche in the beauty industry and was a concept that many women would respond to and love. The first Drybar location opened in Los Angeles in February 2010 and since then has expanded to an additional 37 locations in California, Arizona, Texas, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, DC and Georgia. Michael resides in Corona del Mar, California, with his wife Sarah.
Infuse Creative, founded by Gregory Markel, referred to as ‘one of the pioneers of SEO,’ has provided search engine optimization, social media, mobile, TV advertising, reputation management, security, and digital marketing services and technology to an extremely diverse range of clients comprised of politicians, celebrities, well known executives, governments, corporations and others for the last 15 years including notable names such as; Sony, Universal, Roadside Attractions, Mazda, Disney, Gibson Musical Instruments, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., Participant Media, Pacificare, The BBC, Ed Hardy, Led Zeppelin, Lord of the Rings, CBS, FOX, The National Geographic Channel, Transcendental Meditation, The State of California, Reality Executives International, and many more.
Former model turned entrepreneur, Ernest Sturm found a clever way to offer the best of the modeling industry for companies looking to add a fashion spark to their events. As a former model, he understood the instability of the industry, and founded Runway Waiters
As a seasoned and signed model that has been featured in television and the pages of Vogue, Sturm found the inspiration to bring out the business side of modeling.
With an understanding of the struggles behind finding modeling work, he wanted to create a workplace for models during their down-time. Whether in simple, sleek black uniforms or garnished by the works of designer clients the carefully hand-picked staff can range from bartenders to hosts to brand ambassadors. In addition to the practical purpose of the staff, Sturm has created a business that allows models to network and expose their talents to people otherwise unreachable.
His professionalism and savvy business skills have led him to work with clients such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Cavali, Dior, Diane Von Furstenburg, Elton John, Dalai Lama and many others. His company is the only company in LA, NY and Miami, working with models signed exclusively by some of biggest agencies in the world.
