&THE TEAM
Educators, mentors, and industry leaders raising standards together.
Odessa Turner
Founder, Visionary, Educator & IQA
With over 17 years working across higher-level beauty and skincare, Odessa has built a career that spans practice, education, and regulation. She has worked as a practitioner, educator in both private and public sectors, a BABTAC Judge, a CIBTAC International Examiner, and now a Higher Level Beauty Associate with VTCT/iTEC.
Her experience stretches across clinical and holistic practice, global examining, and advanced education. She has retrained adult learners entering the industry, supported school leavers taking their first steps, and worked alongside medical professionals expanding into aesthetic skincare. This breadth has given her a rare, full-picture understanding of the industry and a clear view of where it’s falling short.
Working across clinics, salons, holistic environments, and education, Odessa began to see how fragmented the beauty, skin, aesthetics, and wellbeing sectors have become. Each discipline often operates in isolation, with limited shared understanding. Practitioners are left treating clients with only part of the picture, rather than an integrated, informed perspective. The need for better overlap, clearer standards, and genuine collaboration became impossible to ignore.
Across her roles, Odessa consistently met newly “qualified” professionals who lacked confidence, depth, and real-world clarity. Many had been rushed through overcrowded courses or heavily online programmes designed for speed and volume, not understanding. They entered practice feeling overwhelmed and unsure, not because they lacked ability, but because their training hadn’t prepared them properly.
For years, Odessa found herself mentoring these individuals informally, filling in the gaps left by poor-quality education and helping them develop safe, ethical, clinically sound decision-making. The same pattern appeared again and again.
The industry didn’t need another academy.
It needed standards, depth, and confidence not shortcuts.
This is why Beauty & Theory was created.
Drawing on her First Class Honours background in design, alongside her clinical, holistic, and global examining experience, and her learning experience as a CIDESCO, CIBTAC, and Advanced Apprenticeship graduate that had gained overseas working skills, Odessa created Beauty & Theory with all of this at the forefront.
Beauty & Theory has been designed as hybrid learning space where education feels considered, supportive, and grounded in real practice.
Beauty & Theory is not a mass-market training provider.
It is a boutique training centre.
A response to an industry that needs better foundations, clearer pathways, and stronger support for those seeking it. Built by someone who has seen every side of the profession; globally, clinically, holistically, and academically and understands exactly what needs to change.
Beauty & Theory exists to reset expectations.To rebuild confidence. And to shape professionals who truly want to understand what they’re doing and why
VICTORIA HOLMES
Lead Educator & Assessor
"Turning therapists into confident professionals through teaching that sticks."
With over 25 years in therapy, education, and management, Victoria brings deep industry experience and a teaching style that makes learning clear, practical, and confidence-building.
Her blend of real salon practice and a formal teaching degree means she bridges rigorous theory with hands-on relevance, helping learners truly understand, not just remember.
Alongside her educator role, Victoria now supports therapists with realistic social media mentoring. As a busy therapist herself, she knows the pressure of “needing to post” and specialises in giving salons, clinics, and working therapists strategies that actually fit into their day.
Professional, grounded, and always honest, Victoria’s mission is simple:
to help therapists feel capable, confident, and ready for the careers they want in treatment, in business, and online.
WINONA WHITEHEAD
Centre Co-ordinator & HR
"Empowering learners with empathy, clinical professionalism, and structure."
Winona first entered the industry through a fast-track course she did in a gap year - an experience that left her technically qualified but not confident, and heavily reliant on Odessa’s support to fill the gaps.
Determined to understand what her training hadn’t given her, she spent countless hours studying and honing her skills.
This lived experience now fuels her mission: no learner under her care will ever feel the way she once did.
Alongside her role at BEAUTY & THEORY, Winona works tirelessly as a Specialised NHS Sonographer, bringing clinical precision, attention to detail, and a deep sense of professionalism to everything she does.
She leads HR, recruitment, and all learner support, acting as the bridge between students, educators, and the wider team.
Winona ensures every learner feels encouraged, prepared, and fully guided throughout their qualification - with timelines and expectations that feel achievable, not overwhelming.
LINDSEY MCDONALD
Internal Quality Assurer (IQA)
"Protecting the weight of qualifications through rigorous quality assurance."
For two decades, Lindsey has led quality in beauty education. From brand educator to college tutor to on-set technician, she brings vast insight into both practice and assessment. As our IQA, she ensures every qualification we award has credibility and every learner is treated fairly.
