Ali Howat, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
From owning a small business to parenting her three children, Kristin Robinson never slows down.
Robinson was born and raised in Jasper, along with her family who have been here since the early 1900s.
Since her father, Herb, was a teacher, they also lived north in the Peace River area for a short while until Robinson was in junior high when they moved back to Jasper.
Robinson graduated high school early by completing most of her Grade 12 courses in her Grade 11 year.
After graduating high school, Robinson started her apprenticeship at Insignia Hair Salon at Jasper Park Lodge, where she has been working since she was about 14 years old.
Robinson then went on to complete her apprenticeship at Delmar Academy of Hair in Calgary for three months.
By the time Robinson was 18, she was a fully licensed hair dresser.
Once Robinson had completed her apprenticeship, she felt it was time to leave Jasper.
“I love Jasper. It’s a pretty awesome place to call home, but I couldn’t wait to leave.”
Robinson then went on to travel the world. From Europe all the way to Southeast Asia until she ended up in Australia.
While living in Australia, Robinson met her current husband. But after a decade of living in Australia, they chose to go their separate ways, and Robinson went on to continue travelling the world.
“I just love to travel and hairdressing was such a good trade to have for that because I could work anywhere.”
After leaving Australia and travelling a little more, Robinson found herself in Brooklynn, NY, where she worked at a barbershop in Williamsburg.
She worked in New York for a year but ended up back in Australia, where she decided to take a diploma for interior design in Sydney.
Once she completed her diploma, she moved back to Byron Bay and got back together with the love of her life, Tim.
Robinson’s parents ended up coming to visit in Australia, when Robinson and her husband gave birth to their first child.
While visiting, Robinson’s parents convinced her and her husband to come back to Jasper and help them build a new house.
“Let’s go for the adventure,” her husband told her. “We’ll go build this house then come back to Australia.”
The house that her husband was helping to build was on the same property as her parents, which was originally her great grandmother’s and is now the house that Robinson and her family live in.
Robinson’s parents, Herb and Anita, were the first people in Jasper who got approval to build a secondary house on their property.
On her way back to Canada, Robinson got in touch with her old boss from Insignia, who heard that she was thinking of opening another salon in Jasper.
Robinson had offered to help her old boss to get the new salon off the ground before moving back to Australia but in turn became her partner, and in 2016 their salon Trademark Hair Company had opened.
In 2017, a year after opening, they did another full renovation at the salon and opened up the spa at the Trademark Salon and Spa.
After the house was built and the salon was finished, Robinson and her husband decided they wanted to stop building, but they both felt they were missing the cafe culture they had when they were living in Australia.
So, Robinson and her husband once again started renovating a new space and in 2018 opened Sunhouse Cafe.
Shortly after recovering from her third baby, Robinson was offered yoga teacher training.
After juggling around with the idea of taking the course, Robinson decided that she would take it for her own practice and no intention to start teaching.
Halfway through her 200-hour yoga teacher training, Robinson realized she was enjoying it way more than anticipated and decided she wanted to start teaching.
Robinson then found an extra space at Trademark and started renovating it into a yoga studio.
Robinson has completed her yoga teacher training and is now a certified teacher and is currently offering classes online.
After completing her first training, she immediately followed it up with a 50-hour training course in yin and is about to do another 50-hour training course next month.
“It feels really cool to now be a business owner in Jasper and kind of to be giving back, especially since I was so keen to get out and spread my wings when I was 18.”
Robinson wants to express her gratitude to all the locals for their support of Trademark and her team, as well as her parents and her family who have been incredibly supportive and her biggest cheerleaders.
If you haven’t experienced Trademark Salon and Spa, Robinson encourages you to come down and check out the space.
Also, keep your eyes out for Robinson’s next project and collaboration.
