park avenue – Downtown Magazine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aayc4DUu25w

Macadamia Professional is known internationally for its salon-quality hair care, treatment and styling products that address the unique moisture level and styling needs of every woman. Its products contain an exclusive Pro Oil Complex, a blend of therapeutic Macadamia Oil and Argan Oil, rich in Omega 7, 5, 3 and 9 fatty acids, which deeply yet weightlessly nourish and repair hair from the inside out. Macadamia’s new The Sun Surf Collection also includes products with Olive and Coconut Oils, Sunflower Seed Oil and Shea Butter.

To learn more about Macadamia, Downtown caught up with Andy Rah, Vice President of Global Marketing for Macadamia Beauty. More on Macadamia can be found at www.macadamiahair.com.

Were you always in the beauty industry? Or did you start out on a different path?

Andy Rah: I started out in management consulting out of college, and I spent about eight years doing that. I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do in the long run, though, so I went back to business school to get my MBA.

How did you get your start in the hair care industry?

AR: I actually got my start in New York City, interning for L’Oreal USA working on the Garnier Fructis brand. I loved the industry so much that I took a full time job there, working on the L’Oreal Paris haircare brands for three years before moving to Texas to be closer to my future wife. From there, it just kept going as I spent five years with TIGI before ending up here at Macadamia Beauty.

Do you think that there are any misconceptions about proper hair care?

AR: Some people are trained to think that just because a shampoo is sulfate-free, it’s safe for their hair color. That’s not always the case — the surfactant system, which creates the lovely foam in a shampoo, whether it’s sulfate-free or not may be unsafe for color. There are a lot of variables involved; Macadamia Professional shampoos are all tested and proven to be great for color-treated hair. They do happen to be free of sulfates, parabens and gluten as well, but consumers should be careful and do more research to make sure they aren’t washing their expensive hair color down the drain!

What is a typical day like for you working for Macadamia Professional?

AR: I wish I could say it was all photo shoots and New York Fashion Week glamorous, but a lot of my role is making sure all of the details are covered. Working on budgets, in-store merchandising, promotions, social/digital/PR campaigns, e-commerce, planning for the future and trying to figure out where to take our brand next. We’re always looking for the next big thing to wow our salon and retail customers as well as bringing something innovative to our consumers.

What is coming up for Macadamia? Any new products? Partnerships? Promotions?

AR: We are coming up on summer, so we always feature our Endless Summer collection of products. We also have our liter-sized shampoos and conditioners for sale through our independent salon partners and premium retail partners like Ulta and Beauty Brands; definitely a great time to stock up! We just launched our Foaming Root Boosting Spray and our Thermal Protectant Spray earlier this year. Definitely more exciting products coming out in the second half of the year as well.

What is your favorite Macadamia Professional product?

AR: I think the Tousled Texture Finishing Spray is a must-have. You just spray it into the hair — not on it, but into the layers — shake your head, and voila, instant volume and texture! Gives you big Texas hair, without a lot of work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDCsHcqxtk

When not busy with Macadamia what do you like to do for fun?

AR: I like traveling, playing sports and most of all, cooking and eating. I have a six-year old daughter, Delaney, and four-year old son, Tristan, and they both make homemade pasta with me already. They love cooking because they see how much fun I have doing it. I was definitely an aspiring chef in a past life! Plus, I just love to eat.

Do you have tickets to any upcoming concerts or events?

AR: Whenever I am in New York, I try to stop in and see whatever show my niece, Ellie Kim, is in. Right now, she’s a swing playing seven roles in School Of Rock on Broadway. Her and the other kids are so amazingly talented, it’s unbelievable what they can do as a group of 10-year olds. I think my sister has been to the show about 30 times already!

Do you have a favorite restaurant in New York?

AR: This is an easy one: Wolfgang’s Steakhouse. I used to live a few blocks from the one on Park Avenue. The bacon appetizer and the Porterhouse steak are two of my favorite dishes anywhere. Wolfgang’s was started by someone who was with Peter Luger’s for a long time, so you know his restaurants are born out of one of the quintessential, original New York Steakhouses.

Finally, any last words on why you love New York?

AR: That’s pretty easy for me; being able to get anything I want to eat, whenever I want to eat it! Of course, the energy, vibrancy, diversity and the variety of things to do is unparalleled, but when I’m in New York, it’s all about the food.

Years ago, luxury buyers coming to New York would solely focus on residential properties in Upper Manhattan, especially the East Side’s Park Avenue.

With the emergence of luxury new developments downtown, this trend is changing drastically. Uptown’s most desired amenity, Central Park, is no longer enough to compare to the architecturally impressive new developments coming to downtown with their high-end, luxury amenities.

For example, Tribeca’s 111 Murray Street offers free-flowing, lavish social spaces offering residents places to relax and entertain within, including a patisserie, lounge and veranda, private dining room with fully-equipped demonstration kitchen and landscaped private resident’s garden. Residents will also enjoy large amenity spaces that include a 75-foot lap pool, children’s splash pool with interactive water jets, spa with private treatment rooms, saunas, a fitness center with movement studio, a Drybar hair salon, teen arcade, children’s playroom and a media room. Additionally, a carefully-crafted hammam made from slabs of stone will offer a truly authentic warming and relaxation experience steeped in the Turkish tradition.

New York is experiencing a revolution in the way people live and downtown Manhattan offers buyers modern, intuitive design that improves quality of life. Hudson River Park provides miles and miles of bike, jogging and rollerblading lanes — all unencumbered by dangerous vehicle traffic. Hudson River Park also affords miles of curated riverfront park and recreation, where Pier 25 in Tribeca is a very exciting place to be a kid!

Wide cobble stone streets, vibrant art galleries, sexy restaurants and trendy boutiques create a riveting lifestyle downtown. While Park Avenue has grown stark and enclosed by overarching skyscrapers, West Street offers sweeping views of the city skyline and open-air vistas of the Hudson River.

Older buildings uptown require maintenance and lack convenience. Newly-minted, Ivy Grad start-up gurus are living and working downtown in addition to hip millennial families. The revitalization of Brookfield Place has even attracted the fashion-oriented crowd, with companies like Condé Nast and high-end designers like Hermes Paris moving in next to financial heavy-hitters like Morgan Stanley.

The scene is young and thriving, yet offers older, uptown dwellers a new lease on life where they can be close to their children. It has become a true lifestyle destination and chic, upscale neighborhood. In fact, contracts for downtown properties over $4 million have almost tripled this year, more than any other neighborhood in the city. Pricing is up as well, and steadily-climbing. In 2008, 200 Chambers Street sold at $1,000 per square feet. For 2016, the cost for luxury buildings per square feet has jumped to $3,000, which we are currently seeing at both 30 Park Place and 111 Murray Street. Demand is high — there is simply no other way to live like this in Manhattan. For all of these reasons, everyone wants to live downtown.