MichaelLevine.
One of Canada's most accomplished hairstylists, educators, and salon owners. He opened this school because he couldn't find one good enough. He's still behind the chair every week.
chair since
Thirty years.
Still creating.
Michael began his career as a hairstylist in 1993 and quickly realized his ambitions extended beyond building a clientele. He wanted to understand every part of the profession: cutting, colour, photography, education, team development, salon culture, and business.
From 1997 to 2000, he worked as an Aveda Purefessional in both cutting and colour, beginning a relationship with Aveda and its approach to artistry, education, and environmental responsibility that would come full circle decades later.
Together with his wife and business partner, Liz Abreu, Michael has opened 13 salon locations since 1998. At their peak, their salons employed approximately 50 people across three locations, many of them hairstylists trained and developed internally.
That experience revealed both the potential and the limits of conventional beauty-school education. Michael saw talented new hairstylists entering salons without the technical foundation, confidence, or real-world readiness required to build lasting careers. Rather than accept that gap, he decided to build the school he believed the industry needed.
He founded Vancouver Hairdressing Academy in 2011. What began as an independent alternative to conventional beauty education became Aveda Institute Vancouver in 2026, with campuses in Vancouver and South Surrey. The only program in Canada to bring Aveda and Sassoon education together within one hairstyling curriculum.