DEC 2007: Multiple hairdressing champion Marcia Johnson met the next generation of winners when she returned to her alma mater, the College of North West London, to present awards.

Salon owner Marcia Johnson was the guest speaker at the College's Annual Awards Ceremony at Willesden - and it was a special plleasure for her to meet hairdressing prizewinners Melissa El-Banna and Deuzilene (Lennie) Coutinho. Melissa, 21, is a regional champion and won the Aston & Fincher Hairdressing Award for excellence, while Lennie collected an Outstanding Achievement Award despite English not being her first language.

Marcia also gave a big hug to the man she called 'my main inspiration' - head of hairdressing Peter Stonebanks, who first encouraged her to enter competitions in 2002.

The College's main centre is at Willesden, but the hairdressing salon is based in one of two blocks at Wembley Park. In September it relocated 200 yards nearer to Wembley Park tube station when it transferred from the College's Crescent House block to its Arena House block, pending redevelopment of Crescent House.

Before presenting prizes, Marcia delighted her audience with a colourful 'hairfest' display of some of her prizewinning avant-garde hair styles, including the five-foot tall Harlesden Jubilee clock hairpiece which now has pride of place in her shop Rougz in Finchley Road, Hampstead.

The red, black and gold creation was something she always wanted to copy because she has lived in Harlesden for 20 years and always admired the clock, said Marcia, who explained that it was built in 1888 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Earlier she told her audience, who included Brent MPs Sarah Teather and Dawn Butler and the Mayor of Brent Cllr Harshad Patel: "Follow your dreams and always believe in yourself."

"The College has helped me turn my dreams into reality. My being at the College gave me the confidence, the experience and the vision to move forward with my dream, which was to open my own salon."

"It was all my tutors at the College who pushed me in the right direction, and it has all paid off now with hard work and determination, and of course dedication." Marcia, who has two children, admitted that before she qualified in Hairdressing NVQ2 and NVQ3, she had two false starts. She enrolled at the College twice in the 1990s and for personal reasons she had to drop out – once because of problems with childcare, and once because she was too far behind to catch up.

But she added: "The third time I was so determined, I really focussed myself on getting my qualifications – I cut right down on my social activities and concentrated on my studies. Now it is an absolute pleasure to see all my certificates and trophies around the salon."

Nearly 80 awards were presented, including nine special awards and 35 Higher Education and Professional Awards.

Marcia has won eight national hair awards, including five this year, and opened her own salon a year ago. She studied Hairdressing NVQ2 and NVQ3 at CNWL from 2002-2004 and won her first award in 2002 and was also Student of the Year 2002.