By Joe Pflueger
Splash Intern

Profiles: George Brunt

George Brunt switched careers from the cutthroat world of powerful Southern California attorneys to an environment in which an office dance party breaks out every Friday.

Brunt, 36, left his career as an attorney with Payne & Fears Law Firm in Southern California, where he litigated for companies such as Boeing, Disney and Home Depot, to teach about cosmetology at the Paul Mitchell School in Spokane Valley.

"My favorite thing about working with students is that they are not jaded," the Liberty Lake resident said. "They start off not knowing what's not possible, so they set out and accomplish it."

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He didn't leave his career as an attorney for an escape, Brunt said. He maintains his law license because he still enjoys being a lawyer; it was litigation that he didn't enjoy.

He's always had a passion for education.

"Of everything I did as a lawyer, I preferred education," he said. "I didn't like suing people or fighting."

He started school wanting to become a professor and completed four years of ancient Greek and Latin language studies, which later came in handy in learning attorney lingo and teaching children about the New Testament at the LDS church in Liberty Lake. Once he found that he would need to complete a Ph.D. to be a college professor, Brunt went to law school to support his family.

He practiced law in Southern California, but when he realized he wanted something different, he went to his father for advice.

His father, who is now involved with Paul Mitchell, suggested he attend a Paul Mitchell School meeting. There Brunt met "people who were doing what they wanted to do with people they wanted to do it with," he said.

Once he was exposed to it, he realized the beauty industry can be positive and uplifting. He's especially partial to Paul Mitchell, he said.

"I love the idea of being an educator and building people up," Brunt said on a recent afternoon, sitting in his busy office and watching students work on customers' hair. "It's just a really positive, forward-focused environment, and I love that."

Brunt moved to the Inland Northwest from California with his children and his wife, Randi, who had attended Central Valley High School.

"And when I realized there wasn't a Paul Mitchell School yet in Spokane, I teamed up with a group that was going to go do a school here," Brunt said.

In November 2008, they opened the school with six students. Brunt, who never used a flat iron before coming to Paul Mitchell, has helped run the school as the director since then. The school now has more than 100 students.

The school's mission statement, "when people come first, success will follow," describes best what Brunt loves about his new career, he said.

"You don't step on people to get where you want to go, you put people first," he said.

Now he enjoys life at a slower pace, educating and handing the scissors over to his students to care for his hair.

"I let the students do what they want," he said. "With very little input I just say, ‘go for it' and let them do my hair."

And every Friday, the school turns the music up loud and has a dance party.

               Profiles: George Brunt

               Age
               36

               Family
               Wife, Randi; four kids

               Hobbies
               Play guitar, ride long board, Frisbee golf, calligraphy

               Song that gets you dancing
               Brick House

               First job
               Selling souvenirs at Anaheim Stadium for Angels and Rams              

               Worst job
               Same as first job

               Best subject in school
               English and language classes

               Worst subject
               Math

               Lived in Liberty Lake
               Almost two years