It´s good to be here with you today. Let´s start with why did you choose the beauty profession?
I don´t think professions are chosen, there´s something inside of us that´s more likea calling almost. There are some things that have purpose that we love, and there are some things that have purpose that we don´t love. Working with my hands is some-thing that
I do love, so the profession kind of chose me, you know what I mean?
I do, and I am sure that is a big part of your success. Let me ask you, how long have you been doing hair?About 17 or 18 years, a long time.That leads me to my next question — (who are some) mentors in your life?Yes, there was a major guy that most people probably wouldn´t know or know of, he used to be in the Hair Olympics, Dominick Cornell. He was an old school Mafia guy — an amazing avant-garde stylist. He used to have a class on Mondays at Cit-rus, advanced styling. Because I was ahead on my thermals and shampoo sets they let me go to this class and I was the only one in there, so I go to spend some really intimate time with this guy. He was like World Champion three times in a row when they used to have the Hair Olympics.
My next question is something I´m interested in and I think our readers will be too. I under-stand that you do Halle Berry´s hair?
Well, I used to. When I first met her, I cut all her hair off. It was the first time somebody, espe-cially in the ethnic side of show business, was wearing “short and sexy.” I did her hair for about 9 years, up until the movie Swordfish, after that she wanted to re-invent herself. They were making wigs of that haircut, and after that she wanted a new identity, so she started wearing extensions. I don´t do extensions, so I haven´t been doing her hair for about 4 years now.
How important is communication with your clients?
Communication is tough, because you are not only dealing with their hair, you are dealing with relationships. These people are going to incor-porate you into their lives and you´re going to touch them. Sometimes I´ve been to the point where they want to commit to a change and you have the opportunity to help them make a change. If I can have a conversation that is meaningful apart from what you see, and make an impact on what you don´t see, then you change things little by little. We can only change the world we can touch, so the communication thing, like sitting down with your client and talking to them about what you want to do to them and why you´re doing it, creating a relationship, that´s where we make a difference, so communication is 100%, everything.
Can you give our readers that are new to the business any tips on how they can get started?
Make sure you love it. If you don´t love it, don´t waste our time, don´t waste the business´ time, don´t waste your time. You know what I mean, because if you don´t love it, you´re not going to go far in anything. In this business you´ve got to love it, there´s too many downs before you go up, and even when it´s up, if you don´t love it, then why are you doing it?
Where do you look or find your inspiration to get up every morning and do hair and create?
Before I was creative, my inspiration was to make a difference and have an influence in the business.
Is there anything specific that motivated you to do that?
For me, I used to hear things I thought were wacky … but what truly inspired me was the interaction with the people, definitely the money, 100% the relationships.
I wanted to live my dream, I never thought about being an icon, so what inspired me was that everything I touched seemed to turn to gold. With my whole life, just being progressive, being able to travel, and get paid for doing the things I loved, that was my inspiration to get up and say, “I love this.” And it doesn´t even seem like work.It´s very inspiring listening to you.
What´s the hardest part of your day?
Like my business partner Victor says, trying to get our staff to recognize that they are living their life for a purpose, (that´s the work side of what I have to do) is helping people to see it that way. To be so passionate about what you do that even if you are not getting paid, you are still responsible for what you are doing. There is always a reward side of it. In our circle we always say either you´re proud of it or you paid for it, that´s how you live your day. I can make enough money to buy anything I want, but if I make something, being creative, then I can sit back and say, “Wow that´s amazing,” and still be compensated in a different way. So you´re either proud of it or you paid for it.
You are a very passionate person. Let me ask you, what type of music do you prefer?
Two types — something that makes you move and something that makes your spirit move. I like music that can disconnect me from my body and I can close my eyes and say I went somewhere, that I´m in his presence, that it´s amazing, life is. Then to open my eyes, get back in my flesh, then rock my head, like my body is listening also, anything along those lines. I´m not a country fan, I´m not too into hard core hip-hop. I like reggae, and it´s probably the oneI listen to most. Rock, soft rock — they´re cool, and definitely inspi-rational music is a big thing in my life.
You have such an extensive background in our profession, do you have a styling tip or something you do that you could share with our readers?
My greatest advice or tip I would give is to keep it simple. It´s the most elegant, it´s the most amazing, and it´s the hardest, because we are trained so much, we have all this extensive know-how, but we don´t know when. So knowing when to use it and just enough makes a big difference. You don´t have to use braids and high-lights all over the place, you just have to know when to do what, and that would mean keeping it as simple as possible.
What are your future goals?
One of our biggest goals is that we want to inspire people; on top of that we want to have other businesses that can help inspire people to build their dreams.It´s been an honor spending time with you.
You are someone who cares and shares, and in my opinion that´s what it´s REALLY all about. Thank you.
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