As a woman in this industry, you’re always doubted and tested & hardly given any recognition. In order to be respected in this game, you must apply yourself to the best of your capabilities at all times.
Barbering has given me an outlet from street life, gang banging, drug dealing, prisons and death.
I picked up the trade in prison in 2011 while serving a five year sentence suspended after ten years. I fought my case for two years before copping out to my last offer. I was looking at a sentence of twenty seven years plus for selling drugs in high volumes in Bridgeport, CT since my teenage years.
My parents both came from the West Indies (Puerto Rico) and moved to the states for a better life. I was born and raised in Bridgeport, CT. My parents raised me in an era where crack cocaine and heroin had taken over the streets. They couldn’t keep me from what was enticing to a kid without good role models growing up in the 80’s. My role model was the local drug dealer(s) and I say that with a smile…I don’t regret anything. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, it’s my life and my story. It was the life I was dealt and I played that hand to the fullest. In fact, I attribute my success to my life, the life I have lived, my experiences.
I didn’t graduate high school but I did get my GED and I attended a few colleges before prison. While in prison, I graduated college with straight A’s and to my surprise, I was on the Dean’s List.
In prison, I was fortunate to have met people that saw my potential, like counselors, teachers and even inmates. One was more influential to me. Pasqualina Cirillo was the vocational teacher in Y.C.I in Niantic, CT. Pasqualina’s best advice to me was “Leave the streets alone. It don’t love you like you think it does. Learn this trade and pursue it like it is the last thing in the world.”
Before I left prison, I lost my father and I have to admit that broke me on levels indescribable in words. In that darkness, I made up my mind to change my life. Upon release from prison I went to a halfway house. While in the halfway house, I encountered many challenges because of my criminal record. I could not find employment to save my life. I was considered “high risk employment.” Frustration was building & my mind started to backpedal (street life mentality). Then I remembered I had picked up barbering in prison and decided to go for it.
I began looking for barbering schools that accepted felons. I even did an internship through Workforce Alliance/Ex-Offenders program to pay for barbering school. That was a great experience, as well as working alongside the program Coordinator Freeman Holloway. Mr. Holloway wanted to help and found a school that would work with my record. Another person I’ll never forget (but not in a good way) is Glen Young…I did everything I was told to comply with the terms of earning the funds for school, but Glen Young was more focused on me not wearing my belt to his liking and denied me ever getting my funds for school. No love lost and actually I thank him because it pushed me to make the biggest decision of my life.
I moved to Maine. I was in a new relationship, had a new support system, and had a new outlook on life (Just keep in mind, “It doesn’t matter where you go, you are who you are & there’s no escaping you). I faced the same challenges with obtaining employment.
I found a job as a short order cook then another as a gas attendant but I didn’t feel free. I still felt as if I were living the life of someone in prison.
After a year of challenges mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and a year of discouragement, I finally found a school to attend two hrs away. I did it and traveled that distance during winter, the hardest season in Maine.
I have done the impossible to some (Change). I have reprogrammed my mind to do the right thing even when I want to do the wrong thing at times. I’m always fighting a battle within myself (street life, gang banging, fast money, women etc.) but doing what’s right will always prevail through repetition. They say trust your process & that hard work pays off. I now believe this.
After I completed school, I got a job immediately and have worked at this shop for 3 years. I took what I needed and left the rest… the do’s & don’ts & trial & error. I am now closing another chapter in my life and opening another Woodgrain Barbers. I can envision my victory before crossing the finish line.
A quote I live by written by Gia Marie Carangi goes:
“Life and death, energy and peace.
If I stop today, it was still worth it.
Even the terrible mistakes that I made
and would have unmade if I could.
The pains that have burned me
and scarred my soul,
it was worth it,
for having been allowed to walk where I’ve walked, which was to hell on earth, heaven on earth,
back again, into, under, far in between, through it, in it, and above.”
