How A 27 Year Old Hustler Built A 23M Following From His Mom’s Garage

He describes taking barbering seriously as a calling he received at a crossroads in high school, and says that confirmation made the decision feel “above anybody’s opinion.” That belief helped him persist even when he felt uncertain watching peers take more traditional paths.

He recounts going to barber school from 8 AM–5 PM, then cutting in his mom’s garage from 6 PM–2 AM, repeating daily. He says he avoided distractions and kept himself in environments he could control (school/garage), which felt safer than being out in his hometown.

He says he met Dennis Smith Jr. while serving at a restaurant, approached him with a business card, and eventually cut him after months. He highlights Dennis’s response—wanting to help someone from the same city—as a formative lesson about opportunity and showing love back to where you’re from.

He says the pandemic forced him to ask who he was without cutting hair, since he’d tied identity and worth to his work. Out of that came a desire to combine his passion (cutting), purpose (inspiring), and voice—leading to free haircuts on the street as a “stage.”

He describes being nervous to do the first free-haircut video on Atlanta’s BeltLine and delaying for months, then reframing fear by focusing on “what’s the best that could happen.” He reports the concept took off quickly, including a week where he gained about a million followers a day for five days.