Esco’s cutz an interview with Michael Escobar
“I just want to encourage you by saying that you can glorify God in your talents and passions.”
Meet “The Escobarber”: the guy behind the fresh cuts. His profession started a while ago when he saw his own barber in a career he loved, while being able to make good money. His barber was a guy who everyone knew and loved. He would interact with all his customers. Esco’s career all started when he was a freshman in high school, giving “edge ups”, what some call “shape ups” (back of neck, sideburns, and hairline). He started at the bottom, using cheap clippers from Walmart. He would experiment with his friends, and it didn’t start out pretty. He messed up a lot, but practice makes perfect! Esco’s clientele come from a variety of places. Before coming to the BI, Esco had a decent amount of clients. While he does try to go home every weekend, he has lost some of his clients from the shop. Here at the BI he has had a good amount of students come to him. He says last year he had about 60% of the male students come to him to get their hair done. While he really enjoyed that, this year he has taken a step back on the business to focus more on school. He wanted to commit more time to spending more personal time in the Word. When thinking of coming to the BI, Esco knew he wanted to have a shop in his room. So when he came for a visit two summers ago, he looked through ALL the dorms. He fell in love with the Philippines cabin because of the back room. He saw the potential it had to become his very own shop. By the willingness of his roommates, they let him use the spare room to create a different atmosphere, as opposed to the normal bathroom cuts. He wanted to bring professionalism, just like the students would have been used to back home. Esco had a heart to serve his fellow classmates, and even some staff members. He says it was a great way to get to know the students and make friends. He told us that he was amazed at how many shared their testimonies and at how many times he had the opportunity to share his own testimony. “God has brought so many people from various backgrounds and it’s amazing to see what God has done in their lives! To have the opportunity to encourage or be encouraged was priceless for me, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better than that to be in a barbershop! I have gotten so many comments from the guys on how awesome it is to hang out and wait around all day for a cut, just because the conversations were great and the environment was fun.”
THE JOURNEY 2017 82
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