7daystheory: Ayesha Harris is the creator and owner of the Ninth Chapter Barbershop o
7daystheory: Ayesha Harris is the creator and owner of the Ninth Chapter Barbershop on Fairfax in Los Angeles. She is a living embodiment of the 7 Days Theory as she loves what she does and is consciously growing her business to include the wellness of her community. We sat down together at the High Standards Agency Showroom in DTLA… peep game below: Enrico Moses // WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Ayesha Harris // I’m from Long Beach California. My family is from the midwest - Chicago & Gary, Indiana. I moved to Brooklyn when I was 25 and lived out there for a few years. What brought you out to New York? Life, actually. I had never been. Never visited… never nothing. So I went out there… and New York was rough. I got robbed within my first couple weeks I was out there on a home invasion. I was also in a 5 alarm fire a few months after that. It was rough until it wasn’t. It was like… I didn’t know nothing about dressing. I was like, “If I wear 5 tank tops and tuck them all in”. You know like a beach girl, it was rough. But, New York was good. It really molded me, like my hustle. Like, “If you ain’t working baby you might as well go back home.” So I lived there for 4 years, then came home. What were you doing out in New York? I was a personal trainer and instructor. I did that for a long time. I had a private studio. And when I came home, I injured my knee. There were many catalysts for me coming home, but one of them was, I just couldn’t do that type of work anymore. How did you hurt your knee? Instructing… I was a cycling instructor. Yeah, just doing too much you know. HOW DID YOU START CUTTING HAIR? I injured my knee and so I came home. I always cut hair, but a friend of mine thought that I should get into it full time and you know: go to school, get licensed, blah-blah-blah. I wasn’t against it so I did it. I ended up going from liking it to loving it. I worked at a barber shop for a couple of years, a very reputable spot called Legends Barber Shop. I learned a lot from that team and then branched off on my own. I decided to stay in the Fairfax district and we’ve been rocking ever since. SO, YOU’VE BEEN OPEN FOR 5 YEARS? It will be 5 years at the end of this year. CONGRATS! 5 YEARS IS A BIG DEAL IN KEEPING A BUSINESS GOING. It ain’t no joke. It’s a lot of sacrifice. TALK ABOUT THAT SACRIFICE… WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OBSTACLES YOU’VE HAD TO OVERCOME TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW WITH THE SHOP. It’s a lot of sacrifice of social time. You know, you can still go out… but, you’re trying to dedicate all of the time that you have to the betterment of your business, of you. Cause you gotta be strong, you gotta be right, you gotta be in shape. You can’t worry about who you’re hanging with. You gotta keep your circle kinda tight when you’re trying to develop big things. And I’m a very social person, but sometimes you just gotta be like, “I can’t go out.” Or, I can’t give myself the mental capacity of the social ills. You know you can get wrapped up into something so quick… you can be talking about something for 2 hours. You can be scrolling on the gram for HOURS… you know what I mean?! [Laughs] I STRUGGLE WITH THAT. We all struggle with that… but try to mitigate it as much as possible so it doesn’t form your actual day. And change the outcome of which you think. WHAT DO YOU DO TO DEVELOP PERSONALLY TO BETTER YOURSELF? I try to relax my thoughts. I try to keep my thoughts stimulated. You want to set a goal, you want to hit a goal, and then move on. You don’t want to keep flickering too much, you know? I try to have quiet time. And I have a barber shop so, I’m always talking, talking sh*t, laughing, smoking weed, you know… just perusing with your clients, having a good time… event planning, all these things you want to do to bring people to your space. So, how I keep going is through being quiet. Me and my lady like to keep things easy. We turn up, we get lit and whatnot. But, I really designate my time… because I can’t. [laughs] You’ll be burnt up. Especially in this city, it will never stop. You know, I’ve dedicated time to the club… I punched my card in baby. [laughs] I’m on break so… THAT SPACE IS IMPORTANT. SO, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THAT SITUATION OF KNOWING YOU NEED SPACE… WERE YOU ALWAYS LIKE THAT? HOW DID YOU DEVELOP THAT? Even in my peak of really going out I still always required a little quiet time. I’ve always kinda been that person. But, as I got older… As I saw dead ends… I started to try to cultivate my mind-space. I started reading key books that really started to stimulate other thoughts. And when you start to stimulate other thoughts your atmosphere will start to change. That’s just what happens, you know? And so with developing and choosing to develop myself… you know, it was a choice. Not because I want to be cute, or do this or that, but like, “you know what? I should develop something that I will thank myself for in a couple years for now.” Not just next year, but a couple years. Something that’s mine… you know? Something where I can have a branch out to my community. Being a black-queer-woman, there are plenty of people to branch out to. YOU HAVE THIS AMBITION… LIKE GOING OUT TO NEW YORK, STARTING YOUR SHOP; WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU GOT THAT FROM? IS IT SOMETHING THAT WAS FROM YOUR PARENTS OR SOMEONE WHO WAS IN YOUR LIFE? Parents, for sure. My parents didn’t own businesses in the past, but they’ve always been very self assured. HOW DID THAT LOOK WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP? It looked inviting. It looked very different than what I was seeing around. Seeing other people’s parents (without shame or judgement) go off on a coach at the school. [laughs] It was always some parent going crazy. And the, watching my mom in a verbal altercation with someone using no curse words… no nothing. Just, “I’m gonna break you down properly.” You know what I mean. And then seeing my mom cussing someone out and being like, “there’s two sides to each thing and knowing when and whom you’re talking to. Remembering those moments and using them for my benefit. Seeing the things that they’ve accomplished and watching them. My father was a Black Panther and he is of his community. He lives in Long Beach, still. Very much still involved with his community. He runs a sobriety house for people who are getting their lives back on track. And he’s 21 years sober. Watching that if you work towards something, towards a goal no matter what it is… you indebted the universe to you. The universe got whatever religion you subscribe to. It’s and indebting system. You gotta put it out there so it has no choice but to come back. So, that’s what watching that in my family, watching my aunt… she’s been an entrepreneur her whole life. Really, watching pockets of people in my life was like, “oh- this can be done. You just got to work.” So then I just pick and chose when I was growing up knowing I have to pick and choose. Like I could bullshit for a while, but then I gotta work. And that’s exactly what I did. YOU WERE TALKING A LITTLE BIT ABOUT RELIGION… HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL MAKEUP? It’s layered. Only having watched so many people close to me and so many family members. Like, my father is a Muslim… my aunt who’s like a mother to me and God Bless, my mother is passed on, she’s very much a Christian. My other aunt is a Jehovah’s Witness. If I sit here and think, I can think of some more shit… you know what I mean? [laughs] I was watching beauty in everyone’s walk, and also watching the divisiveness in it, and the manipulation of it could sometimes get in the way. So, I try not to let it get in the way. So I could kinda take from everybody’s walk, but I’m not of any religious art form, besides from my respect for nature and what not. THAT’S WASSUP. SO LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR SHOP FOR A LITTLE BIT… HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SHOP? Warm. Inclusive. Relaxing. Inviting. Safe space. Especially for black folks. Because there are these debates about, “You’re gay, or you’re a black woman, you are a woman. What’s first?” Well, I know for sure I’m a black woman first. People can kinda try to figure out if I’m a queer woman. And everything that comes with that… the beauty that comes with that… and being able to express that. We don’t always have those spaces… public spaces. Yeah I can go to my homegirl’s house and talk whatever. But, it would be nice to be able to walk in and know we are respected. We have this thing where we replace the word, “bitch” with “queen”. I’m not saying that we’re perfect, but we try to create a space where we are safe. People have been beating us down… we are the butt of everybody’s damn everything. The energy is, “Come here and drop your shoulders a little bit.” You know what I mean? And just know that you can vent, you can do whatever, because we’re not going to judge you… you don’t have to whisper. Us being on Fairfax avenue. And a lot of places that are corporate, that appear urban… we about the blackest thing crackin’ on Fairfax Ave OK? [laughs] Not in an exclusive way but in, “You can come in and we’re not changing nothing for anyone who walks in.” THAT’S WASSUP. SO, HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING THAT? Good. I’ll just leave it at that. You know? We need stuff. We need to stop being afraid of what we are. You know? You’re not afraid of being a man. I shouldn’t be afraid of being a woman. I shouldn’t be afraid of being whatever. And my business should be able to reflect who I am. With no regards, just… this is it, come in and have a good time. I LOVE THAT. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE, MAYBE A YOUNGER VERSION OF YOURSELF… OR SOMEONE WHO’S LOOKING TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR… WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THEM? Just start working. I hear a lot of people say things like, “once I get my business plan going.” I’m just now retroactively getting my business plan together because I’m going to open more shops. Don’t let this paper work get in your way. Get it done. Work on it. But, that should not stop you now from moving forward. Period. There’s no money at the bank, so you should start working and start to gain the attention of people that have more resources than you do. Because the only people that are going to come through, is not Bank of America… it ain’t Merrill Lynch. You know, it’s gonna be other people. It’s gonna be people who are from your community that are willing to invest in you. That’s the community building we talk about… recycling these dollars. It’s not about anything but that. So, I would say, “Go to work… all the time.” I think people, whomever you are, have these ideas and these words and just have the wrong definition of them. Like the word faith is a verb. [laughs] Faith is in action. So if you have all the faith in the world that you’re the best basketball player, great… no one’s gonna know that in your room. They gotta see you do it. If you have all the faith and you take that out and you go and you do whatever you can do so people see you do it… and people are watching you… and people will come help you. Do it with no money, with no nothing. Just do it and people will give you money. THAT’S BEAUTIFUL. YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT SOME OF THE BOOKS YOU’VE BEEN READING AND YOU TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR PARENTS. WHO ELSE OR WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN AN INSPIRATION TO YOU GROWING UP? My grandmother, God bless her. She was just so, like this nucleus. Like, little planets would float around her effortlessly. And I saw the value in that. My grandmother for the most part of her life was a quote unquote housewife… but, she was way more than that. You know what I mean? I realized that in order for life to really have some value you have to have some people around that love you. You gotta have the core people there. And if you don’t have that, find it and create it. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR GRANDMOTHER DID TO CREATE THAT FOR HERSELF… WHAT WAS IT ABOUT HER THAT CREATED THE NUCLEUS? I don’t know if she even tried, it was just her. She grew up in a big family and she moved to California from Kansas, then down to San Diego. I know it was definitely about forming her own way out here. She had 4 kids. My grandfather, he was in the Navy and he was like, “I love you and all of your 4 children.” And, they got married and had more kids of their own. And forging maybe her own path. Everyone done came to California because Grandma was here. You know what I mean? She laid that foundation so that those type of things resonate with you as a kid and you don’t even know. And having that undaunting support just is like, “Let’s go!” You know? Always. Yeah, so you did feel like it was a chance. Like a risk… cause it was just like, “Yeah. What else we doing? Let’s go.” HOW CAN PEOPLE SUPPORT YOU AND BE A PART OF WHAT YOU’RE DOING IN THE FUTURE? Really just, come get a hair cut. Bring people you know… come to our events. We got a lot on the horizon. We just got a new space, we have a brand new back area. I’m preparing to open up something else outside the shop… a night club or something similar. I’m working on a school right now to give some of my broke comrades a job… you know? [laughs] Some of my community members. Some of these kids out here. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE TEACHING AT THE SCHOOL? Barbering. And, everything that comes with natural hair. You know? Cosmetology.Barbering just changed my life. Because it’s such a lucrative position with so much flexibility. You still have the ability to have blank space. You know? And a lot of these kids… and I’ll just focus on the black-queer community… you would be surprised how many kids are getting kicked out onto the streets. Just for nothing. And let’s not get into trans kids. You know? It’s like a whole other wave of kids hitting the streets. You know? Committing suicide. For reasons like, the hopelessness of not having residence. You know? So once that starts going, hopefully early next year, we are starting right now… we’re starting these programs so you won’t have to do that. It’s a recession proof job. [laughs] Everyone needs a haircut. And we have an all female staff. It kinda organically happened like that, and now everyone in the staff is really good. I was in the shop like, “Huh.” Cause as a female barber you have to be better. You know? They ain’t fuc*in with you if you ain’t… you know what I mean? And all of a sudden I was like, “Oh snap! I got a staff of hittas up in here.” Yea so, it’s good. It’s not a gay barber shop like… straight men don’t come in there like, “oh, there’s nothing but men”. It’s just you ain’t gotta be all tight. You know, you go into a barber shop and people like, “don’t step on my shoe ni**a , who are you? Oh you want a cut, I’ll fix you up, whatever.” You know? RIGHT. SO Y'ALL BRINGING IN A LOT MORE OF THE RELAXED WARM VIBE? Relaxed. Yeah, we have a 420 vending machine in the back that got Quality Concentrates… My girlfriend works for that company. We have a little mini bar. It’s really cool… like, easy peasy. You know what I mean? Hot towel service… razor finish… wash your hair. More featured comforts for men. You know? Take your average male, whether gay or straight… you know, usually just kinda goes to the barber shop… just kinda gets it done with nothing extra. Well, what if I gave you a hot towel with the little aroma therapy with a softer touch. ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU WANT TO SPEAK ON? Believe in your ideas and thoughts. Your thoughts are valid… I can speak to who I am. We, as black women, we need to realize that our views are valuable. We are always sh*t upon. Yet, the most exploited. “You’re awful, you're awful looking. Yet our faces our plagiarized constantly. Our everything you know? So, we have to look in the mirror and be like, “We’re beautiful. And, our ideas are beautiful.” Start there first. I would say just have 2 months of just get massages, relaxing, writing, journaling… like, “Ok, I am a valid human being and these are my valid thoughts and these are my ideas.” And then they’ll start to flow. You won’t feel stupid. Or feel like, “nobody’s going to like that.” Because you need confidence. People can only root for you as far as they’ve gone. You know what I mean? So it’s like, they can only believe it as far as their mind will let them. So, bless their heart. There are certain tools people are trying to pull out of each other, but they don’t have them. So, I would say if anything… make sure you’re focused on who you’re hanging out with not because they’re bad. But, because you need to be around people and individuals that are doing better than you. So, that you can talk to them and pick their brain. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to be the best Olympian, you might need to hang out with who’s the top chef… so you can see just what they’re doing everyday. RIGHT. I THINK THAT’S SUCH AN IMPORTANT TOPIC… WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE POSSIBLY HANGING WITH SOMEONE WHO MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST PERSON, BUT IT’S LIKE, “THAT’S MY HOMIE. THAT’S WHO I GREW UP WITH. THAT’S MY HOMEGIRL”? HOW DO YOU SPEAK TO THAT? BECAUSE I THINK SO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE STRUGGLE WITH THAT. Work. Because that person is going to be like, “Aight then.” [laughs] It’s the passive aggressiveness of just working… that you don’t even have to say nothing. Because they don’t want to work. And if they do want to work, now you might inspire them. Great, now your homie can kick it. But if we kick it, just know I’m working… FYI. You’re giving them a choice. You don’t have to always lead by example and be some trailblazer. Don’t force yourself to be something that you don’t have to be. Just go to work. THAT’S WASSUP. I APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH. THAT WAS AMAZING, QUEEN. My pleasure, King. -- source link