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Caroline MacGregor: This is WEMU, and it's time for our monthly look at the business community in Washtenaw County. I'm Caroline MacGregor, and welcome to Washtenaw Business Lens. Each month, we partner with the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber to look at how the news of the day impacts the local business community. Andy LaBarre is executive vice president and director of government relations for the chamber, and he is, of course, part of each month's conversation. Thanks for joining us again, Andy!
Andy LaBarre: Caroline, thank you for having me with you! It's good to be back!
Caroline MacGregor: Today, we are speaking with Gerod Sturgis, who, along with his wife Stephanie, just opened the first barber school in Washtenaw County. Gerod, thank you so much for joining us here today!
Gerod Sturgis: It's great to be here, Caroline!
Caroline MacGregor: You started your first business, I believe, in Adrian, just as the pandemic began. Now you're in Ann Arbor, and you just opened last week. Tell me what inspired you, first of all, and what was your vision when you first opened your business originally.
Gerod Sturgis: Originally, I was working at a barber shop, and then they had to close down. When they closed down, I kind of pivoted. Then I went to the actual route of opening up my own barber shop. So I realized, "You know what? I'm actually carrying the weight here at this barber shop. I know that I can be able to handle this." And so when I went ahead and opened up my barber shop, it began to become so successful to the point where I realized that this is something that I really like, which is business and barbering. So, those two, hand-in-hand, kind of became my pathway to opening up my barber school because, in that process, a lot of people were coming to me and asking me, "Hey, can you teach me how to cut hair? Can you teach them how to cut hair?" I'm like, "Hey, I can't stop in my field of work to teach you, but eventually we can do some workshops and so on." But the pandemic came, and I felt like, "Hey, this is the perfect time for me to pivot."
Caroline MacGregor: Now, obviously, your graduates are licensed, and we talked about this a little bit before the program.
Gerod Sturgis: Yes, yes. A lot of people don't have their license, and they do operate in the field of barbering. The problem with that is a lot of them really don't really have an actual school to go to because there's not that many barber schools in the state of Michigan. So you're looking at maybe under 10 schools in the whole state of Michigan, including my school, is licensed to be able to license other people who want to become licensed as a barber. But the problem is a lot of people either can't take that drive to go to the schools or they're actually working or they have some type of boundary where they can't really make it to become a licensed barber.
Caroline MacGregor: Now, Andy, I just wanted to turn to you quickly. This is a first for Washtenaw County, isn't it, to have a Black-owned barber college?
Andy LaBarre It is, and it speaks to, I think, some of the cultural and racial realities that still remain in Washtenaw County. And it speaks to the entrepreneurial spirit that Gerod is putting to work, in terms of meeting both that service gap but also getting the next generation, if you will, licensed and able to translate that individual skill into a mobile and applicable economic pathway for them and for others. And it was so refreshing to hear both he and Stephanie speaking at the ribbon-cutting about this vision and this sense of using a business and a skill as a mechanism by which to help improve the options of other people around you. It was really both a great individual story, but also, I think, highlights that there's work to go. And the notion that Michigan has fewer than 10 barber colleges statewide, that sounds absurd on its face, and there's lots of reasons for that. But it's something to highlight and to say, "Boy, that is something we need to do to step up to meet that gap that exists." Gerod and others are doing it. I think his story is pretty remarkable on a human level.
Caroline MacGregor: Gerod, what does it take to become a successful barber? And how does the training you provide at Legacy set you apart?
Gerod Sturgis: Okay, thanks for asking. So, again, it's such a scarce industry, pertaining to as far as licensed barbers. And I felt to take it upon myself to step into what I call the blue ocean to be able to create an atmosphere and an environment for people to get licensed because of the simple fact that it is a pathway. And that pathway is entrepreneurship as well. And with that, you are able to come to our school for 1,800 hours, as you're there for 1,800 hours, which is kind of equivalent to anywhere from 12 to 16 months, to be able to get your license. But we teach everything from sanitation to disinfection to anatomy to chemical chemistry, as well as haircutting and hair coloring. And after you go through that, then you're able to operate on a clinical floor. You're able to work on the clientele that comes in. And from that part, you go to LARA, which is the state board, to be able to get licensed from what you've been taught. Then, our job placement rate is very high as well. We put people in barber shops, so they just don't come just to get an education, but we set them up with their legacy. That's why our school is called Legacy Barber College. So we're teaching real estate, we're teaching life skills, we're teaching taxes. A lot of people don't have benefits as a barber. So, we put that all within itself, so that separates us from everybody else.
Caroline MacGregor: So you have actually been wearing a lot of hats, so to speak. You've been a minister, an author and you had a fairly shocking experience that motivated you to starting a barber school. Isn't that correct?
Gerod Sturgis: Yeah, and I miss it all within the barbering as well. So, my story, kind of being pronounced dead on arrival from a drug overdose, it kind of launched me into this field because I ended up going on a 52-city tour. When I went on that tour, every time I come back to a job, I don't have a job. So, my second thing for income was barbering. And because of that, I was able to do and secure a place. So, that kind of opened up the ministry side of it, the author side of it, and the artist side of it, as well as the entrepreneur side of all of it.
Caroline MacGregor: So, you obviously take your students very seriously, as far as mentoring them, even beyond the actual haircutting goes.
Gerod Sturgis: Sure.
Caroline MacGregor: And I know that you've stated how you see yourself shapes how you show up. Tell me a little bit about your belief behind that.
Gerod Sturgis: Yes, I'm real big on identity. Being in the industry, we're basically image consultants. And so, if you don't see yourself successful, if you see yourself advancing, if you don't see yourself in an image where you can obtain it, then you're not going to be able to seize it. So, you only can seize what you can see. And so I teach people, "Hey, even though you can see things that look maybe adverse external, as long as you have a internal image, then you can be able to seize what you want to achieve in life."
Caroline MacGregor: Andy, how do you see this barber college impacting relationships within the community here in Washtenaw County?
Andy LaBarre: I think it's a resource that meets sort of the gap that exists in terms of that service provision. I think it's also an opportunity, Caroline, for greater awareness, I think, the last several years in terms of the intersection of fashion, appearance, race, business context, and social attention paid to both differences and universal sort of applicable values. Gerod's story tells in some ways a microcosm of the American story, as it relates to race and beauty standards and other things. And it's an opportunity here in Washtenaw County to close those gaps in the future. We have a workforce coming up event next Friday, the 16th, at the chamber, and we'll be talking about some of those resources that exist and do not exist in our community. Gerod's story is a great highlight to those sort of green shoots of individual entrepreneurialism, cultural awareness, and candidly just spirit to get up and make something succeed that we need to do a better job amplifying and replicating and building on.
Caroline MacGregor: Gerod, I just wanted to ask your thoughts as a Black business owner. Do you feel that your college will help build relationships and create more inclusivity in the community?
Gerod Sturgis: Well, I really feel like being not just the first Black barber school in the community, but being the first barber school period, that's history by itself. And success leaves clues. So, a lot of people will want to know, like, "Okay, what is this school about?" We have people from all types of ethnic background, different diverse areas, that comes to our school. We deal with all types, so, like former graduates from Lenawee County. We have people that was from Lebanon that have different backgrounds. And now they own shops. And just to see and hear their story and watch them employ other individuals as they send me clips and send me videos and send text messages saying, "Hey, you changed my life!" You know, I had another individual whose mom owns a salon in Adrian. She came back to thank me and was like, "I did not know what my son was going to do. I just didn't have no clue, and you literally changed his whole ZIP code!" So I appreciate that! But just to see him happy and see lives really change and knowing that I was a part of that, it kind of made me feel good because Legacy Barber College is not a cute cliche name: legacy. Yes, it means legacy, but at the end of the day, I want to be able to impact somebody else's legacy.
Caroline MacGregor: Andy, anything you wanted to add there?
Andy LaBarre: I just want to say I think the lessons here are to celebrate the success here individually and in terms of the model that Legacy can provide, but it shouldn't be this hard. We've got to do a better job in the community and in the state in terms of getting these real-life workforce skills accessible and easy enough to get and to act on in your life that it's not its own barrier. And I think just things like understanding how you navigate a regulatory system. How do you plan if you are individually employed for things like benefits and other things that sort of get maybe forgotten or sort of an afterthought? We can learn from Gerod's example here and build on it, but we've got to seize that opportunity.
Gerod Sturgis: Yeah. Because, again, to be aware is to be alive. And a lot of people aren't aware of these opportunities, and they're not aware that, hey, there is another pathway that I can't go other than the traditional way with college or they feel as though that it may be too hard to get into barber school or they just don't know. And that was very well said, and that's why I went on to as well as the workforce side as well because I'm endorsed with the United States Chamber of Commerce, with LEO, with the federal side of MARC programs to be able to do the apprenticeships, so that way, we can create a pathway so they're not locked out, period, whatever barrier that may be.
Caroline MacGregor: All right. And Gerod, I'm very curious to know about some of the competitions that your students enter. Tell me about these, if you would.
Gerod Sturgis: Well, actually, there's one coming up here on the 18th, 19th, and 20th in Grand Rapids at the DeVos Center. And we're looking at about anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 in attendance already.
Caroline MacGregor: Really?
Gerod Sturgis: Yes. So I'm one of the educators, as well, on the main stage, so I got like three classes. So all of my students, they go there.
Caroline MacGregor: And quickly, I also am curious about your teachers that are passing along this profession, as well as mentoring these people.
Gerod Sturgis: Yes. So, with that as well with the teacher's aspect, we have two men, as well as another lady, who teaches on the con side, dealing with the color and the different techniques on how to use iron, flat iron, heat, all of that. You know, relaxers. What's the difference between a relaxer and what's the difference between a perm? You know, things that you will learn at a traditional cosmetology school. We kind of have like a hybrid program where we do both. So you're not just leaving just knowing men's cuts. You're leaving to know women's cuts as well.
Caroline MacGregor: Okay. I know that you also work with the Sheriff's Office, and that, to me, is fascinating because you help people in the county jail as far as training them to become certified master stylists?
Gerod Sturgis: Yeah. So that's kind of made me have that move out here in Washtenaw County because, for the last six years, I've been working out on Hogback Road, dealing with the juvenile detention center. And so I do like programs with them with behavior and health programs, social/emotional learning programs. Then, I tie it in with barbering, so that way they can have a skillset. And then, with the jails, so when they do come out, I help them to get assimilated in life, so that when they're able to create a LLC, teach them entrepreneurship and then kind of give them a trade for those who are interested and then give them my pathway with a barber.
Caroline MacGregor: That is Gerod Sturgis, who, along with his wife Stephanie Sturgis, just opened the first barber school in Washtenaw County. Gerod, thank you for being here today to talk about the Legacy Barber College!
Gerod Sturgis: It's great to have me here! Thank you! Appreciate it!
Caroline MacGregor: This regular conversation series is brought to you in partnership with the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber. And each month, we also hear from the chamber's executive vice president and director of government relations. That's Andy LaBarre. Andy, good to see you again!
Andy LaBarre: You bet, Caroline! Look forward to next time!
Caroline MacGregor: I'm Caroline MacGregor. This is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU Ypsilanti.
ABOUT GEROD STURGIS:
Gerod Sturgis is a transformational leader, author and educational pioneer who helps people build a legacy and live a destiny that extends far beyond their name.
As founder of Legacy Barber College, he empowers students to take control of their lives, lead with purpose and create lasting impact for generations.
A certified life coach and mental health advocate, Gerod combines lived experience and faith to inspire change in schools, communities and prisons across the country.
His mission is simple: to help you rise, rebuild and design a life that leaves a mark for generations to come.
ABOUT ANDY LABARRE:
Andy LaBarre was first elected to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in 2012, representing District 7, located in the eastern half of the city of Ann Arbor. Andy is a proud Democrat. He served as vice chair of the Board of Commissioners and previously served as chair of the Board (2017-18), chair of the Ways and Means Committee (2015-16), and chair of the Working Session Committee (2013-14). Andy lives in northern Ann Arbor with his wife Megan (a teacher at Dexter Community Schools), son Declan, daughter Delaney, and dogs Monster and Frankie.
Andy now serves as executive vice president and director of government relations for the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber and is Caroline MacGregor's co-host for "Washtenaw Business Lens."
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