Today we’d like to introduce you to Leonardo Garay.
Hi Leonardo, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a 16-year-old boy who had won the battle against cancer when my father died. Leaving my brother Carlos with a very big weight on his shoulders to play the role of father. Carlos used to work in construction but learned to cut hair in Honduras so soon he got a job in a barbershop where the owner was a woman named Nony in this barbershop I got my first job, I worked sweeping and meanwhile, I looked at the others barbers work and so I thought, I would learn a little, my weekly salary for sweeping was $ 70 dollars, it was not enough for my age but what responsibility would I have at 16.
Later, my brother realized that the pay was not enough to stay so we decided to try our luck with Nabby who was another owner of a barbershop, there all the money was for my brother and of course, I started trying to cut hair at a station on the corner of this new barbershop that was almost invisible to customers and it was the last option for clients (of course, if you didn’t want to wait you could pass VIP with me). I did not charge for my work because was terrible at cutting hair, despite this, I and my brother felt comfortable because we saw progress and prosperity in our lives so much so that my brother bought his first car. But one day, Nabby asked me to leave the barbershop because it was hard for me to learn and he got tired of me.
His words were “you will never learn; you were not born for this” and those words echoed in my head without stopping. I remember that Carlos came out and looked at me with eyes full of hope and said “Brother, we are going to open our own barbershop.” My brother stayed there for a few more months but I had to go and look for a job, I found a good man who gave me the opportunity to try it on my own for the first time. This job gave me wings and I started to trust myself. I bought my first car a 2005 Honda that was not the best car but it filled me with joy to know that it was mine.
At the time, my brother saw my performance and proposed a big step to me, to “Open our own place.” I doubted it for a minute but I trusted my brother and with $2000 dollars in the bag and many dreams in mind we decided to rent space not very spacious but we had to be on a budget, stations? No!! Karm Store has three kitchen cabinets for $20 each. Little by little people found out that we would open a barbershop and they helped us with furniture, painting chairs and soon the barbershop was ready to serve people for $12 dollars a cut, people arrived wholesale that we had no time for anything, just to cut hair.
We were the best team, I couldn’t be more proud, but people kept coming and we needed a bigger place to attend so many people so some store owners offered us a more spacious place next to a grocery store and we accepted, of course, it is a newer and bigger place so we have to offer something more luxurious I thought! We remodeled the kitchen cabinets and painted them black to be a little more up-to-date. The new place was a blank canvas with white walls and a concrete floor that we call “Garay Barbershop”.
The first step was to recycle the old paintings that someone donated to us and we painted the walls, a friend helped us to put a floor, even though it was not all the same color. But it helped to make everything even and smooth, we wanted to go a little more seriously and bought our first barber chairs on Amazon for $200 dollars each we had everything ready we just needed something a license! We thought it was not something that difficult to get, so a very kind young woman rented hers for $300 a month. Yes! She cheated us out of a cosmetology license for a while, but I forgave her. Everything was going the way it had to go until “the city arrived” due to a citizen complaint to inspect the barbershop and they caught me cutting hair without a license.
My fine was not the worst part if not the fear I felt. The city victimized us at least three times by catching me and my brother working without a license and fining us consecutively, going to barber school was a future talk but not because I did not want to, but because I did not realize the importance of it, after graduating from high school, I took a few months to work and think if this was what I wanted to do so, I took the decision to get my license and go to school.
At this point in my life, I had to pay half the rent for my house, for the barbershop, my car, and school, and I was barely 19 years old, everything was progressing once more as it should until my brother gave me the news that he would move out of the state due to family problems and because he could not be in the city anymore. In less than a month, my brother left me with so many responsibilities, at the same time, that I did not have time to feel his absence for 19 years; I ended up paying two rents the light bills and now I had become in the head of my new home the last months before graduating
I have them so engraved in my mind because I thought they were so bad that they were never going to end I got to the point of changing coins to be able to eat and keep everything together and balanced. I was not in my best moment I was attending school from 9 am to 7 pm in this way I would graduate faster and work from 8 pm to 12 am because I always had to take money home and pay my debts my dark circles revealed my concern and emotional and physical fatigue but I always had the hope in the depths of my soul as clinging to me as my own skin. When I finally graduated, I filled my lungs with air and I couldn’t hold back my tears I applauded myself!
That night I had no money to celebrate my achievement but the weight that fell off my shoulders paid for everything that night Barberia Garay died and “Fenix barbershop” was born I threw the dead weight of my first Barbershop out the front door, I let her go with my brother and my old self in this way, I would reborn with the barbershop, it was again my blank canvas and this time it would be something that represented me from head to toe, the process was a bit faster because I had raised the price to $20 per cut and I could afford that luxury.
Fenix was under construction from December 2019 – May 2020. On May 8, 2020, Fenix finally opens its doors totally legal and free from the past giving new opportunities to both myself and my Barbers. Fenix has brought me to where I am, and wherever I go I’ll take Fenix’s Barbershop with me. The day I found out that Fenix was fully authorized to receive the public I took a minute in the bathroom I looked in the mirror and said to myself “The lion has been released from the cage.” Fenix made me realize how repressed I was, by not being able to have total control of situations and realize that in less than one year
I did more by myself than four years of working with my brother. When I was 16 years old and charged $12, I never imagined that people could pay me $100 just for the cuts I make, and that they would prefer my barbershop over the others and that my presence and my work would be admired by someone else. Outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, visiting other cities and being so interesting to people is something I still can’t describe. I’m not where I want to be yet but I’m happy I’m not where I started. A long road awaits me and it may be difficult but I know it will be easier than the road I have already passed.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of my biggest obstacles was focusing and keeping more than one thing afloat at a time, I was the main provider of money in my house, at the same time, I had to keep the barbershop afloat and survive on the little money I made in three hours working, dividing that money in house payment, school and rents.
Not having my family nearby and not having a guide in that course of my life was very hard for me because I had to learn and forge my own path that was full of mistakes and pain, over time, I realized that at the end of the day myself was all I had and that no one was responsible for my path more than myself.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a barber here in Knoxville, TN. I specialize in men’s grooming and artistic hair designs and I’m known as the most creative barber in Knoxville. I’m proud of how far I have gotten in life and overcoming all my obstacles, I think what sets me apart is my determination to accomplish my goals and dreams.
Pricing:
- Leo signature $50
- Kids haircut $40
- Before/After hour adult haircuts $100
- Before/After hour kids haircut $80
- Off day appointment (Sunday) $120
Contact Info:
- Email: Leonardogaray57@icloud.com
- Website: https://www.fenixbarbershopknox.com/
- Instagram: @Leog_the_barber @fenix_barbershopknox
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fenix1919/
