In February 2019, I flew out to West Hollywood as a Future Professional at Paul Mitchell The School Wichita, one of several students selected to share our stories for a national campaign celebrating diversity. As a foreign student with English as my second language, chasing a career in this country wasn't always easy — but Paul Mitchell was a huge part of helping me chase that dream anyway.

On February 5th and 6th, I sat for portraits and interviews under the direction of Robert Cromeans himself, sharing my story for a feature in Paul Mitchell's national admissions brochure. A few months later, it landed in mailboxes across the country — my face and my story, printed in a "Career" spotlight, right there in the pages of something thousands of future barbers and stylists would flip through while deciding if this industry was for them.

It's a small thing in the scope of a career, but it stuck with me. Long before Rizo's Barber Studio existed — before Dodge City knew my name, before the chair was mine — I was just a student with scissors and a dream, and somebody believed that dream was worth printing.

To every barber starting out: keep cutting, keep showing up, keep believing your story matters. You never know whose hands it'll end up in.