Black Owned Business Spotlight - J's Barbershop
Every February, Canadians are invited to participate in Black History Month to remember and honour the legacy of Black Canadians, past and present. To celebrate, we are putting a spotlight on J’s Barbershop in Fairbank Village and the journey of Jessie Simmons, its owner.
Owner of J’s Barbershop - Jessie Simmons
J’s Barbershop has been open since 2018 and is owned by Jessie Simmons. He did not start off wanting to be a barber, it was just a hobby he had, cutting his friend's hair until his school basketball teammates suggested taking up his hobby professionally.
Jessie considers himself an entrepreneur first and a hairstylist second. As the art of barbering came to him naturally, he turned this skill into a business because this was his ultimate goal. He used a skill that he felt confident and comfortable doing every day and made a business out of it.
Jessie studied marketing at George Brown college and he said, “I was cutting hair at a Barbershop part-time. As I was going to school for business, my love for the crafts just kinda grew. As I spent more time in the barbershop learning and perfecting. Perfecting and honing my tools, honing my skills even more. My love for the craft or art form just grew.” With his business, he feels like he now has the opportunity to merchandise, help his community, and present opportunities to others.
Jessie pinpointed two challenges faced when starting a business. The first challenge was securing enough finances to start his business. He said “took some time it wasn't much of a difficulty. It was more of ‘I'm going to have to buy enough time’ to be able to accumulate the amount that I needed to get my business going.”
The second challenge was his experience in hair school. He had found women's hairstyles difficult. He explains, “because I focus so much on the men's side of things for so many years. So going back to school after I finished school for business I went to an apprenticeship school so I went so I worked in a salon and then I went to trade school for about 6 months.” He says going back to school once he graduated to get his hairstyling license was a challenge and an adjustment.
For hair school, Jessie explains “throughout my experience there was only a section of hairstyling school dedicated to black hair. Anything that you learn in class has to be extended after you finish so they kind of give you the basics. Then you have to do your research in order to develop your craft at a higher level.” He said this goes for barbing as well, as in hairstyling school students are more educated about white female hair. Jessie believes that “in a perfect society everybody should know how to do everything.”
Now because of COVID-19 J’s Barbershop is 100% different. He says, “It has changed significantly since we are a barbershop and we have not been able to open up. What we can do at this time is use our social media platforms to kind of interact with our clients. We try to extend that community presence that a barbershop brings within a community, so just reaching out to clients. Keeping lines of communication going is the most important thing. A lot of people come for a haircut but at the same time to come to express how they feel at a particular moment in time. Whether that be in a new job, an exam, wedding, barbershops and salons are places where I think people can express themselves and share different life experiences with their stylists or service provider.”
With all that is going on Jessie stays motivated. He explains “the ability to own a business doing something that I love and doing something that I can constantly grow from. Because there's no ceiling once you own your own business I feel like. Entrepreneur, you create the ceiling and you create how far you want to go. Just being affiliated with the BIA of Fairbank Village I feel like it would allow me opportunities to help People within my community as well. The further I go I feel like more opportunities will be granted. I want to help others like myself, members of my community, help them shine and grow and achieve whatever they want to achieve.”
When asked to give advice to black youth aspiring to become entrepreneurs, Jessie gave some words of inspiration and suggestions that could help one's business: “Any black youth that wants to start their own business I would say first and foremost never be discouraged. The dream that you have is never a bad dream. Secondly, plan things out, write things down. That helps me throughout my journey. Sometimes subconsciously we think about what we want to do like we want to do this, or we want to do that, and the execution of these things is the element that is not visible. So I feel like once you start writing things down subconsciously you kind of made a contract or a commitment to yourself. These are the things I want to do and I feel like your actions will align yourself in a way to prioritize your goals and the things that you want to achieve.”
“First, don't be discouraged. Secondly, write down your goals, write down your vision, and write down your plan. Thirdly, just break them down into tasks and then review them. So kind of just creating smart goals, which are specific, measurable, attainable, reachable and timely.”
What is the key to a good lineup?
Keep things natural. Use your comb or brush before you use your trimmer to brush down all your loose ends. Just clean up the extra hair on your hairline with a comb or brush as you use your trimmer to keep everything engaged and liner. You want to use your eyebrows as markers to maintain symmetry. This makes sure you do not go too far back or allows you to see if you are not doing enough.
We encourage you to shop locally and support these businesses. Consider ordering take-out, shopping online or for curbside pick up, or making a phone appointment. While hair salons and tattoo shops are currently closed due to COVID-19, you can always leave them a google review or check out their work on social media.
Check out J’s Barbershop on Instagram @jsbarbershopto and Facebook @JSbarbershop. Link to their website https://www.jstoronto.ca