AMERICAN CREW ALL STAR CHALLENGE 2021 AUSTRALIAN WINNER
Stephanie Pfalzgraf Kings Domain Melbourne
The American Crew All-Star Challenge brings more than 20 years of brand leadership and history, consisting of individual in-country judging panels to select national winners, annually, who then move forward to participate in the Global competition. Stephanie Pfalzgraf
Barbershop Editor Rex A.C. Silver caught up with the 2021 Australian Winner Stephanie Pfalzgraf
Firstly congratulations on winning the Australian competition and Wow!, the first female ever to do so! How does that double title feel? Thank you! I’m feeling really grateful for this opportunity. For me, it’s not so much about titles. I’m not chasing any form of validation because of my gender, or to prove what I’m capable of. I simply enjoy the process of creating and like to explore different mediums to express my thoughts/reflections. I paint a lot, take photos - obviously, I do hair - sometimes I write. I just dig the creative journey. I like to think that I’m here to disrupt and being the first female to receive this title is honouring. Contributing to the change, I like to see is invaluable. Opening up different perspectives and perhaps new ways for others is indescribable. We are finally stepping away
from - in my eyes - meaningless ‘norms’. No one should get reduced to their gender or sexuality with regards to their capability, intelligence nor strength. We are all humans at the end of the day, we all have the same worth. There is also no such thing as winning or losing for me. People get caught up in a race, which they create but does not exists. So, they envy other people’s success and happiness and wonder why they feel miserable. They chase something which starts from within. What makes me happy doesn’t mean it will make you happy and vice versa. I see this as an opportunity to grow, to expand my horizon, to explore within myself and I would like to share this with everyone in the industry since we all learn from and with each other. Please share your Barber Journey with us… It just happened, perhaps a fortunate coincidence. After highschool, I studied Graphic Design, finished my studies, worked in it for a little and decided to leave Germany and go on an adventure. After a few months traveling through Southeast Asia, I decided to take a break from Graphic Design. Came to Australia, had a few more adventures, and still no clue what I’m going to do with myself. When I arrived in Melbourne, I got introduced to Pavlos and Carmel Divitaris (the founders of BIBA). Without Pavlos and Carmel, I would not be here
42 Barber Shop Year 10 Issue 3
