SPOTLIGHT on RICKY ZIZZA
Changing Lives for the Better This is the first installation in a new permanent feature in BarberShop where we shine a spotlight on some remarkable people in our industry and celebrate how Barbering changes lives. No two Barber Stories are the same. This issue we meet an incredibly talented young Barber who came from very trying beginnings to say the least, he valiantly rose above great obstacles to be who he is today. An award-winning Barber and Educator, Brand Ambassador and visionary of programs to help those from similar backgrounds in the future, and that’s just his professional life! *Some people may find some parts of this article difficult to read
LET’S MEET, RICKY ZIZZA… I want to share my story so if anyone out there is going through what I went through or similar events, they know they can keep pushing and that they can achieve great things.
Growing up was quite an experience and I know that everyone has their story and their own motivation and lessons for the actions they take, and I guess this is mine. This is more of a story of what shaped my mind and my motivation to who I am today and why I will not stop pushing to grow not only in my career in Barbering that I love so much, but as a person as well As a young kid my family was torn, and I was surrounded by drugs, abuse and violence plus much more. My parents were great, but they had to make some decisions with their career that were not favourable to say the least, but they did everything they could for us. When I was 10yrs old my father died in my arms and that is something I will never forget, I always remember him saying “you can do more “and that stuck with me. Not long after that my sisters and I were all taken away and split up to different homes due to my mother at the time obviously suffering from the loss of our father. I remember bouncing from home to home many, many times and everything from abuse to being neglected with a few gems here and there, but overall, it was a terrible experience, and I was very lost as a child I remember one time after school, a friend of mine asked “can you cut hair?” which I had never thought about, so I proceeded to do it and honestly, it wasn’t great but there was something that made me want to get much better at it. I occasionally did his hair a few more times after school. Fast forward to high school, I was a very angry kid and struggled with 44 Barber Shop Year 10 Issue 3
school, but I had a great group of mates. We were about 14 and started doing a few cuts from home on the weekend to be able to fund things we were into back then; shoes, clothes etc. At around the age of 15 I finally found a great foster home; the last resort home for kids who get out of detention centres for youth etc. but some people that really helped shape me for the better were Dan, Kate, Ash, Lisa, Dottie, Jenny, Pete and Ross. Once I left that foster home I unfortunately went on an extremely bad downwards spiral drugs, fights, parties you name it. I lost many of my best friends to suicide or overdosing. When I was about 18, I got into a serious altercation and got sentenced to 6 months in prison due to this, but the weirdest part was when I went in there, I saw almost everyone I grew up with and some people that I knew from my childhood. Right then and there in that moment I wanted to change, and I wanted to break the chains. I wanted to be someone to help change lives not only for others but myself and my family as well. Weirdly enough I did a lot of cuts in there and that’s how I gained a lot of respect from quite a few people. Once all that was over, I got a place back home in Yeppoon and really started focusing on getting better at cutting hair with what I had at the time. At some point cyclone Marcia swept my entire town to pieces and I made a decision to move to Brisbane and had the mental support from Dan and Lisa, whom I mentioned earlier. After getting turned away by many, I came across this little shop in Enoggera called AT. Hair. They gave me a shot as a hairdresser and gave me a massive boost, launched my career and much more.
