A LETTER TO MY
YOUNGER SELF Matthew O’Doherty
Dear Matt, You won’t know it at the time but your Mum sending you to the Barber to get a haircut because “no-one will give you job looking like that”, is actually going to change your life! You tell the story about your Mum’s distaste for your current hairstyle to the Barber, and he asks if you can sweep hair…the rest is history my young friend. 35 years on you will still be sweeping hair but from a differently fuelled passion. A passion that will evolve and form from your life experiences. Experiences like travelling the country as musician, you will edit a magazine, you will own and sell a business that employs 20 people, become a business trainer and an Equestrian coach, all your interests and passions will be fulfilled all the while, you will still do hair throughout this journey because you love it. People will be the common denominator in all your ventures, because of your love to connect with others, and make a difference. You will meet, educate, mentor and become friends with some of the most successful Barbers and Hairdressers in your generation. You will travel the world and see great hair industry shows and conventions and be involved in many governing bodies of the hair industry. You will reinvent, discover and search for new passions within this industry, and you will find them. The skill set your career in the hairdressing industry gives you, will prepare and enable you to do many things in life, some with little success, but some, with great success indeed. You will teach, guide and inspire a new generation of young people to this craft, the craft you love so much, and that will be your greatest privilege and reward to do so, even though life’s ups and downs as those experiences will make you stronger. You will help others with their careers and teach them through lessons you learned from your mistakes, and triumphs! Trust me, their lives and yours will indeed be far richer for the experience! So, strap in young Matt, it’s going to get bumpy, but you make sure you enjoy the ride! Don’t be late to work on that Thursday after school for that opportunity with Craig, the barber, it will shape your life! Yours, Matthew O’Doherty.
