8 minute read
Changing Lives for the Better – Ricky Zizza
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
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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. 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.
Obviously being so close to the army barracks I was doing a lot of men cuts. During this time my mother passed away and this was probably my lowest point mentally, but it also pushed me to want to do more.
I did my double apprenticeship trade certificates at the Brisbane School of Hairdressing and the Brisbane School of Barbering
As I was learning, and because the shop is close to the army barracks, they would always give me the men’s cuts as they knew that I gravitated towards that and had a keen interest in Barbering. A few boys are still my clients and friends to this day.
So, I kept doing everything I could to focus on every weak point I had and did my absolute best to improve on that; a method I am still using to improve myself to this current day. I believe it’s something that we will always do - push ourselves to be better than we were yesterday.
My bosses and manager and my good friends Alex, Harry and Sarah started encouraging me at one point to compete in the Brisbane Expo for men’s cutting and to my surprise I won, I came 1st! That’s where I first met Mark and Vicki from iCandy Scissors Australia. They gave me a set of personally engraved shears to celebrate the achievement, which I still use today. My flame grew even more then and I transferred into Barbering and completed a double trade Cert 3.
During that period, I was honoured to meet Paul, Gaye and Kirbz and the team at Andis Clippers Australia, they saw what I had to offer in Sydney when I was competing.
A few months after that I got a call, and it was Paul asking if I was interested in helping them at the Brisbane Hair Expo. I obviously was going to do what it takes to be there I had been working so hard to try and team up with them. The entire team was amazing.
After the event I got asked what my goals were and following a few discussions, to my shock they offered me the opportunity to be an Australian Andis Clippers Ambassador with a future opportunity to be an educator, which has always been one of my goals. I definitely took them up on that offer as I use Andis and love the company and what they are about.
Fast forward again, I had the honour of doing many demonstrations for Andis, even doing the Queensland grand release of my favourite clippers the Cordless Masters and teaching some incredible people. Sharing the stage with amazingly talented barbers such as Anthony Staltari, who I have become great friends with, and Shella Thornton who also has a shop in Brisbane, both are international educators for Andis, but also, I have become good friends with many of the Andis AU, UK and USA teams from Baldy, to Sean Casey. It’s a great family. I have many more goals with Andis, which hopefully one day I can share.
Also, I have recently been approached by Mark from iCandy Scissors Australia and now I am one of the iCandy Scissors All Stars. iCandy also have many extremely talented and inspiring Hairdressers and Barbers on their team. It’s great honour to be a part of that incredible crew! Mark and Vicki Konrad over the years, have shown support throughout my career, from the very first time they met me and I am very grateful for that.
So, what I would say to someone that maybe going through similar things in their life or have feelings/thoughts with some internal demons… Don’t let your past determine who you are or what you can achieve. In every situation in life there is a lesson to be learned, good and bad. How you react to those lessons will determine who you are by how you take the next step. Choose wisely. was a great transition because you find that a lot of the different techniques from hairdressing can be used in the craft of barbering. It’s also great to see a lot of clients getting experimental with their hair trying new things, colour and style wise!
Currently I’m a sole trader at Chop Spot studio so that essentially means I can be my own boss, pick my hours and allows time for content creation on my personal projects as well as the flexibility to educate and when things improve, travel and educate. It’s a rent a chair situation which works perfectly. There’s an incredible crew at Chop Spot, talented and more of a family vibe, which I love.
As for my future goals, Well…. It is my dream to be able to educate globally but more importantly I want to have a foundation for foster kids and kids out of juvenile detention centres. Here I hope to change lives and teach them about a career that I believe kept me alive through hard times and has offered me the opportunity to share my work with like-minded and talented people across the world.
I want to not just be a Barber, but I want to change lives for the better.
