Kolio Parata- Lamusitele

I originally had moved to Auckland to study health sciences in 2015, after a few years and

course changes, I had slowly come to realize this place wasn’t for me. Instead of moving back

to Whangarei, I had to put some thought into where I wanted to be and what I wanted my life to

look like. I had come across an advertisement for a barbering course at Servilles and thought

“Why had i never considered barbering”. I was the guy in the group constantly watching the

precision of the “crispiest line up” videos all over social media, or watching all the different

cultures embrace their curls. With no plan, money and the small bit of the “20’s” energy I had left

in me, I was suddenly taking a tour through Servilles Academy

I was met with ambition, motivation, an overwhelming feeling of passion and a man with a great

beard. During my barbering course, I had 2 tutors with strong hairdressing backgrounds as well

which translated to a wider scope when viewing the industry. Instead of focusing on perfecting

the best fade, I was molded more into a Stylist who thinks of every different angle to approach a

service. I was always like a Meerkat peeking over the mirrors to see what the hairdressers were

learning that day, and on occasions my Tutor and I were sitting in on some of these lessons.

The open environment and constant flow of creativity in that building was definitely a big factor

in deciding to pursue this industry.

around every corner, why would people drive past 6 other shops to sit in your chair?”. She was

right, so instead of trying to compete with other barbers, I decided to upskill in a way that a small

percentage of barbers would. So 11 days after my Barbering course finished, I found myself

already enrolled and sitting in a Salon support Hairdressing course. During both of these

courses, I was ignorantly declaring that I would be a curl specialist Barber and Hairdresser and

have the very best curls in the world. At this point I wasn't aware that such salons and

barbershops weren’t a thing, but upon learning this, it still didn't stop me from saying it.

And this is the crazy part, 7 months into my Hairdressing course, I was hired by

UrbanKurlStudio and they were an EXACT image of my dream goal. A salon that lets me work

on barbering (In fact they encourage it and market it hard on socials) and they taught me

everything i need to know about curls.

Suspicious huh?! 1st try for a dream job. Crazy. Anyway, 3 years later and I'm more motivated

than ever.