QIANA ROBERTS

My name’s Qiana, I’m 25 years old and I was born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Five years ago I was living in Harlem, I just moved to New York and I was going to F.I.T. for fashion merchandising, which is what I got my degree in. But I have a lot of experience in sales and retail, just from working at different boutiques. Now I do freelance styling and I work at Opening Ceremony, in the Ace Hotel location. I think that helps me understand different body types, because every day I’m dealing with a different customer, not always the typical models that I deal with while styling. So I can get more of a feel for an every day person’s style, instead of just editorial. The first thing I do when styling is look to see if they’re comfortable in the clothes, because if they aren’t comfortable in what they’re wearing the photos are going to turn out awkward. I look for people who are confident in what I’m styling them in as well. Everyone I’ve met here in New York has influenced me, all my close friends play a big part in my personal style… I see our styles as not just clothes but an actual lifestyle.

We represent what we wear,

it’s not just something we put on as a costume.

So yeah I’m recommending MC Midori; I love her style, I feel she really just embodies it, it’s not an act, it’s just who she is and it’s really cool. And Jorge A.K.A Gito. And definitely JUNGLEPUSSY as well, even though she suggested me (laughs)! One of my dream creative projects is honestly to style one of her music videos, because I know she would let me do what I want creatively. And it would be a collaboration with lots of bright colors, very tropical, oranges, pinks, whites… When I listen to Shayna’s music, I come up with videos in my head. There’s one vision I had for ‘Fuck Texting’, where she was a teacher, actually teaching these little girls how to be women. Or even in a laboratory and she’s the scientist and she’s just creating these amazing women and teaching them how to be great. Nothing is really stopping me from executing it… it’s going to happen soon! I’m just letting the thoughts fester and looking for a budget and people that could put it together properly.

FF- Would you consider yourself a freshman, sophomore or senior in your field?

QR- I guess sophomore, because I’m not just starting out but I’m still feeling way my through and I need more experience, more opportunities and just learning by doing. I’m kind of just feeling it out, seeing which direction I want to go in, because I’m always constantly changing my mind. I know my look and my style, I just don’t know what route I want to take it yet. All I’m trying to add to the world is authentic styling into the industry… the industry that tells you this is how you’re supposed to dress and who you’re supposed to be. And I’m just trying to focus on style more than the fashion industry. So that’s why it’s a little hard for me to just pick a lane, because everyone in the industry, everywhere I go it’s like you have to follow trends and these designers, whereas I just want to get back to

the root of style,

of authentically expressing who you are.

Inspiration and motivation will push everything forward. When I face a creative block I try to watch movies and, might be generic, but Tumblr… if you follow the right blogs there’s a lot of inspiration there. I’m really into metallic blues and purples, and witchy colors and visuals. And old magazine editorials, I try to look back in the past, lots of music too… I’ve been listening to a lot of funk and 70’s disco lately but that’s really new for me, I go through phases. I’m really 90’s, like my favorite songs would include Gwen Stefani, Destiny’s Child ‘No, No, No’, Aaliyah… I remember my Girls Scout troop made a dance to ‘Rock the Boat’ (laughs).

you can check out Qiana's styling website here, and follow her on instagram.

as told to: Olivia Seally // photos: Olivia Seally

model: MC Midori // stylist: Qiana Roberts // photos: Olivia Seally

ROB & LAURIE

ER: What do you do?

RG: bricks+matter gets hired by retailers and malls when they really want to learn how to integrate digital and technology into their company and stores to change their relationships with shoppers.  We reinvent.  We drive innovation.  We’re all about productive disruption.  We usually end up helping retailers create new lines of business or new products from our work.  I’m the nutty professor of the group - I dream up the "pile of crazy”

LF: And I’m the straight man of the group - I take the “pile of crazy” that comes out of my biz partner’s ahem…head… and make it work.

ER: Why East Room?

RG: I used to live in New York City and have an irrational, insatiable “thing” for it….it’s kinda sad really.  The East Room reminded me of a mashup of my old Soho office, Soho House, The Ace Hotel and WeWork.  It was an immediate irrational need to be here and they were nice enough to put up with me.

LF: Vespa parking everywhere ;-)….  More seriously…awesome space with the right kind of funky vibe, great location and not a single fluorescent light in sight. AND the patio.

ER: What are three things you need to do your job?

LF: Did I mention the Patio?  Some solitude, good tech and great coffee.

RG: Coffee, sarcasm and aggression - oh…and a nice patio outside my office

ER: Do you feel like a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior in your field?

LF: Collectively, my partner and I are launching our 4th startup - all of them very different, so it really depends on the day

RG: I feel like the nutty football team mascot running half naked down the field

you can check out Rob and Laurie's work here. You can find out more about East Room here.

As told to: Olivia Seally / Photos by: Michael Rousseau

JEFF LAUB

My name is Jeff Laub, I’m 30 years old and I’m originally from South Jersey. I’m the co-founder of Blind Barber and within that I’m a producer; I maintain and create visions and concepts that operate and exist within the Blind Barber umbrella. We are a barber shop, with a bar, a café, a restaurant, with a product line, with a content side… but in all actuality it’s just a barber shop that wants people feeling good about themselves. I just wanted to make cool stuff and feel good about what I was doing and once I realized I was able to do that for myself I wanted to pass that on to someone else. It just happened to occur through hair cuts, beers and pomades.

I had planned from probably before 8th grade to be a lawyer. That’s what I said when they would ask ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ That’s such a bullshit question… it should be ‘What 18 different things do you think you’d be interested in when you’re 30 years old?’ So I had always been told that I’d be a phenomenal lawyer, from people watching shows and never having worked in the field. But that was my plan up until about five years ago. In 2009 I was working in a law firm that I hated. I was working as a legal assistant, a tier below the lawyers, at the number one law firm in the world. I was at the pinnacle of something that I planned for so long. I remember being in a meeting when the financial crisis happened, with every world bank sitting there, with the White House on a conference call and I just hated every second of it… it wasn’t for me, wasn’t what I was interested in… I didn’t feel good, I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself. So I hit rock bottom, I was depressed... I spent $200k+ on NYU, I had a plan, my plan sucked and what now?!

I used to work odd jobs at cool salons with my Mom, who would manage the salons. When I went to NYU that’s what I knew, so I would get part time jobs doing that. I realized people are making $100k+ a year at this, if they really dived in and did it well. I knew with my attitude and rapport with the customers, if I really dedicated and educated myself, I could do it! So Cravath was from 9 to 5 and then I enrolled in Aveda cosmetology school and was going there from 5 to 9. Aveda was probably more detailed and strenuous than any other education, just in terms of punctuality. It was a nice introduction to learn what it took to be a cosmetologist, what it took to be a service professional.

I went to Aveda when I realized my first path of being a lawyer wasn’t going to happen. But I realized very quickly that that wasn’t what I wanted to do either… even touching hair grossed me out! Honest to God, I threw a temper tantrum. I literally threw a round brush on the ground while I was sectioning hair and walked out (laughs). I went back because I hadn’t had the plan yet and then one day I was talking to my Granddad and told him I’m going to be cutting hair and he said

“my favorite place to hang out is the barber shop”.

And it was that simple sentence… I was like that’s what I want. That’s what I liked about the salons, it wasn’t cutting hair, it was walking in, hearing some gossip, a bunch of babes walking in, flirt with them a bit, go to lunch, see people and most importantly, every single person walking out felt great. So I really wanted to harness that feeling and produce it for my friends, the way we would want it. So every day after cosmetology school I went back to my desk and spent an hour writing the plan; a friend helped me with an inspiration deck and I called businesses to write a business plan and got numbers from bars and salons, then I added in my view, my story, my passion.

I found out that Josh Boyd, who owned Plan B, Gallery Bar and Ella, was selling his first bar Plan B across from Tompkins Sq Park in lower Manhattan, and I had no money, like zero dollars… but I had this finished business plan that I spent a year and a half writing. I didn’t think Josh really wanted to part with it because it was his first bar that set his life in motion, so I told him I’d buy it from him with this great idea that we could be open basically 24 hours a day; I could run the salon portion and you guys teach me your bar section and we’ll work it out. The name caught his attention and I think he felt my excitement towards it. The only hurdle after getting Josh to agree to the idea was me confessing that I lied about having any money (laughs).

I had to hustle my way into a partnership, I just told him I’d wash windows and earn my way… and I did.

And once Josh saw the people coming around, all his homies, the neighbors coming by, he felt it! We were building another neighborhood staple. When we first opened both my partners, Josh and Adam, thought the barber shop should close at 9 because they didn’t want to risk loosing customers not knowing that there's a bar behind the shop. So they were like let’s open up the bar door after 9 and shut the barber shop. I said no fucking way! They have to enter through the barber shop. Trust me when I tell you… it’ll be slow for the first few months, but once they discover it, you’ll never loose that customer because at that moment, they found their bar. That became their hidden space, that they found. And once that proved true, people started to switch their own mentalities and be like OK what would I love within a bar? Rather than what would make me money?

So far, all the locations have come to us. We’re in no rush to expand, like I said our primary goal is to put out a feeling of confidence. So products, content and service are number one. The spaces are exceptional and super cool but very difficult to run, so it has to be perfect. After pitching Josh on a plan and a space that went from a neighborhood staple to another neighborhood staple, having parties there, one of Josh’s friends mentioned that he had a space available. So we drove across country to LA and said sure!

And then the third location, in Brooklyn, came about because I actually wrote the Blind Barber business plan in Second Stop, so I kept an eye on that when I was living there and made it happen. Now we’re just making people feel good, like they can be themselves. We’re selling confidence and doing it through quality services and products. We’ve made our own website, we produce videos, we do photo shoots, we produce on site marketing pop ups, we throw parties, we put play lists together, we have a bar, we have a restaurant, we have a café, we have three barber shops, with products that each take a year and a half… what is Blind Barber?

It’s a bunch of peoples passions all combined into this one thing and we facilitate our growth through, you know, shaving cream.

FF- Do you consider yourself an artist?

JL- Well in Blind Barber, I’m a producer. I think I have an appreciation for everything without having a specific skill set, other than recognizing every one else’s strengths. I have a decent eye, I appreciate art, I understand how to tell a story, I love photography, I know bits and pieces… thanks to my Lynda account (laughs). I understand the service industry, I understand how to connect to the emotions of customers and translate that into customer service, or into a product and really make an engagement. And I’m also teaching myself a lot of new things for the business to take the next step. I’m really diving in to more traditional business ideas and methods. I get to do whatever I want, it’s kind of crazy. I feel so fortunate and blessed. I’m truly living my dreams, but a dream project of mine would be to secure real livelihoods of at least five of the employees that I hold really close to me. I think the way to do it is as an open platform; you could be a barista, a bus boy, whatever… if you have an idea, I’m here to listen. All I want to do is learn, I don’t care where it comes from. That’s how we constantly re-brand and retell our story. I succeed as a producer and boss, because I’m so proud of the people that have helped me build my dreams and

I recognize how talented they are and I’m relentless in making them fulfill their efforts.

FF- So is there a con to working so closely with your friends?

JL- Absolutely! Two cons of working with your friends… One; you don’t hang out with them after work. There’s no more of that. It doesn’t happen. You’re so sick of each other by the end of the day. Two is… I am the boss. And there are certain things that I don’t compromise on. It’s beautiful to have so many different passions and ideas about what should be done within a business, but you do have to remain focused and make sure that you understand what your business actually is. Costs of goods and the excel sheet portion of a business is important, it has to funnel towards one thing so that people understand what they’re buying.  Maintaining that focus sometimes hurts people’s feelings. Sometimes you got to put your foot down and people take it personal. And the resentment lasts a day longer than if they were just an employee, and that weighs on me.

FF- Would you consider yourself a freshman, sophomore or senior in your field?

JL- I’m a sophomore because I have the lay of the land and I can sit with the upper classmen and we can vibe a little, but in the nitty gritty of it, we aren’t there yet. I have to learn more, we have to keep working as hard as we are and probably a little harder and smarter to put ourselves in another position to take advantage of luck and timing. There’s no formula, we just need to work incredibly hard to maintain the integrity, the uniqueness and the consistency of our story. So I definitely want to expand my education and skill sets to really take us to the next level, finance-wise. But on a brand level, we’ve already graduated. You can’t fuck with us… there’s no brand in our arena that can come close to Blind Barber, they aren’t getting calls from Milk Studios, from real estate developers asking to open 50 new locations. The problem is that we’re sophomores and we don’t know how to answer those calls yet. So from a business and personal standpoint, I’m a sophomore. Brand level… youngens can’t hang with us! Because they’re only looking at bottom line and then they copy what’s cool, whereas we work the opposite way.

FF- So when it’s all done where do you see yourself?

JL- Well on the walk over here I was thinking of opening a new restaurant! I also want to open up a creative/ad agency. I want a huge office with real facilities so we can work for clients. Even when I retire I’ll still be doing something! But hopefully chilling on the West Coast with my babe, my dogs, some kids, hanging around with their kids and doing the same thing… I’m doing everything right, right now. I want to continue to hang with family, show up at the barbershop, get a cut, talk about the good ol’ days and laugh.

you can check out Blind Barber's website here and follow them on instagram.

as told to: Olivia Seally // photos: courtesy of Blind Barber

JUNGLEPUSSY

My name is Shayna AKA Junglepussy. I'm 22 years old. Five years ago I was just one year out of high school so I was 17. I graduated high school at 16 and I went to FIT right after high school for two years and I hated it. It was so fake and I could not commit. So I had to quit. My junior high school was a public school for the gifted and talented, Philippa Schuyler, and I played an instrument, I played the clarinet. I have yet to apply that to my music so that's about as far as my education within the field goes. I don't have any formal training... no piano lessons, no vocal coaches, none of that. I don’t know if I taught myself. It just came very naturally. So I’m lucky. One person I'd attribute a large amount of my success to is myself! I’m so proud of myself for really committing to something for over a year, usually every six months I gotta really switch up my whole shit. So I’m proud of myself for really sticking out with this JP stuff, producing music and visuals and really just handling everything, for the most part, on my own, independently. It’s a lot staying positive and doing this, like the stuff that I promote, actually living it. It’s a full time job, and it’s not a job, because I enjoy it, but the option to do bad things is there and it's just as easy. But to really make the choice to be good and be consistent with it and just want to be better every day it’s really like… some days I really don’t wanna do it. But I work for myself because I don't want to be signed... that's not even the goal for me. I wanna be able to just survive, I wanna be able to help out people that I love when I can and support myself and my loved ones and be able to support my craft and my art, that’s really what I need. And I feel like, I’m not gonna say that I can do everything on my own, I definitely know that I need people that are gonna be there to help and stuff like that. But as far as getting signed… I don’t know. I’m signed to God and He got it on lock. He really plans everything out for me, as long as I’m staying true to myself every day and just being aware of my surroundings and the things that I’m going through He really sets it up so beautifully and I’m just so grateful for that. My mother always gave speeches in church when I was younger so I always saw that and she just taught me and my sister to be very outspoken women. And for some reason when the music came along it just worked out! That’s why I have to keep on being good because if I fuck up I’m gonna give the wrong message and I’m gonna produce shit. So as long as I keep my mind where it needs to be, it’s gonna be great!

FF- So what is the message that you want to be spreading to the world?
JP- The message is.. it’s our culture and everybody, forever has tried to take it from us and put their name on it. And that’s one thing I do not want to do,

I don’t want people to ever think that this is not for them… my people of color.

It’s all for them, everything I do, it’s forever gonna be for them, the decisions I make is gonna have them in mind and myself in mind because it’s benefiting myself and then you know by me eating healthy and living better… people really do it, people tweet me like Oh my Gosh! I’m in McDonalds, don’t hate me! And I’m like I don’t hate you! And I won’t tell you don’t do it. These people are really listening… so once I realized that, I definitely had to make sure that I maintain it and keep on showing the world that a young, black girl from Brooklyn can be natural and not have a fake body and I just feel like I’m really being myself! Because that’s all I have and that’s all I wanna share with people, because they need to see that’s all they need themselves, is themselves.

I’m so bad at scheming and plotting. And a lot of people are great at that, like a lot of people know how to just come and just pow boom! They get their shit and they just be moving up mad quick. And I was like woah, should I be doing that! Is that what I need to be doing? What? It’s really not me and I never wanna go outside myself to get something like that. But I definitely have to keep myself in check... there’s a few things that I’m working on. I don’t wanna take anything personally, a lot of the times people take things very personally, even small things. Not everybody is thinking about you all the time! And sometimes I think that everybody is thinking about me (laughs). And that’s one thing I really need to work on because

once I take myself out of the center of everything, I see it. I wake up and have to kill my ego every day.
 

I came up with this new fall schedule… summer was a little weird, I put out the project in June and things got poppin'... I was traveling a lot. It was my time to have fun! But I’m used to the school format because I was in school up until this past spring so, you know, after labor day it’s time to buckle down, settle down… school work! So I came up with this new schedule it’s a four hour block - one hour of reading, one hour of writing, one hour of exercise and one hour of meditation. And it’s so good! It’s only four hours… four hours goes by so fast! It goes by and you get things done and when you go back into the world you know you’ve had that moment to really do the necessary things that your body and mind needs.

I just need that discipline because I battle my darkness a lot. And… I’m a scorpio! My birthday is halloween! So this is a big thing for me, just making right decisions. I could be really dark about life and I really have to push myself to be better because I feel this is my higher calling, to serve this purpose, and just spread this message on earth and I can only do it if I’m trained. And I don’t have a mentor, I don’t have nothing so I had to be really hard on myself. Not too hard! I don’t wanna beat up on myself but I do wanna get shit done.

FF- What is your dream creative project?

JP- All live instrumentals in the studio! And just a big orchestra and then it’s gonna be Erykah, Jill Scott, me, Oprah… doing ad libs! I’m working on the rest of the vision.
FF- What’s stopping you from that!?
JP- I feel like I have my own clock in my body and it’s not time yet.. and it’s coming but I know I’m not gonna force it. That’s one thing I don’t do. I’ll know when it’s ready. But it’s cooking up though,

I’m pregnant with success

and its like over nine months, of course it’s longer than that... But it’s a super baby!

FF- Would you consider yourself a freshman, sophomore or senior in your field?
JP- I’m a junior because I’m almost there and I would’ve been a junior in college if I was in it right now. For such a small amount of time that I’ve been creating music and putting it out there the response that’s come with it has been so shocking to me and so great and amazing. I’m so grateful for it and people really love it and I’m like ok this is really like a first run just doing it and seeing what's up. So I’m about to graduate! I’m pregnant with success still, so once the baby comes thats when the graduation happens you know! And it’s gonna be so great but I’m not in a rush to get there I’m really learning how to enjoy the journey because I know that these times are not gonna be here forever so it’s cool to just have nothing to do or you know just stare at the sky, and just taking those times in because then when everything get’s so fast I never wanna get lost, I never wanna get overwhelmed and forget what I’m doing.

FF- If your life was a movie what songs would be on its soundtrack?
JP- Woah. It hasn’t even been written yet. But I would have to say mad Brandy songs, like probably her whole discography. And a lot of Drew Hill. And… who else? who else would be there singing for me? Fefe Dobson! I love her. That’s my cousin, in my head. Kiss Me Fool or Bye Bye Boyfriend but then I love Rainbow because it’s mad soft.

FF- People I should chat to?
JP- You should talk to… Salomon Faye he makes good music, I went to his show last week it was really good. It’s like hip hoppy but he sings a little, his voice is really powerful and his visual is very artsy and he performs with live bands and I love that shit. His thought process seems very good too and I don’t really know it but thats why I want you to talk to him cos I want to know it. Alright I’ll tell you people whose minds I wanna know… Gito, Salomon, Dylan, QIANA… those eyes! What do they tell?!  

you can hear Junglepussy's music on her soundcloud, watch her on her youtube and follow her on her instagram and her twitter.

as told to: Olivia Seally // photos: Olivia Seally