News
Thursday, February 25, 2016
3
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FORMER GRAMBLINITES
ON
THE
MOVE
Student walks in NYFW
JADE ROGERS
Contributing writer
Courtesy photo
Known by many as ‘B. Love’, the barber takes his time while giving a client a cut.
Growing from Grambling
REGINA LOVE
The Gramblinite
“Don’t give up, keep going,
keep praying” were the parting words of Branden Love,
celebrity barber and former
GSU student.
Love got his start in barbering at Grambling, giving
$10 haircuts in his dorm room.
During his junior year he had
the opportunity to give a haircut to Grambling legend Doug
Williams.
He then decided to head
to Houston, Texas, after receiving a D in his final required course, which wasn’t
offered the following semester
or during the summer. After
moving, Love went to stay
with his mother and drove
her car while attending barber
school. But that didn’t stop
him from pursuing his dreams.
“A degree doesn’t define
me,” said Love. “Grambling
put me in the position I’m in.
[Grambling] taught me to be
relentless and patient.”
So far, Love has won the
Mega Fest Barber Battle Competition at the Texas Barber
Battle Expo. Though he has
won a number of awards, he
attributes his success to his
own self-betterment. After
moving to Houston, Love
went back to barber college,
and began advertising at clubs,
hair shows, and anywhere else
he could.
He used the economics
he learned from Grambling
to build his brand. “I’m a
multi-million dollar business.
I want to build my business
like Wal-Mart has,” explained
Love. “I give specials during
the holidays and I have set
prices.,” he added.
The Chicago native has given haircuts to some big names
in the music industry as well
as pro athletes. He was flown
out to the Grammy’s this year
to cut for OVO producers and
writers.
Rapper Bun B even came
to the barbershop where he
works just to meet him. Love
is now a barber for Money
Team, a music group under
Floyd Mayweather and #teamdoubledose.
His daughter, Breaille, has
been over to his client’s house,
NBA legend Tracy McGrady’s
and plays with his daughter.
She even flies with him for
his out-of-town bookings. His
goal is to open a barber college
and train aspiring barbers to
become celebrity barbers.
His advice to young professionals is to “tune everyone
out. If you want a Ferrari and
your friends say you can’t do it,
leave them alone. Remember,
a degree doesn’t define you
and failure is just a lesson.”
Love says he will never forget how Grambling impacted
his life and he hopes to pass
the wisdom down to the next
generation.
“Black models have a hard
time in the fashion industry,”
says former Grambling student Reneicia Johnson. “It’s
very rare for black models to be
considered high fashion. Most
of the time, we are limited to
nudity, swimsuits, or sexually
subjective material.” But Johnson was recently afforded an
opportunity to participate in
New York Fashion Week presenting Spring/ Summer 2016.
Johnson, a native of Gary,
Indiana, worked hard for her
spot in one of the largest fashion weeks in the world. She
modeled in Small Boutique
(SB) Week for MARIEJANAE,
a Houston-based brand. SB
Week is the top Indie Brand
event during fashion week. The
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
is for top designers like Donna
Karan and Tommy Hilfiger.
Because she is an independent model and she could not
physically be in New York for
casting, it was twice as hard
for her, but that did not stop
her grind.
“I would search for castings online every day! I sent
photos and videos to every
designer that would accept
online submissions. A few designers emailed me to ask that
I be a part of their show.”
“It took me a while actually get into modeling because
I became discouraged when I
was younger,” Johnson said.
“When I would go to different
castings or modeling events
and I wouldn’t get chosen, my
grandmother would say it was
because I was ‘too dark’. At
that age I didn’t understand.
It wasn’t because I was literally too dark, but that some
Courtesy photo
Johnson poses for a quick photo before walking in New York
Fashion Week.
people would not choose me
based off of the color of my
skin. I started actively pursuing modeling a year ago and
it has been presenting some
great opportunities thus far.
If I would have continued
modeling as a youth, I would
have been further in my career than I am now.”
She currently serves as parttime dance instructor at various dance studios in Illinois
and Indiana. Most frequently,
she teaches at the South Shore
Dance Alliance, a non-profit performing company and
dance studio in Northwest
Indiana. SSDA was founded
to provide professional dance
training to aspiring dancers
who may otherwise not receive
training because of lack of financial resources.
In addition to being a student, part-time dance instructor and model, Johnson is the
full-time mother of a beautiful 2-year-old daughter.
She said her goal is to become a fashion mogul. “I want
to have a designer line, and be
able to control how the image is
in the media.”
After getting her degree, she
said she will then pursue aesthetician certification and possibly going to cobbler school to
get certified to make shoes.
On April 16, Johnson will
be modeling for Blake Martin’s
Le’Carnivale Show in Chicago
in the Gustavo Museum of
African American History.
‘Rise Up’ organization holds first meeting of semester
NOBEL MICHAEL
The Gramblinite
Rise Up had their first interest meeting in the Favrot
Student Union Theatre on
Thursday.
Micah Perkins, 2015-2016
Miss Omega Psi Phi, formed
the Pro Black socially conscious organization.
Perkins plans to spread enlightenment on the struggles
of Black women, and promote unity between the relations of African-Ameri