1.What is your name and business location?
Hi! I am Robert Cradle from Rob's Barbershop Community Foundation Inc. in Odenton, MD.
2. How did you begin your career as a barber
My career as a barber begin when my 12th grade guidance counselor sent me a brochure about barber school almost immediately after I graduated in 1985. I barely made it through high school and lacked career direction, so the timing was perfect!
3. How do you give back to the community?
I currently give back to the community by operating projects that provide haircuts and hairstyles services to populations that lack access to regular grooming. The projects consist of installing full service barber/beauty salons onsite at homeless shelters as well as public schools. I also do grooming related case-managed projects for target groups, and a pop up shop for populations that lack access to regular grooming.
4. Can you explain the "Clippers for a Cause" project and how it got started?
Clippers for a Cause is a project that can motivate others to provide haircuts to target groups that lack access to grooming by rewarding them with a pair of Wahl clippers. The project is directed at currently enrolled and recently graduating barber or cosmetology students. They become eligible to receive their free clipper if/when they verify that they have volunteered their services to groom at least 5 clients of an emergency/transitional shelter. The project will run through-out 2017.
5. How many participants have you had in the program so far?
Since we began the project on November 1, 2016, 12 barber/cosmetology students have received a free clipper and 109 individuals who lacked access to grooming received hair-cutting services.
7. How has Wahl impacted you personally and how has it impacted your cause?
Wahl has impacted me personally by allowing me to expand my career beyond the normal customer base into populations that are not often serviced by the traditional barber or beauty shop. My cause has now been expanded beyond Maryland/District of Columbia due of Wahl's support, thereby reducing the number of individuals who lack access to grooming nationwide! They have also provided an avenue for up and coming barbers and cosmetologists to get a professional tool in their hands that they may not have been able to afford.
