Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Duenas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar you earn in a new endeavor is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.

My first client was such a big name. It was crazy to me, then and now I was able to achieve that.

I worked in salons for eight years before I became a freelance hairdresser. For my last three years working in a salon, I worked every single day after work doing photo shoots and test shoots to build up my portfolio. I ammased hundreds of images and would sort through them a couple times a month to make sure I had my best work in my portfolio. This was before Instagram. You had a leather portfolio with a ton of photos printed in it and you took those to potential clients or agencies that you wanted to work with. Over the course of three years, I probably worth thousands of hours for free.

I built a very large portfolio and finally got the courage to start taking it around to different agencies. I was picked up by an agency, and I couldn’t believe it. The very first client they booked me was Mariah Carey. She went through the other artist, and chose me out of all of them because of the work that I had built into my portfolio. I was unbelievably shocked. I worked so hard for all of my images for no money, and it cost me money to make my portfolio, and I did not take days off, and it was about to pay off.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was surfing with two gentleman who owned a salon. After Surfing they would go to work and take the middle of the day off and go surfing again. They genuinely just seemed very happy with themselves and what they did. I was roughly 10 years old and I thought this was the coolest thing. I would go to the salon after surfing, get my haircut and hang out for a bit and talk. I really admired what they did and at that point I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

When I was old enough to start working without a workers permit, I became a receptionist at a salon, because of the hours that was needed. I then became an apprentice at that salon. I opted to do that instead of beauty school. I worked two years as an apprentice to qualify for enough hours to get my cosmetology license. This gave me so much time to learn the craft to educate myself, and have a real world experience. By the time I graduated high school I had a full clientele and was working 40 hours a week.

And doing this path, I had more education than the average new stylist. I was also taking color classes from Redken Schwarzkopf and cutting education from Sassoon, bumble and bumble and others. ItAnd doing this path, I had more education than the average new stylist. I was also taking color classes from Redken Schwarzkopf and cutting education from Sassoon, bumble and bumble and others. It was a very well educated young stylist I was a very well educated young stylist.

Within one year of being a hairdresser on my own, I started teaching for the company that I worked Within one year of being a hairdresser on my own, I started teaching for the company that I worked for and then I started teaching all over the US for Schwarzkopf Professional.

From that, I became the national ambassador for Schwarzkopf Professional, then moved into Garnier Consulting Celebrity stylist role, then Aloxxi ambassador and then Everyman Jack Beard ambassador.

I feel lucky to have had these rules and worked with these companies. It was my hunger and thirst for education that helped get me there. I have since expanded what I do, and become a I feel lucky to have had these rules and worked with these companies. It was my hunger and thirst for education that helped get me there. I have since expanded what I do, and become a mens groomer as well. This has just continued to open new doors for me.

Through my passion for the beauty industry, I fell deeper in love with Photography which I had played with since I was a teenager. I continued to grow my skills and refine them and have since built a large portfolio. I have shot for beauty brands, food brands and my celebrity clients for magazines, being a hairstylist, groomer and photographer checks a lot of boxes.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Creating a unique style or changing someone’s look is the most rewarding experience for me. This is when you see your client light up. You have the power to make or break their entire day and change their entire mood to feel fantastic. That’s a lot of power.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I worked full-time at a salon, I was booked out for months at a time. I worked at a specialty curly hair salon and built quite clientele. I started getting more and more calls for clients outside of the salon. The owner of the salon told me I need to pick it was my freelance career or the salon. To me it was giving up steady income to possibly struggle and start over. I chose the hard route to start over, and I am so grateful I did.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mduenas.com
• Instagram: michaelduenas

Image Credits
Michael Dueñas