When 2005 Niagara Falls graduate Eddie Murawki walked into Rae Amacher’s Cosmetology class at the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center, she knew he was trouble. But it seems she has a soft spot for a “bad” boy, who she affectionately nicknamed the Weasel. “To be honest he turned out to be one of my favorite students and I am so proud of him.”
Eddie joined Cosmetology because his beloved great grandmother was a hairdresser and most of his family had a connection to the beauty industry. “I came from a very poor background and I saw Orleans/Niagara BOCES as way to get started in the industry and not have to pay for it. I picked Cosmetology as my program in the 10th grade because I wanted something creative. I remember that a friend at the time was also taking that program. She told me that whatever class I ended up in, I did not want to be in Mrs. Amacher’s. She said she was really mean and would not put up with my nonsense. So, when I saw that I was assigned to her class, I went and sat in another teacher’s class and hoped no one would notice, but luckily they forced me to go there anyway.”
He says he remembers vividly his first day. “Mrs. Amacher handed us all a mannequin and told us to play with it. All the girls in class were doing crazy stuff and I froze, I thought I made a horrible mistake. I should have taken a shop class instead.” Luckily, the other students noticed his hesitation and came over and started talking to him and showing him some ideas of what to do. “It was great they were willing to help me and I grew more confident in being there and I wanted to succeed and get hundreds on all my tests. I loved Mrs. Amacher, she was tough, but she was fair and she really went to bat for me. I was involved in some incidents (hitching a ride on the back of a bus riding his skateboard) that probably should have gotten me suspended, so I knew she came to my rescue and made sure I stayed. She was so cool. She loved the fact that I dived in with both feet and wanted to learn. I felt like I really belonged there. I really loved the clinic we did in class. We worked with adults, children, the special needs population and the elderly and it was such a learning experience on how to work with different clientele and hone my skills.” Eddie says he was very grateful that she hooked him up with his first job as a shampoo boy at a salon. “The stylists at the salon were fantastic to me and taught me a lot about color. I was able to take the Goldwell training for free because I was a student. It was a great experience.”
Eddie remembers how puzzled his father was that he chose that line of work. “My dad was a union carpenter and I think he thought that is what I would end up doing. But I saw him getting up at 4:30 in the morning and working in all sorts of nasty weather and we never had any money, so I knew it was not for me. Personally, I wanted to work in a nice, warm salon surrounded by beautiful women,” he laughs. “Now he thinks it is pretty cool what I do.”
After graduation, Eddie left Western New York to head to Naples, Florida. He started working several jobs, got his Florida cosmetology license and his barbering certification and dreamed of the day he would open his own barber shop. He eventually made his dream come true when he opened the Uptown Barber in Naples where he has six barbers on staff. It has been so successful, that he had played with the idea of opening additional shops, but found another calling had more of a pull. “I really wanted to share my passion for teaching others,” he says. I became an educator at Bonita Springs School and also worked with Stylecraft Clippers.” He travels about 30 times a year for Stylecraft and develops curriculum for the educators and still teaches. He even started his own YouTube channel – Mr. Eddie Barber where he has 178K subscribers. “I wanted to use the channel to help others grow in this field and inspire others who want to know more about becoming a professional barber or learn more about the craft.”
The money he has made from his ventures has also allowed him to help other aspiring barbers. “It is hard and expensive going to school to be a barber,” he says. “I am so grateful that I had BOCES and I didn’t have to pay to go there, because believe me I would not have been able to scarp the money to go otherwise and who knows where I would be now. So, with the schools I work with, I pick out two students each year and my two sponsors Stylecraft and Bookedin and I pay all of their tuition. Many are working multiple jobs just to live and they are struggling to pay the tuition. It breaks my heart. It is so emotional when I got to surprise them. Usually, the student is crying and I am crying, but it makes me feel so good to pay back what BOCES and Mrs. Amacher have given to me.” Eddie has also tagged along with one of the schools he works with who volunteer time at a homeless shelter to give haircuts and hand out over $1000 in grocery store gift cards he had purchased. “That was overwhelming. There were hundreds of people waiting and it was a very bad ghetto in Orlando. I got scared about how to distribute the gift cards and it got a little intense to put it nicely. I should have thought of a better way to do that. But it felt good to help these people.”
“I give back because I have been given so much,” he states. “The BOCES Cosmetology program gave me this life I have. I do what I love to do every single day. I literally wake up at 5:00am eager to start my day. I think of that kid in 10th grade who didn’t have a clue of what he was going to do in life and thanks to people like Rae Amacher, I found my passion and drive and I got such great experience. What a wild ride it has been to think that a decision I made when I was 15 changed my whole life.”
