Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Miranda.
Hi Christian, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hey everyone I’m Chris Miranda. I’m a barber based out of Miami, Florida. I also own and operate Caliber Hair Studio located in Wynwood. I guess we should start on how this dream of one day becoming a entrepreneur became a reality.
It all started in my dining room at the age of 20. One of my closest friends, Brian Munoz, started his barber journey with my head & I remember how much fun we had talking during that haircut & how great I felt after looking in the mirror at the finished product. I asked him to teach me how to cut hair when he got better & one year later, he became my mentor. I started my apprenticeship at His & Hers Parlour & worked alongside some of the best in the industry for the next five years. It was in this shop that I really found my passion for cutting hair & acquired the skillset needed to move forward in my career. Around the fourth year in my career, I ‘slid in the DM’s’ of a gorgeous hairdresser & asked her out. We began dating & doing a lot of traveling.
Then, the world came to a halt because of COVID. It was during the next two months of quarantine that I had time to reflect on my life & realize how fragile it really is. My girlfriend, Emily Machado, & I began having wishful thinking conversations on how nice it would be to open up our own shop someday but, it was nothing more than a thought at this point. It wasn’t until late summer of 2020 that we partnered up with Brian & decided to go look for retail spaces & started crunching numbers to see if it was possible for us to open our own shop. After a couple of months of research & learning what it takes to open a business, we decided to take advantage of the post-covid low rent costs & just went for it. Caliber Hair Studio opened doors for business October 2020 with just three chairs & we just gave it our all. Through the support of our clients, we were able to flourish. Today, we have grown our team to five & we’re all booked out 3-4 weeks in advance.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When we were building out the business, the city was still under strict covid guidelines. The bars & inside dining at restaurants were closed, non essential businesses had their employees working from home & our clients weren’t getting haircuts regularly like pre-covid. This was especially scary for us because we weren’t sure if people would book appointments with us after our doors opened, so we just focused on building out the shop & utilizing our credit cards to get the job done. It was all or nothing for us, we didn’t have an excess of savings to open up the shop. With the help of our friends & family in the buildout, & a few long nights, we were able to get the shop ready to cut hair with the essentials. Due to shipping delays, we had to settle for cheap salon chairs & equipment for the first few weeks. Upon the first month of opening for business the city lifted restrictions and normal life returned. We took it one client at a time & made it our mission to take the highest quality photos of our work & used Instagram to market the shop. With that, our clientele began to book regularly & new clientele began walking through the doors.
As you know, we’re big fans of Caliber Hair Studio. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Caliber Hair Studio represents the transition between precision barbering & contemporary hairdressing. Providing a level of service & attention to detail of the highest standard. We cater to the individual. What sets us apart is that we found a nice middle ground between clean precision cuts & more lived in styles. We are solely appointment-based. With every service, we provide a thorough consultation to understand & achieve the exact look you’re going for. We educate our clientele on the best styling products & techniques needed to achieve the same look at home.
We’re proud we were able to create an aesthetic that is authentically us from the way our shop is designed to the reflection of our personal style in our merch. Everything we do has been curated over an extended period of time, no decision is made loosely.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I got lucky with finding my mentor because we were friends from high school. Finding a mentor can be as easy as reaching out to someone that you admire. You’d be surprised how willing people are to help people grow in the industry. In a trade like barbering, there’s only so much you can learn in school. Barbering as a craft has been passed down from generation to generation. Having the mentors I have has led me to flourish in my career earlier than I could’ve doing this on my own. As far as networking, we’re lucky this industry has many trades shows year round. Attending these events, I’ve met many like-minded individuals I’ve learned a lot from. One of the biggest useful tools for networking has been Instagram. Through there, I was able to discover & reach out to many barbers & hairstylists around the world that inspired me.
Contact Info:
- Email: caliberhairstudio@gmail.com
- Instagram: @chrismirandahair
Image Credits
@4ramed @richtheshooter
