In this episode of Workforce on the Mic, how Esther Lewis and Soyica White use barbering spaces to advance mental health, career coaching, and workforce development.
Podcast Transcript
ALEXIS FRANKS: Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, all new workforce warriors across the country. My name is Alexis Franks, and I am your director of membership for the National Association of workforce development professionals, on today’s episode, we will take you behind the scenes of two innovative initiatives that are transforming communities and changing lives. We will hear from some very passionate individuals who are driving meaningful change in areas such as education, health care, social services and, of course, workforce development. So on the mic with us today, we have Soyica White, CEO of the Soyica Experience, and Esther Lewis, CEO of Holistic Evolution, Inc. So welcome, welcome. Welcome to the both of you.
SOYICA WHITE: Hey, how you doing? Pleasure to be here.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Great, great. So now let’s pass the mic. We’ll dive right in today, and to get us started, Esther, could you tell us a little bit about where you are in the country and what really inspired the creation behind holistic evolution. Inc,
ESTHER LEWIS: Hey, what’s up everybody listening? I was a little nervous about you starting off with me, but here we go. Here we go. My name is Esther Lewis. I’m founder and CEO of Holistic Evolution. I am originally from Gary, Indiana, not sure if anybody is familiar with the area. We’re just outside of Chicago. So what inspired me with Holistic Evolution, I would say first purpose. I am a single mom, and let me stop saying single mom, because my son is 23 but he started when he was not 23 so just kind of raising a young man of color in Indiana, I kind of became familiar with some of the frustrations that I experienced As a parent, and started educating myself on what items exist in our community or the systems that we live and work in that impacts the outcomes of my son. So that’s my why I got passionate about this, like education policy reform and the social determinants of health and things like that. Yeah, and so I started Holistic Evolution, like I wanted to make systematic change in my community that would support young men of color being successful and having positive health outcomes.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Well, that’s a beautiful why, definitely, and I know just taking a look at some of the programs that you have, the barbershop talks, was what really caught my eye for the youth that might be facing some difficult challenges in their lives. So can you talk a little bit about that program?
ESTHER LEWIS: So it’s very difficult to talk about one without talking about the others, because everything is so interrelated, but the barbershop talks, it was an extension of a program that I worked with. So I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Barbershop Health Initiative. It was an initial, well, it is an initiative in California where they take healthcare providers into the barbershop and they do health screening so on and so forth. We in the state of Indiana brought that program to Indiana several years ago, and I started organizing that experience during Minority Health Month 12 years ago, but it was something that the community got excited about. We had, you know, a lot of clinical providers that just got excited about being in the barbershop and providing resources. They really enjoyed that connection, and they wanted it to be year round. So one of the things that I did when I started holistic evolution was first to implement that more than just once a year, but we wanted to do an extension of that that were focused not only on physical health, but the mental health portion. So we started in 2022 with some funding from the. Indiana Department of Health, where we train some barber students as a community health workers, which is kind of like that entry level, yeah, you’re right, yeah. And then we paid them to work with their mentor, slash older male person, to coordinate some barbershop talks around substance misuse prevention, mental health promotion, Suicide Prevention and Community violence prevention. So we had those conversations. We engaged a camera crew that basically captured those experiences, and then we edited the video and those conversations into like a movie, which we call the “He Talks Movie Experience,” so everything kind of builds on everything else.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Yes, yes, definitely. And I know that mental health piece is so big for us nowadays, especially post COVID. You know, everyone returning to work it, but has become really the talk of, how do we make sure that mentally you’re ready and able to be successful in a career that you won’t? So even just building an environment where you can have these kind of conversations. Are you taking care of yourself? Are you thinking through these things and the substance abuse piece too? I think that’s definitely necessary even for success in your career. So thank you for sharing about that program. Esther, I’m gonna come back to you. I’m gonna give you a little break. Soyica, can you share a little bit about the work that you’re doing in the community too?
SOYICA WHITE: Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And Esther, the wonderful work you’re doing, I really now you’re talking barber talks now you Yeah. So, yeah. So I appreciate all what you’re doing. So the Soyica Experience is the name of my business, and it’s basically life and career coaching, barber stylist is how I titled myself. It’s the combination of two yet distinct, complementary fields that can profoundly impact individuals’ communities. My big thing is helping people understand the significance of their journey and all the things that we go through. Because I always say life is preparing us for something, and a lot of that has to do. And Esther, you just shared you identified a problem through your own personal lane of living, and you said, hey, you know what? I got a solution. So, so I absolutely love that. And so that’s really my focus. It’s about helping them, you know, look good, you know, barber piece, and not feeling good about their future, their trajectory, and really helping them just navigate that. So I’ll just go back a little. I started out basically in 1999 out of college social work and work my way into developmental disabilities, early childhood education. Then I got into the trades, which I was a inspector for the government. So I spent about 17 years in the government state, about five years in nonprofit space total, and just kind of how Esther said, You identified some things along the way. And I said, You know what? That solution is bubbling it’s brewing inside of me. So I want to, how can I take barbering and combine it with where the last number of years with the government was working in American Job Centers? Because I said, Man, what better place can I get these folks in the barber chair? I talked to them, you know about, like you said, health, mental health and awareness, trauma, informed care, you know, paying attention to the things that maybe triggers, but the important thing while barbering and career coaching piece, they serve different purposes together, they create what I say is A powerful like combination for holistic support and transformation too. Because I was just talking to somebody the other day about trauma, and I said, basically, the pandemic was trauma for everybody. Everybody experienced something, whether you were infant, and remember, they were running low with formula and all that stuff. There was a lot of stress. And there we talk about toilet paper, you know, that was good. So little things we remember. And I said, you know, we go through certain things in life again that are preparing us, getting us ready, and strength through the struggle right to live out that purpose. And that’s, I think, our purpose is discovered in a lot of our struggle. You know, a lot of the things that are uncomfortable, that we all know serve as the door that that really opens up so but again, my main thing is matching people’s taking their inherent gifts and talents. What are you designed to do? Like I can help you get a job. I did that with Job Center. I know how to get your job. But can we get you in alignment with some. Thing that where you’re really going to grow and flourish and possibly like like us, start your own, you know, start your own business, be a chef, have your own restaurant. Who knows? But it not only helps the individual grow and strive, but it also helps if they’re working for somebody, for themselves. It’s like a strategy that can drive greater productivity, creativity, loyalty within like organizations. So I feel that when people are aligned with roles that tap into their natural abilities, they’re more engaged, they’re satisfied, they’re committed to their work. So and I think the world, that’s what we need. We need what each other’s gifts talent. Let’s bring it out, and let’s make this world a better place through our creative gifts and talents.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Absolutely, absolutely. And I know Soyica, you mentioned really having that ability to see where the gap is and find a solution so and that’s exactly what you both spoke of, the having that solution brewing inside of you, and it kind of bridges to my next question of how this really feel the need in the community that you saw. How did your program from the solution that you birthed or saw and took action? How did this program, or your programs, impact those communities and those individuals you serve.
ESTHER LEWIS: So it depends on what type of impact we’re looking at. Right, SAMHSA talks about like changes that we want to see happen in individuals when we’re implementing getting intervention. So they say an increase in knowledge, change in attitude, than a change in behavior. So once we increase their knowledge about all of these, the health outcomes, then that leads them to change their attitudes towards smoking weed or drinking alcohol, and then eventually their behavior changes, right? So a lot of the work that we have been doing has been focused on educating the community around prevention science, around what the risk and protective factors are around males of color. We’ve really been focusing in on the social determinants of health. I don’t even think the community realizes that we’ve been focusing in on the social determinants of health. At least everybody doesn’t really realize it. And so when it comes to educating the community, we typically engage, you know, 400 to 600 community members every year with our programming, and so they are learning, or their knowledge is increasing, as it relates to the science behind this evolution of our community. But then even further, you know financially, we are supporting communities, organizations capacity to serve young men of color, there is some challenges engaging the population of young men that we’re looking at a 16 to 24 and so we are supporting community organizations capacity to engage this population by bringing them all together The barbershop we did, like, a barbershop competition. Last year. We had like, 135 young men of color, you know, that was in a building, and they were just super excited about this barber competition. And the young guys were super excited, like the student barber competition, excuse me, but they were really excited about sharing their skill set with their friends and family, and we had, like, online voting and stuff like that. So it just depends on what kind of impact we talking about, but we definitely try to measure our outcomes. We have our collective impact report that’s on our website, yeah. But we have a number of outcomes.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Absolutely, and I think you what you said, is exactly a key piece of impact that know- We’ve heard it all the time. Knowledge is power. So are you aware of the things that you may be able to face? Are you prepared for them? Do you have the skills to be able to face those challenges as they come up, you know, even not knowing what can happen in your life, knowledge is key.
ESTHER LEWIS: Yeah, yeah. It’s really more like educating the community about the systems that are in place that you know may not necessarily well that determines if a young man in this zip code will die from Homicide or will die from a drug overdose. There are systems in our communities that can tell us what our outcomes are if we’re not aware of what changes need. To happen systematically to produce healthier outcomes.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Absolutely, absolutely okay. Now, Soyica, if I can jump back to you, can we talk a little bit about your impact, or what you have seen as impact for your experience as well?
SOYICA WHITE: Oh, yeah, thank you. So I’d have to say I underscore two big areas are personal empowerment and confidence, building, mentorship, role modeling, Improve Self Esteem. And just as Esther touched on promoting healthy lifestyle and hygiene overall, creating a better well being. You know, I call them quality of life adjustment. So with that, just over the years, I mean, and I work with, by the way, I work with folks that are, you’re 16 through, you know, I’ve worked with folks that are tired and they’re like, got this pension. I my bills are paid, but I don’t know what to do with my life. And I just remind them, if you know what. And some people with the confidence building, some people are right on the edge of knowing what they need to do to get to that next, whatever that is, that thing that they were again, designed for you to do. And they just need that nudge of support and say, It’s okay. I’ve been on the edge too, where you’re like, man, should I do this? You know, should I try this? So, like I said in the past, earlier, as long as people are working from there, I love to see people operating from their core, you know, bottom line, so when I’m cutting your hair, and by the way, I started barbering when I was, I gave my first haircut at 12 years old, and that was 30 years ago, so I didn’t realize, like, how many people they were sharing things with me that were so personal. And I thought everybody could cut hair. I thought everybody could do it. So over time, I said, Wow, wait a minute, this is a unique thing here, you know, what is it that’s been planted inside of me and use it in this way? So that being said, just over the years a client, it was 2009 actually, when a client said to me he was confused on his career path, so I went over at, you know, I was just I went to his house, and we were friends. I cut his hair, and our conversation went so deep. I said, Man, I got to stretch this out. So I started. I just gave him a skincare service on top, because we were just heavily engaged. And turns out, he discovered what he wanted to do just by asking him simple questions. What do you think your gifts are? What do people ask you for? Again, a problem. What bothers you? You know, let’s go deeper with it and really capitalize on that. So again, with that being said. Did the college thing actually, my guidance counselor in high school said I was not college material. She said, I said, Hey, you know, I want to go to college. She laughed at and she said, You’re not college material. And I said, What is college material? I don’t know what that, what define that? What is that? So? Long story short, I got in, graduated, and then I was working a nonprofit. And during that time, I devoted a good amount of time. I did cosmetology school, then I did barber school and advanced skincare, and then later became an instructor, so along with being on the other side, adult education certified and these other things, so I said, I need to maximize this for the benefit of humanity. So again, I’m wrapping this all back into that personal empowerment, because when you live, you got something to talk about, and you got some energy to give to others so that confidence just building. It’s very gratifying to see people or they’ll write me like, months later, like, Man, I took the step, and I’m like, fantastic. So those are my main areas that I focus on with folks in the community and as individuals.
ESTHER LEWIS: I’ve got a question. So I love this element, not I love like this is just a principle that is really grounded in the work that we’re doing with Holistic Evolution, utilizing the barber shop to really engage men of color. So not really just younger men, but older men too. But I just think about how much more I could get done if we already had barbers that were like you, that that was familiar. We look at something called future orientation. So it’s not just about the decisions that you make right now in this moment. It’s about how these decisions lead up to what it is that you want to do with your life ultimately, and I would just be able to get so much more done if I could just give like a prevention science talk or you. Like a mental health promotion, talk to a group of barbers, and then they are in the barber advocating for those changes to be made. And it’s just, it’s really challenging. My My challenge is really challenging getting barbers to understand the public health or the importance of looking at positive health outcomes. But then with older males of color, there seems to be less empathy for the younger young men. And I just, I would love to hear maybe, like some tips that you may have to ensure barbers like have this attitude of helping.
SOYICA WHITE: The first thing you need to understand is that it’s a relationship business, the skill, all that stuff that’ll come with time you know you can do. You’ll develop that just being around people mentors, you’ll get that. And I’m not saying, if a barber isn’t invested in people such as I am to the degree that I am, that they’re not good at what they do. I just I try to encourage it from my end. So and say hey, and always say, just like I said, it’s a relationship business, you have a unique opportunity to connect with people like no other. Because, quite honestly, there’s only two sectors industries where people trust others professionals to put their hands on. That’s health, invest in medical professions, and then health and beauty. I can’t think of any other, especially sharp metal instruments, sear shears and razors and all. There’s only two. I can’t think of nothing. It occurred to me, I said, Wow, this is unique. People trust me, and they trust us, barbers and hairstylists. So I would say the starting point is when I have this conversation with others, and I’d say to you, do you feel compelled to help people in a certain way deeper, you know, with improving their life, not just how they feel or how they look, but how they feel inside about their life? Because there’s some things we can do to prevent a lot of these inflammation, all this stuff in our bodies, that’s just me going into little holistic p are prevented, how we eat, water intake, you know, when I’m looking at people’s skin, the first thing I ask is, how much water you drink? Oh, man, I’m not, you know? And I say, well, the skin is the largest organ of the body. So there are organizations that are like this. And in fact, this pen here, I’m also have, I’m licensed in seven states here in the US, but I’m also what they call state registered barber in the United Kingdom. So there’s an organization called the Lions Barber Collective that I took their training, and I’m pretty connected to the CEO. But there, it’s all about mental health awareness and suicide prevention and overall, just quality of life, health, you know, exercise, wise choices with your body and your mind. And we all know it starts in the mind. So again, with all that being said, not every barber may want to get deeper into it or trying to survive, and they want to do what they do, but there are a lot out there that I’ve connected with that do have that same passion to help people just improve their quality of life. So I guess I can connect you with a few people that are in the industry that do some of these training.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Yeah, and Soyica, I really appreciated what you said about the relationship and the unique opportunity that you have to build that trust, especially when you’re talking about that career development or that mental health piece, and as we begin to wrap up our conversation, that it thought made me think of our question, a question for you all is, what, as you’re building relationships in the communities, What can other workforce professionals really learn from your experience, and even if they can’t duplicate your style of program in their areas. What advice would you have for a workforce professional that’s really wanting to help any individual as they’re doing their career planning and development?
ESTHER LEWIS: So I encourage empathy. Soyica kind of touched on this and just kind of like talking about purpose and how good it feels when someone is doing something that they feel like they were put on this earth to do. I think a lot of the times we talk about microaggressions at work, and we talk about, well, the social determinants of health. Call it like social and community context. So this connection that we could possibly have with our environment that really produces really great outcomes at work, school, whatever the case may be, yeah. Um, and so I think that as an employer or even workforce training, education those areas, I think identifying empathy and that person and understanding that maybe what they are currently doing may not be what they have, like a keen ability to do and to work, to identify what those keen abilities are for that person, I think that as an employer, that makes your organization more sustainable when you have individuals that work for you, that love what they’re doing and they are working in their, their area of expertise, their area of, of passion. I think it goes a really long way in the acceleration of your organization.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Esther. And Soyica?
SOYICA WHITE: Sure. So something that I’m seeing across workforce being that I’ve lived out west, and we talked a little out west, and now on the east coast of Delaware, I’m seeing a lot of good things in terms of, here’s what I encourage workforce, providers and professionals, stay in the creative and innovative space, because we’re coming upon very unique problems. You know, society’s changing attitudes towards work technological advances that are changing things. So always say, stay in the most creative and innovative space that you can with it with the resources you have, because I know when grant money and you gotta adhere to a lot of things, but you can think further than outside the box, and you can be creative and address people’s needs in different way, and get people motivated to want to come to you, or come to your organization and say, Man, and tell other people about it. Hey, here’s the treatment I got and how you treat people, because I think it was Maya Angelou, people always remember how you made them feel. So that relationship, I’m going back to relationships on that, which is something that I focus on. It’s about the relationships in between haircuts, in between sessions. I’m always texting my client, reaching out, Hey, how’s it going? And better yet, the question, how are you managing? That’s a different question. And how are you doing? Oh, I’m fine. How are you managing? So, how am I managing? Huh, which, again, I’m seeing more creativity across the board. People are bringing workforce to the street, to the houses, to the community. So I’m loving seeing that.
ALEXIS FRANKS: Here on workforce on the mic, I love to say, we always have mic drop moments in each of our episodes. So I think you all have given us some really good mic drop moments for today. We definitely want, as workforce professionals to remember, to identify empathy and to stay in the innovative space like those are things that we can really take away from our conversation for other workforce professionals. Soyica, Esther, thank you so much for sharing your passion with us today. We really appreciate you joining us for this episode of workforce on the mic and continue to the great work that you’re doing, we want to see more from you all, and hopefully we’ll be able to duplicate some of your efforts. But thank you, thank you, thank you so much for joining us today.
