Meakeda Rochester making men look better
Published:Sunday | September 15, 2019 | 12:18 AMKaryl Walker - Gleaner Writer
At age 24, Meakeda Rochester is not sitting around waiting for handouts. She has started her own small business in her community of Grants Pen, St Andrew.
The young lady is the owner of the Modern Cut Barber Shop – a small board structure with a single barber chair situated along Shortwood Road.
And she has no qualms about doing what is traditionally considered a man’s job.
“This is my trade that I live off. It pays my bills. I have been doing this since I was 14 when my brother taught me how to trim,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.
Her journey has not been an easy one as she just recently acquired the small shop after the previous owner migrated and gave her his blessing before leaving.
Before that, Rochester would trim her clients in her yard or on the ‘corner’.
“I just get the shop a few weeks now, as my brethren say me can go on running it,” she stated.
KNOWS HER JOB
The Modern Cut Barber shop does not come with all the modern amenities one would see in upper-crust salons. It is not painted in the traditional red, white and blue. But one thing is for certain – the barber knows her job.
“I get a lot of male clients because they prefer when a woman touch up them head,” she said with a wry smile.
The mother of one is determined that she will not be counted among those who would be described as mendicants.
“We have to do something to help ourselves. I am not one who loves to beg, so every day I come to my shop and look it. Hard work me say,” Rochester said.
And she is quite sure that her business will grow.
“It is my job to make men look better, and I do it very well,” she confidently stated.