By Kaitlin Milliken
In 2020, getting a haircut feels like a luxury. Filipino-American small business owner Marc Anthony Lujares can help. This year, Marc launched a business where he gives mobile haircuts and style consultations in the Greater Boston Area.
Marc is a personal image concierge, giving haircuts and style consultations to help men look their best. In this episode of the BOSFilipinos Podcast, Marc shares how he pivoted into the fashion game and tips for developing your own personal style. He also discusses his experience growing up as a Filipino-American in Greater Boston.
Listen to the full conversation below, or subscribe to our show on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.
Transcript
[MUSIC]
Kaitlin Milliken: Hello, and welcome to the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken, and this show is obviously made by BOSFilipinos.
In each episode of our podcast, we highlight a different aspect of Filipino life in the Greater Boston area. So today we’ll be profiling a member of that community: Marc Anthony Lujares. Marc is a personal image concierge that focuses on men’s fashion. He also runs a mobile barber operation that can help you or the guy in your life look put together for the holidays — and everyday.
During our conversation Marc and I discussed how he pivoted into the fashion game and tips for developing your own personal style. We also talked about his experience growing up as a Filipino-American in Greater Boston.
Thanks so much, Marc for being here.
Marc Anthony Lujares: Oh, happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
Kaitlin Milliken: Absolutely. When we connected through Instagram, I saw that your profile says that you are a personal image concierge. I've never heard that term before. But I'd love it if you could explain what that means for our audience.
Marc Anthony Lujares: When I think of the word like concierge, there's a couple of words that come to mind. Above and beyond customer service, sort of like being like, someone's right hand person or running errands for someone. So for me, when I came up with that term, personal image concierge, it really pertains to a guy's personal image in themselves and whatever that I can do to help elevate their image, in turn elevating their confidence in themselves and how they're perceived to the world.
Kaitlin Milliken: Let's talk a little bit about how you've launched your business. You told me earlier that you started at the beginning of the pandemic, why were you inspired to create your business? And what was the process of starting it like?
Marc Anthony Lujares: There's a lot of uncertainty in the beginning of the pandemic. So for me, I'd always want to start my own business. And my thing is always wanting to help people. Since people are afraid to go out there, be in public places, even though there are these guidelines and restrictions — my thing was to help guys look their best. Despite the pandemic as long as we're operating in a safe way. But to help guys improve their image. I found that it's been pretty helpful for a lot of guys and families in general with younger kids. They're going to start school and they want to look their best. And I figured it would be a helpful service for many families, and for guys in general.
Kaitlin Milliken: Right now your services are mobile, and you have a van and you're driving out and you're giving haircuts and doing your consultations that way. Was the original vision to be mobile, or did you pivot to go mobile?
Marc Anthony Lujares: My original thought was to be able to bring the service to them. It's like a nice treat for yourself, if someone was to come to you, as opposed to you go there. In reality, to go get a haircut for most guys, it almost like drains two to three hours, sometimes. You get there. Sometimes you're waiting. And then you could be waiting up to an hour, and then you get the actual haircut, and then you go home. And a lot of times that can be so time consuming. So my thought was to just go to each client, if they are looking to get a service like a haircut.
Kaitlin Milliken: Great. And of course, I'm sure that you're a pro at all of the safety measures that have to happen, but what are you doing? And how do you keep both yourself and your clients safe when you're doing these consultations?
Marc Anthony Lujares: So initially, what people do is they contact me letting me know that they're interested in getting a service. And for me safety is really important. Like I'll ask them, have you traveled outside of the state in the last two weeks? Have you felt any symptoms that's related or correlated with COVID-19? When I go to your home, I just ask that you are wearing a mask and before I even enter the home I'll do a non-contact temperature to see if you are anywhere near triple digit temperature. So once that's settled, and they agree with that, I enter the home or a lot of times it's like in their outdoor space, if it's like a really nice day. I'll wear a mask and divisor and gloves as well, to make sure that they feel safe when I'm performing the service.
Kaitlin Milliken: So do you have any stories from working with any of your clients that you would like to share?
Marc Anthony Lujares: When I go to people's homes, you’re entering an intimate space. This is their life. You meet family members. Kids are awesome. They call me “the haircut man” when I come in. It's kind of funny. Yeah, one of the things that happened to me that really stuck out to me was when this little boy after I had given him a haircut. He waved goodbye to me like, “Bye, haircut man,” and I was really touched by that. I felt kind of like a superhero at that point when he said haircut man.
Kaitlin Milliken: I want to ask a question. There might be folks who, you know, we're all in our homes. We've been staring at ourselves in the mirror. Maybe we want to come out of quarantine looking extra fresh and stylish. Do you have any tips for audience members, or the guys who are out there listening about what you can do to keep a stylish personal image?
Marc Anthony Lujares: To keep it simple, honestly, like when you're wearing clothing, proportions are really important. Like, if you have broad shoulders, sometimes it's good to be able to accentuate that. Obviously, playing with proportion is important. And if you want to show some of your personality, a lot of times people will show their personality through their favorite article of clothing that kind of gives them their signature look. Honestly if you feel confident, and wearing a cardigan all the time, that's like your look, and people will resonate with that. Kind of like Mr. Rogers like, to me, that guy is one of the flyest guys I have ever seen in a neighborhood. But yeah, proportion is key. And being able to show your personality through your clothing, really sell it, because when you're happy in how you look the rest of the world sees that too. They see it in your face, and it should all draw attention to your face. And that comes with the hairstyle too.
Kaitlin Milliken: I know that our folks are listening, but we're on zoom, I can see that you've got like a blazer and like, I don't know what you call the handkerchief that comes out of the blazer pocket?
Marc Anthony Lujares: Oh, the pocket square.
Kaitlin Milliken: Yes, yes. What influenced your personal style?
Marc Anthony Lujares: I actually grew up in the South Shore. So there weren't that many Filipinos, where I grew up. I was probably one of the only like, colored/Asian person in a lot of my classes. As a kid, you stand out, but you kind of have to be mindful of how you are when you interact with other people. So style has always been something that has, in a way, spoken for me as far as like, “Oh, that guy has a general sense of style.” I felt like when I wore something that I felt comfortable and confident and a lot of people will start to talk to me and get to know me a little bit more.
And a lot of the time to, like music has inspired me as well. I remember, actually, in high school, just because of the way that I dressed someone had thought that I would become like a music producer or something. That was when like, Kanye West first came on the scene and he started wearing pink polos. I kind of followed suit in that same era and started wearing pink with confidence. And people were like, “I like that.”
Kaitlin Milliken: We always love the bold choices, like the bold choices make it work.
Marc Anthony Lujares: Absolutely. When you go bold, people notice. And when you get that recognition for going bold, people, they give you props.
Kaitlin Milliken: Have you been a part of the like, fashion hair scene here for your entire career? Or did you pivot into it from something else?
Marc Anthony Lujares: I pivoted into it, because I'm even throughout school, I've always been just kind of reading up on blogs and following certain figures who style I appreciate a lot. Being first generation Filipino, going into that field isn't something that's like really… It's perceived to your parents is like, it's not going to pay a lot of money or you know, whatever. So for me, I kind of slowly got into it.
Initially, when I was in school, I started health science courses. So I the route was to be a physical therapist. But, for me, it was just like, “Oh, let me just do something that will make my parents happy. But I'm okay with.” The fashion part had always been a part of me that I'd always done all the time, and I didn't really realize it until much later on.
Fashion has always been like my guide to do the things that I love to do, until I eventually fall into something that's like, perfect for me. So I had always been cutting hair throughout high school, which I didn't even realize that until I was much older that I had always been cutting hair. Whenever I give someone a haircut, I make them feel really good about themselves. And they look to me as being the professional and giving them the advice that's suitable for each person. And that will really highlight the best qualities of themselves.
Kaitlin Milliken: And I know that you mentioned a few times how being Filipino and growing up in Boston as a Filipino person has influenced your sense of style, your relationship with your work. Are there other ways that you connect to your Filipino identity that you want to talk about on the show?
Marc Anthony Lujares: The Filipino community in Boston. It's quite small, and it's spread out as well. So I would say, even though it's a small community, I always have contact with my friends who are Filipino. It's almost like a daily interaction. So some of the things that we go through, we share common things. Especially food, we always have food, what restaurants are out there. My sister is a chef at Myers and Chang in the South End, so food is a constant conversation that still connects to my identity.
Kaitlin Milliken: We are at our final question of the interview. There might be folks who want to get a haircut, book an appointment with you. What's the way to do that?
Marc Anthony Lujares: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, right now, it's pretty much like word of mouth or if you send me a personal message on Instagram. It's talcum and tonic, talcum_and_tonic. You can send me a message, or you can send me a text or call me. It's 617-942-1343.
Kaitlin Milliken: Let's all hope that folks get in touch with you and get really fashionable around the holidays. And thank you so much mark for joining us today.
Marc Anthony Lujares: Oh, no problem is a pleasure to be on the podcast.
[Outro]
Kaitlin Milliken: This has been the BOSFilipinos Podcast. I'm your host, Kaitlin Milliken. Music for our show was made by Matt Garamella. Special thanks to Marc for joining us. You can follow Marc on instagram at talcum-underscore-and-underscore-tonic. You can DM him to book an appointment or call 617-942-1343 to set up at time. If you liked this episode of our show, you can subscribe to the BOSFilipinos Podcast on your streaming platform of choice. You can also follow us on Instagram, @bosfilipinos, to stay connected. Holiday season is officially upon us! So stay safe and let us know how you’ll be celebrating this year. And if you have ideas of what we should cover, you can let us know at bosfilipinos.com. Thanks for listening and see you soon.