A Beloved Brooklyn Salon Is Determined to Survive

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Iyesata Marsh owns Studio Phenomenon, a 2,000-square-foot hair salon in Brooklyn, N.Y. In addition to running the five-person business, Marsh is a stylist to musicians such  as Lil' Kim and Dreezy, who hire her for their tours or music videos. In March, when New York’s government ordered salons and barbershops to close to slow the spread of Covid-19, Marsh didn’t sit still. She supported friends and members of her church who lost loved ones to the disease, recorded interviews for a forthcoming short film she’s calling “Corona After Tomorrow,” and made wigs for clients. Marsh plans to reopen as soon as the city allows salons to do so, in phase 2. She talks about navigating life as a black business owner and the mother of two sons. The interview has been edited.

Beauticians are more like psychiatrists—you’re more like a helper, like a personal assistant. A lot of my clients were calling to ask for help when family members died. I come from a big church family. We lost 16 people from the church. So I’ve just been helping out, directing where to go. I assisted a friend who runs a funeral home. I helped try to find space in crematories that were full. I personally know eight people who passed away from Covid, including my sons’ grandfather--it’s just a lot.

Since I wasn’t running my business, I started documenting all of this stuff. I wanted to give people a little solace about what happens afterward. It’s like thousands of people just disappeared and you’re just never going to see them again. It was happening so fast.

I did maybe 12 or 13 video interviews with my phone. I took an interview with someone who beat corona. I took an interview with a hospital security guard who helped families see patients. He would take his phone and FaceTime family members so they could see their loved ones. I even interviewed a grave digger. He went from burying four to six people a week to 19 people a day.

I would go to the trailers that held bodies at the different hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens. I was going around reciting the 23rd Psalm and just praying. I didn’t know who was on the trailers. 

A lot of salons were sneaking people in. I didn’t want to risk it. At the end of the day, if I catch it and give it to someone else who’s sitting in my chair, that’s basically like attempted murder. I would have to live with that. 

But I still have to pay rent. I sliced the rent in half because my landlord knows what’s going on. He knows I’m a good person. He knows my business. He lives nearby. He comes in, we talk, he knows what’s going on. I told him I’m applying for everything, but things are backed up. If the loans come through, I’ll make sure that he’s fine.

I didn’t hear back on PPP. I applied for a $75,000 EIDL and they said I was only eligible for $28,500. I have exceptional credit. So far, I’ve gotten nothing. I’ve had a bunch of scammy people calling up saying, ‘We could be the third party to help you a get a loan. We only take 12% of the loan.’ I’m like, ‘What? Where’d you get my number from?’”

When I started my business in 1998, my vision was to franchise. I wanted to help young black entrepreneurs who wanted to get into the beauty business, the film or TV industry, the music business. Today I let them work for me two or three years, tops, and then I push them out the door to go start their own store. I have a revolving door. You come in, you work, you learn. I even help them find a space. I kind of create entrepreneurs. 

I also travel to do hair for musicians and television shows. I’ve been to every state in the U.S. at least five times. I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve been with Dru Hill, Lil’ Kim, Kelly Price, Dreezy, LL Cool J, Puff Daddy. I toured with Puff Daddy 23 years ago on the first “No Way Out” tour, and then I did the tour again 20 years later.

About 12 people who’ve worked for me now own their own salon— in North Carolina, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Miami, Queens. Because of the pandemic, they’ve asked me, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ I said, ‘Close. There’s nothing you can do if you want to continue to do hair.

As New York reopens, I’m terrified cases could start spiking. You’ll let me open in July and then I’ll have to close again in August. They’re predicting a spike to come in August/September. To reopen, I have to scale down. I can only take one client at a time. We’re 2,000 square feet. The space is open and airy, but I don’t want to risk one of my clients bringing something in here and spreading it, or the client getting it from the actual person doing their hair. I can’t pack people in. Everything has to be masked up, disposable.

You know what you touch in a salon. You touch the chair handle, you touch the chair, you might touch the counter to swipe your debit card. Then you may use the bathroom: You turn the doorknob, you flush the toilet, you touch the sink to wash your hands and turn it back off. I’m going to have to go behind each person who uses the bathroom to disinfect everything. I have to just keep cleaning and cleaning. There’s nothing more I can do.

I’ve been trying to figure out ways to keep my clients. I’ve been making wigs for clients who can’t get their hair done. I’ve been doing Zoom meetings with my clients, having them take a tape measure and measure their heads and send me the dimensions. I ship the wig to them or I get in my car, put plastic gloves on, a mask and a shield, and I drop it in their mailbox. I’ve probably made 27 wigs. I've got two I need to get done by tomorrow.

Of course I want to reopen. I’ve been doing this for 20-something years, so I ask myself, is it even worth it? But I’m a people person and I like the job that I do. This is just a setback and you just have to build it back up. It’s black entrepreneurship. We’ve been through struggles before. As an African American person, I’m not going to get knocked down and not stand back up. 

I believe in peaceful protest. We’re not about burning police cars. We’re about change. I believe every police officer across the nation should take a knee. Get on your hands and knees and pray for peacefulness. A lot of people don’t want to do that. And then we still have systemic racism that goes back hundreds of years. Are we ever going to get out of this?

People believe that when a police officer stops you, you put your hands up automatically because you’re scared. It’s a difference between African American people and white people. It’s why a white police officer lets a white person go before he lets a black boy go. I have two black sons. When my sons walk out the door, I’m stressed out. Literally, my blood pressure is up because I don’t know what’s going to go on outside. Are the cops going to stop your son? Arrest your son? Beat your son? Shoot your son? You don’t know, so you just pray every single day. It’s hard being a black boy. It’s very hard.

My older son got shoved around and pushed down by white officers while he was with his white girlfriend in Texas. They told him, ‘You’re in the wrong neighborhood with the wrong person.’ He didn’t understand that the reason was that she was white and he was black. You’ve got to tell your kids every time you go out of the house, ‘Be careful.’ It’s bad you have to do that. You worry. In my community, where my business is, I make sure I know the people at the police precinct. Where I live, I also know the people at the precinct. I know the commanding officer. I go and introduce myself. I make it a point to say that this is where I live and I have two black sons.

Where I live now is a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. There are only three other African American people on this block. I let them know: I live here. This is my home, and I have two black sons. You have to push yourself out there so that they see this mom is not playing.

As African Americans, we’ve been through so much struggle throughout our lifetimes, this is just something you can add on. If you want to make it happen, you’ve got to diligently do what you’ve got to do. It’s the only way it’s going to get done. I will not fold.

—As told to Nick Leiber

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