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By Kielon Hilaire. Quintin Feveck is a valiant guy who is hell-bent on proving that his ultimate place in society can be whatever he wants it to be. Quintin is a barber fondly known as Barber-Q. Yes, a part time one too. And his “shop” is located in his backyard. So anyone who is reading this and is already frowning should probably go check to see if there is a “celebrity barber” showing on TV because Quintin’s story is as real as it gets.
Growing up
Being the last of five boys, growing up Quintin had to prove his worth in many ways. He experienced his fair share of trials, he was frail, had an unorthodox personality and he even attended what was then known as the Five Rivers Junior Secondary School after sitting Common Entrance Examinations (now known as SEA). And at the end of it all he became a barber.
Quintin started on his own hair
“I started after my brother told me that if I don’t cut my hair he would not give me a mark,” Quintin said, “so I told him, ‘ok, cut it’ and he kept his promise. Since then I kept maintaining my own hair. Realising what I could do, after that I started offering students marks in school for a fee to put towards buying a gift for someone. As soon as I got enough money I bought a barbering machine and I eventually took a leap of faith and started cutting my own hair. Then I eventually moved onto cutting other people’s hair. Then at some point I became known as ‘Barber-Q.’ But this all started 12 years ago.”
The experiences
Quintin shared rich descriptions of some of his most fascinating times as a barber, including the first time he experimented with contrast and used different heights of the hair to create the illusion of shadows and the time when a client sat down in his chair and told him to just put something strange in her head. He said that inspiration took its time to come that day, but when it came it came. “After the client told me that, I turned to stare at a pattern on my bed sheet then did some abstract work on her head. It eventually became known to be the ‘BS Design’,” Quintin said. “Today we still joke about it.”
And just to clarify, BS stands for bed sheet! Quintin also has strong selling points as a barber, particularly that you can call him by appointment for a haircut so that you don’t have to wait in line and that clients always get exactly what they ask for. But there is a little twist to this story.
The engineer
Quintin’s true passion lies in the field of Engineering. He was accepted into the University of the West Indies (UWI) to pursue his BSc Degree in Civil Engineering which he is relentlessly chasing. He claims it is not easy waking up 2 am every morning to put in the hours as a student but at the end of the day he knows this is going to be worth it. “I chose Civil Engineering because I wanted to take that desire of mine to build things and step it up to building bigger things like houses. In time I would like to be part of a team that designs and builds a high-rise building in Trinidad or Tobago or some other part of the world.”
Quintin also advises that studying engineering is not for the faint of heart. He cautioned, “If this is your passion, chase it only after you make up your mind to give up sleep.”
Quintin appreciates the fact that he started as a barber and that his most loyal clients support him on his path to becoming a full-fledged engineer. He knows that without their support he would not have made it this far, although he also knows that he has much further to go. But anything worthwhile takes time. He believes faith and work can bring miracles.
June 2015 – Issue 16 www.sweettntmagazine.com
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