The HLN cable channel tapes the Detroit episode that aired Nov. 19 on a cable news channel.
An innovative Detroit entrepreneur was profiled Sunday night in the debut of a CNN channel's documentary series.
Sebastian Jackson, a Midtown barber and community forum host, is the leadoff focus of "Growing America / A Journey to Success." In each of the six episodes, a small business owner gets advice from visiting MBA students -- a mash-up of "Extreme Makeover" and "Shark Tank," in a sense.
The network frames it this way:
"Hosted by Ty Pennington, this documentary series follows teams of students from the MBAs Across America Program who are given one week to use their expertise . . . to spotlight small businesses in cities across the U.S. . . .
"Each team of students will have just five days to learn a new business, identify key issues and develop a solution that the business owner is comfortable implementing."
Monthly "ShopTalk" forums draw a crowd at 5272 Third Street, as this one did in July. (Facebook photo)
For Jackson's episode on HLN (formerly CNN Headline News), graduate-level business students visited his shop, The Social Club Grooming Company, on Third Street near Kirby in a campus building owned by Wayne State University. (Two promotional videos are below.)
As his venture's name suggests, Jackson doesn't run an ordinary clip joint. ”The Social Club is an inclusive, environmentally sustainable barber shop," his online description says. "Catering to fine grooming, we offer a comfortable urban retreat located in fashionable Midtown Detroit.”
Conversation combines with cutting at monthly “ShopTalk” gatherings moderated by the owner, who in 2012 took over the shop where he had worked as a WSU student. His site explains:
“This forum is designed to give our audience of well-traveled, well-educated and well-groomed individuals the opportunity to engage with local and global innovators, influencers and taste makers. While having an engaging conversation, the audience looks on while the panelists are groomed.”
Jackson's background and approach are chronicled in a UIX Detroit post by Amy Kuras. Here's an excerpt:
One of the interesting things he chose to do from the start was to hire white and African American stylists. That was partly to enlarge his clientele, so the diverse student and faculty population at Wayne State would all feel welcome. But there was a socially progressive idea there as well.
Salons and barbershops are a huge part of the culture in Detroit. It's where you hear the neighborhood gossip, get style advice, and solve the world's problems – all with wet hair. Too often, though, they are as segregated as anything else in the city; white people get their hair done one place, African-Americans another. It all reinforces racial stereotypes, which thrive in isolation from diversity.At the Social Club Grooming Company, stylists of different races and from different cities have become friends. From there, their friends have become friends, which helps people see each other as they truly are instead of through the lens of racial mistrust. "Those false stereotypes are broken because people are becoming friends," Sebastian says.
