April 24, 2017

Meet Daniel Ordonez of Elevate Barbershops in Alhambra

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Ordonez.

Daniel, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a proud Angeleno, designer, creative director, and entrepreneur. I was born and raised in Los Angeles by a single mother who immigrated here from El Salvador when she was 19. Growing up, I saw how much my mother sacrificed for our wellbeing. She engrained a work-ethic and determination that would fuel me for the rest of my life. In the first grade, I got accepted into the Magnet/GATE Program for highly gifted students that would change the course of my future. From the second grade until sophomore year of high school, I commuted from Koreatown to Brentwood, Palms, and eventually the Palisades all for a better education and future. This dichotomy of growing up in a lower-middle-class home but spending most of my time around friends that came from wealth taught me a significant number of things. One of the most important things I learned was to respect people’s differences. Whether it be race, religion, or gender – I became very comfortable around people that didn’t always necessarily look like me.

Later in life, I would find this to be something I’m really grateful for. With a fascination for drawing and art since a young age, sophomore year of high school I got my first computer and discovered photoshop. This led me down a rabbit hole of creativity – learning to code and build sites from scratch, design flyers for friends, and eventually stumble onto what graphic design is. Sophomore year, I was also hit by reality as I got kicked out of my high school for letting my grades fall below average. This was my first taste of “failure” and was necessary for me to learn how to value and appreciate things. After being forced to transfer to a local high school (with an infamous reputation), I learned the value of where I came from and all that I had given up. My appreciation for all the sacrifices my mother made so I can have a better education shined immediately – I started by enrolling into night school, then summer school, got my first job, and ultimately discovered my work-ethic during this time period. After barely graduating high school on time, I knew the importance of higher education so I didn’t want to attend just any college.

Instead of going to the local community college a few blocks away, I once again began my journey to west LA and enrolled to Santa Monica College – the highest transfer rated school in California. Here, I really began to hone in on my future as a designer and followed a curriculum in that direction. Faith was something that I learned during this time and would prove to influence my future incredibly. A friend recommended an outreach program catered to lower income and minorities students interested in applying to UC’s. In this program, you would stay at UCLA for a week and be taught about the UC system, how to apply, financial aid, etc. At this point, UCLA was a school for people that had 4.0 GPAs and would never accept someone like me. But after attending the Summer Transfer Program, they helped make UCLA realistic.

After applying to multiple schools, UCLA was a dream that would soon become a reality. Once being accepted to UCLA, my entire life changed. During this time, I also started working out more and was introduced to weight lifting. More than just a physical outlet, weightlifting taught me discipline. It taught me how important it was to set goals, and how with enough time and pressure anything could change – my body became living proof of it. I now knew I had control of my future. If there was anything I ever wanted, I would just need faith in myself (and god) and work really hard towards it. This new-found perspective allowed me to excel tremendously life.

Understanding how competitive the design program was, I applied as a different major to get into school. Once inside, I knew it would be much easier to get in, which eventually happened. I started surrounding myself with goal-orientated friends and began my first graphic design internship at a local non-profit doing humanitarian work. After receiving some field photos from Pakistan, I saw smiling faces of kids in this community wearing shirts I designed and posters on the wall – I immediately knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. As my career began to blossom as a designer, I always knew that my goal was to eventually become a Creative Director and not be limited by any form of technology or medium. This true north, served as my compass as I jumped from company to company, learning how to design and create for different demographics and industries. My career started at a non-profit, then to a for-profit college, a startup, an experiential marketing agency, and eventually a full-blown ad agency – all while wearing the hat of designer and art director. I set myself up to learn as much as possible by also taking on several freelance projects throughout this time frame. By the end of this 5-year course, I had worked with some my dream brands like Nike, Beats by Dre, Complex, G.O.O.D. Music and had a project featured in a Super Bowl commercial – I knew that my future would only get brighter.

After years of working for different companies, I realized no matter where I went I was always hitting a ceiling. I had more ideas and things to offer outside of design and began to realize my time in working for someone would soon come to an end. In 2015, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, I was motivated to take an idea to new heights and began my journey as an entrepreneur – this is when I founded my first startup, Thanks Mom. Being raised by a single mother, I saw the lack of resources and support single mothers received so I created a brand that was dedicated to thanking them and all mothers in general. With your purchase, we would then help empower single moms by sending them an inspiring greeting card and connecting them to local resources for child care, financial support, and/or therapy.

After a year of building a great team, I was presented with an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. Although I loved and was motivated by Thanks Mom I found myself in a space where I didn’t have as many commonalities with my target demographic. This new venture would marry both, a very viable business and allow me to curate and explore things I’m passionate about. In 2016, I partnered with a great friend of mine, Joshua Lewis, and started Elevate – a unique lifestyle brand redefining the barbershop experience.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Over the course of my life, I’ve realized that nothing worth having ever comes easy. It takes real blood, sweat, and tears to build some meaningful. This is what makes that mountain top that much sweeter. Whether it be relationships, your career, fitness goals, it doesn’t matter. If it can come easy, it will leave just as quickly. The road has been far from smooth in many instances, but because I’m pursuing my dreams (with god on my side) no obstacle will ever stop me. Yes, it was a challenge being raised by an immigrant single mother. Although I’m biracial (black and Latino), the world still just sees a black man. It was tough being the older brother and always trying to be a good example. It was difficult waking up at 5 am every day to commute over an hour each way to school for almost 10 years. It was hard getting kicked out during my sophomore year and starting over in a school I didn’t like. It wasn’t easy going to night school, adult school, summer school, just to graduate on time. It was rough not having anyone to teach me how to apply to college, financial aid, etc. It was a struggle having to work while I went to college because there was no money saved for that. It was demanding to intern for 8 months without getting paid all while working part-time and going to school. It wasn’t a walk in the park, being one of two people of color in my major. It was really tough getting laid off a few times and not knowing how I was going to pay my bills. It was very strenuous leaving behind a secure job and benefits to venture out and start my own business. It is demanding to manage over ten employees. But because of each and every one of these things, I am stronger, more grateful, loving, intelligent, determined, and focused on achieving every dream and goal I set forth. I wouldn’t take a single thing back. With enough time and pressure, anything will change, that’s how you make diamonds.

Elevate Barbershops – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Elevate is a unique lifestyle brand redefining the barbershop experience. We truly believe your appearance can shape the world around you. When you look good, you feel good, and ultimately you do good – this positive energy is contagious. Historically, Barbershops are a very old traditional business. There has been a lack of innovation or growth in years. We saw an opportunity and are now pioneering the next generation of shops – by combining talent with technology we’re blurring the lines between fashion, culture, art, and design, to curate a unique boutique and barbershop experience. From urban, edgy, classic, to kid’s haircuts, our goal is to have you looking, feeling, and performing better than ever. We offer a quality haircut and experience at affordable rates. With unique promotions like free cuts after your 10th (rewards program), 50% off with good grades, and 50% off on your birthday, we want to make sure we remind our clients how much we value and appreciate them. With an emphasis on hiring young receptive barbers, discounts for good grades, and allowing our senior staff to buy equity in the business, empowering others has always been in our DNA and core values. We also have monthly team meetings where we go over the shop and personal goals/growth. Our goal is to inspire young leaders and entrepreneurs who will continue growing the business and innovating the landscape. As mentioned earlier, we are also maximizing online tools and have a strong digital foot-print unlike most barbershops. Our online booking system is a very popular and effective example that. We are also probably the only barbershop that has an internal creative director and team, giving us a real competitive edge.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Elevate’s story is really about self-love. It’s about investing in yourself so you can positively affect the world around you. This story can be told in a multitude of ways, from a clothing line, a publication, social enterprise, events, classes/seminars, the list is endless. These barbershops are merely the foundation, the first touch point to an ever-growing brand that the world will soon see and hear about.

Pricing:

$20 | Mens Haircut – We specialize in a wide array of styles – from urban, edgy, to classic. Come with an idea or let us help you decide, you won’t be disappointed!
$25 | Mens Haircut + Beard – We specialize in wide array of styles – from urban, edgy, to classic. This cut includes the beard.
$30 | Hair Design – Whether it’s an idea you come with or a freestyle from one of our barbers, you’ll leave looking like no one else!
$15 | Kids Haircuts – We specialize in a wide array of styles – from urban, edgy, to classic. Kids classify ages 1-12.
$12 | Line-up + Beard – Barber uses clippers (and straight edge razor) to shave straight lines and sharp angles into your forehead, temples, sideburns, back, and beard.
$10 | Line-up – Barber uses clippers (and straight edge razor) to shave straight lines and sharp angles into your forehead, temples, sideburns and back.