Peoria’s Jorell Glass is training the next generation of barbers

Peoria barber Jorell Glass began cutting hair when he was 10 years old. He started with his own head, then began cutting the hair of his brother and cousin — much to the surprise of his mother, who expected him to goof it up.

Now, Glass not only runs his own barbershop, the Shave Room, at the Twin Towers Mall in Peoria but he operates his own barbering school at 3019 N. Sterling Ave.

Glass, who is known as “Mr. Glass” in the barbering world, started the barbering school Mr. Glass Tonsorial Christian Institute two years ago with the intent of creating an entrepreneurial pipeline and attracting talent to barbering.

“What we do is educate students, make sure they get their barber license and we give them an opportunity to become an entrepreneur here at the Shave Room,” Glass said. “So we’re training them and we’re placing them.”

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The school just graduated five students, two of whom now work in the Shave Room with Glass.

“I’ve been a barbershop owner for a while and I’ve always found it’s a liability to find talent,” Glass said. “If I come to whatever city it may be and I need good barbers, I am at the mercy of that city’s institutions to fill my barbershop. So, I said, ‘well, I might as well develop a feeder system.'”

At Glass’s school, there is an emphasis on not just teaching students barbering skills but also instilling in them values and traits they will need to be successful entrepreneurs.

“We’re loving on people — it’s a wholistic approach to barbering rather than a trade approach,” Glass said. “So we’re not only teaching them soft skills, we’re building character, responsibility, accountability, professionalism, all of that all in one place.”

Glass says he sees a need in the Peoria area for entrepreneurial small business growth, especially for Black business owners and first-time business owners.

“Developing an ecosystem that’s kind to first-time business owners, develop an ecosystem where they can grow, they can develop, have resources, mentorship,” Glass said. “Once we can get solid entrepreneurship, it changes everything.”

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