The FABULOUS Marco Pelusi

Marco Pelusi shares his extraordinary success story, how he stays grounded, as well as celeb dish and style tips.

Marco grew up in my hometown and dealt with the usual teen growing pains, but also coming to terms with who he really is.  He tells how he overcame fear to live his authentic life and find his life's work

Transcript

[00:00] Sam: Hello, moxie squad. It has been a minute. I absolutely adore this podcast, making it for you and the community that we built around it. Unfortunately, 2022 was filled with a million little challenges that kept me from the time, consistency and frankly, the confidence to keep pace with what I envision here at Meant for Moxie. In 2023. I am accepted, think that I can't always control what life throws at me, but I am in charge of how I respond to it. And this podcast is such a joyful thing for me that I'm making it a priority. The stories of people who have survived and actually thrived matter. It helps us all to know that shit happens to everyone, but we can overcome and help others in their journeys as well. So that's what we're here doing, telling stories of people you may not know everyday, folks who've done extraordinary things. If this is your first visit at Meant For Moxie, look around. I've chatted with bestselling authors, film directors, as well as women who've survived horrendous abuse, halts, and even a serial killer. These are the stories of people who found a calling forged from challenge and are sharing their learnings with you, my guest, as I return to production. Today is no different. When you were a teenager, did you have any idea if you would be successful, happy, fulfilled?

[01:24] Sam: Yeah.

[01:25] Sam: No, I didn't either. Hoped, wished for, but I didn't know. Most of us feel awkward or insecure and we hope that we have the right friends and loved ones around us to find our purpose, our truth, and our confidence. This is what the Moxie Squad is today I'm sharing the story of my dear friend Marco Pelosi and how he found confidence and his true north to build his amazing career. Today on Meant for Moxie.

[02:11] Sam: Welcome back to Metro Moxie. I am really excited about my guest today. This guy is a friend of mine from like my most awkward period of life. I was like 15 when we met here in Pittsburgh. And through the beauty of social media, one of the things I really love about it is we reconnected many years later and came to find out that he is like hair colorist and stylist of stars in California. I always knew he would be someone amazing. So it is my pleasure to introduce you all to Marco Pelosi. Welcome, Marco.

[02:47] Marco: Sam, thank you so much. I am so excited to be here with you on this podcast. We've wanted to do this for so long and I equally feel the same way. It was a really awkward stage for me. That's how I felt inside. And so it's funny how those voices inside sort of stick with us from that stage, but the people that meant the most to us, I think it's nice. Like you said, people complain about social media, but it's cool because you can reconnect with people you really care about or cared about a long time ago.

[03:21] Sam: I want to mention to the audience the high school that Marco and I went to, suburban Pittsburgh. The town is called Upper St. Clair. People around here joke that you have to say it with your jaw locked. Admittedly, it was a town that had a fair share of privilege to it. What's interesting, though, is the people that we knew when we were there. We have really maybe it's because we were about the same age when social media started to blow up. We were heading into kind of right around our 20th class reunions. So we all got on this to reconnect. But I have found that our group of friends from high school has stayed so connected even though all those years passed. We were able to pick up right where we left off and were really supportive of each other. And it kind of flies in the face of this stereotype of this privileged little bubble in the suburbs that we all have really interesting stories. There's a lot of different experiences that we've had, hardships, things that we've overcome. And I really feel that there's a sense of community, though, even from this place, that you wouldn't normally sort of like that typical John Hughes high school vibe to it, and there's a lot more depth to it.

[04:54] Marco: I couldn't agree more. I think you said something that I love thinking about. It's almost like every day, someone that I knew or cared about, or maybe even more importantly, casually knew will sometimes often like a post of mine on social media, someone who we went to school with. And it's like just to kind of, like, piggyback on what you said. It's like we're right there for each other. I mean, we really are. And you're right. The privilege and the snottiness or whatever, you can label different suburbs. There was a community and really do care about each other. And I feel that going back. And I don't say that in a trite, kind of cheesy way. I say that in a real heartfelt way.

[05:46] Sam: I know you do. Marco and I also were both in choir and theater and definitely not what you would put into the cool kids category, at least not at the time. So let's kind of dive in a little bit with that in the forefront here. What was kind of that period of life like for you, and where did you find your community? One thing you need to know about Marco is he has one of the most delicious and beautiful singing voices I've ever heard in my life. And I actually thought he would go into theater or something. So when I discovered that he had this other career path, I was like, oh, my God. All right, so talk about that.

[06:33] Marco: Thank you, Sam. Yeah, it was a tough time for me. I was always good at achieving, and I was always good, pretty good at school. And you and I were both in some of the advanced classes, like the advanced English classes and all that good stuff. And I did well in school and I did well extracurricularly in more of the geek squad and or theater squad realms. And I loved all of that. I loved all of it. And I think I used that as a way to escape pain. It was challenging at home because my parents, they were wonderful parents, but they were going through their own struggles and my parents did divorce after the minute I graduated college. So there was a lot of love in the house. And I was the spoiled young son, youngest only son in an Italian Catholic family. So I had that going. But then at the same time, my parents were kind of going through this difficult it's like difficult time and there was that tension in the house and so I wanted to escape that. And then you and I have already chatted a little bit about the fact that I knew that I was gay at a young age, which is typically what happens with most people when you're in your teenage years. And so I actually think I utilize what the school had to offer me to achieve. And I think having those personal strife things going on, it allowed me to achieve more. And the school had such great opportunity. And then I connected with people like you. And I had a nice core group of friends that were kind of either in the geek squad with Brosnahan, which was our English teacher or whatever, those people or the theater people. And some of them overlapped, some of them didn't, and those were my people. And then I definitely got teased because it was like, oh, he's artistic, he's smart. It's kind of funny that I don't know what happens today in schools, but I think when people were a little more into scholastics and also theater at that time, it wasn't necessarily praised. And then also I came from this family of hairdressers, which to the world was kind of a cool thing. And then as I got older, it was kind of cool. But to be a young guy and to be in a hairdressing family, some of the sportos kind of teased me because a, I was from a hairdressing family, b, I was in theater and C, I was kind of a geek. I was the target of all sorts of bullying or whatever. I don't know that I was ever really bullied because I think I was pretty strong underneath all that. That's a lot to unpack. We can talk about that for time, right?

[09:37] Sam: I think that my impression has always been and some of that's come as I've gotten older. I have a lot of gay friends and I don't say that to be kind of patronizing or pat myself on the back, but as I got older and socially, we started talking about it more. I know a lot of my friends that I met as adults. They said, oh, I didn't know anybody. I went to high school who was gay. I was like, yes, you did. Yes, you did. And we didn't talk about it. I mean, it's not like people in our community were coming out left and right. I think it was just sort of like, maybe not. I don't know, and it doesn't really matter. And I will say this, it gave me this great place to be from one of my dear friends from college who came out to me in college. We were out dancing one night, and he came out to me, and my response was, okay, cool, let's go dance. And years later, he told me how much that meant because it was, like, the easiest time he ever had. And he asked me, why was that? Why was I so, like, whatever. I'm like, because I was a theater kid. It didn't matter. We all had our eccentricities or differences. We had troubles at home. We struggled socially, whatever it was, and this amazing empathy came out of that. And I think that's why people like you and I and others from that community, we've always had this great ease with networking also going forward, it's because we've always understood that someone has a story, whether they're telling you or not, right?

[11:25] Marco: Absolutely. And I do think you're pretty fabulous in terms of your ability to accept others, Sam. And I think that those are the people that I've always been attracted to, just sort of naturally and that sort of experience. You and I didn't get to go to college together, but I had a couple of those experiences, too, with some friends where I was just like, by the way, I'm gay. And I was met with acceptance at Penn State, although not always. I mean, there were challenges. I did come out to a few people who did not appreciate that in me, and that was tough, especially with the Catholic background that I had. And coming to terms with that.

[12:12] Sam: That is definitely difficult. The church I grew up in was a lot more accepting to that. And the minister that I grew up with, these kids went to school with us. He ended up leaving the church and going to the big, big city church in California, in San Francisco, and was at the forefront of changing the Presbyterian church nationwide attitude towards the LGBTQ community. And so though he didn't talk about that much when I was growing up, I think that helped too, because it was like, we love everybody. And I always felt for my friends who did have to go through those challenges, either because of the faith they were raised in or cultural things in their background as well. I know that now as an adult, your family has been great. Were there challenges coming out there?

[13:14] Marco: You know, I lucked out in a lot of ways with my family because of the fact that they were in hairdressing. So it was like, oh, my God. Fingers crossed. Thank God that happened because they had gay employees going back as far as I can remember. And so that was a real big help to me. And the one who was the most accepting was my dad, immediately accepting. He just basically said, Well, I still love you, and gave me a hug and then this is a really good story. Actually, this is a fun story. My dad had a brother in law, my uncle, my godfather, who was a doctor. He's no longer with us, but my dad asked him for a medical referral to a psychiatrist. When I told him this, it might have been at the beginning of college when I was at Penn State and we went to the doctor, the psychiatrist, we only had one session. I think this is an interesting story to share. And this doctor, this old psychiatrist dude, basically pulled out a book of Freud and he opened to a certain page and he asked my dad to read the one page and then the next page. And the first page was about heterosexual people, and the next page, in long story short, was about gay people. And the doctor literally said, this is your page, Mr. Pelosi, and this is your son's page, and your son is on this page. He's different than you are. And once we had the medical approval, we were wrapped up and we were good. So I really lucked out that I had that referral because there's a lot of therapists, especially back then, that would say, oh no, you need to change and you need to that kind of whole thing. So I really lucked out and what.

[15:11] Sam: A beautiful way to put that. We're all just like pages in a book and we make up a beautiful story together. Yeah, but that had to be hard, like driving to that appointment, not knowing what you were going to get out of that.

[15:25] Marco: I was under so much anxiety as a child, which is why the theater and excelling and doing well, that sort of was my outlet because of this whole thing of having to hold this in for so long and yeah, I don't even remember how I felt going to that appointment. I guess I just kind of just I've always had faith, and I do think that my faith got me through. I've always had faith in God, not necessarily attached necessarily to a specific religion, but perhaps growing up with some faith helped. And so I think I've always known that I would just overcome or pursue. I think my faith helps, and I just knew that things would be okay. But I didn't have that experience with my mother's therapist. My mom went to someone who actually didn't give her good advice.

[16:22] Sam: Oh, no.

[16:23] Marco: Which was really kind of a bummer and I know she regretted it. She's no longer with us, but I know she regretted that. And then, interestingly enough, that therapist, it turned out that he himself was gay and was not out. And later on she heard that he was living with a guy and I guess finally came to terms with himself. So sometimes people who are not comfortable with themselves for whatever reason, those are the people that are really uncomfortable with other people. Do you know what I mean? And then you find out that deep down you find out, oh, that's why that person has such a problem with somebody else.

[17:03] Sam: You just described politics since 2016.

[17:08] Marco: Oh, my God. Right?

[17:12] Sam: What is it that's your personal issue that's making you so angry at this particular group of people? Like, why do you hate them so much? I'm sorry that you had to go through that. And I know I saw you with your mom. Your mom adored you. You adored your mom. And I'm glad that that was just sort of a blip on the radar.

[17:35] Marco: Yeah, my mom did adore me. She was thank you. She was amazing and she was supportive of every area. And then when that came up, we did have a little flub up for a little while, but we resolved it. And I also have done some personal work on myself over the years to really make things right with people. And I think that's a really if there's any lesson anybody wants to take away today, a lesson of any kind, I would say try to make things right with the people that you care about. Because when they're gone, because my mom passed a couple of years ago, I have no regrets, nothing with my mother, because I took the time to be with her and work through that.

[18:21] Sam: That's beautiful. Yeah. I lost my dad this year and his dementia, but I still believe that the conversations we had at the end, that they were very present to him and it was important. And so I love that. I love that. Marco all right, so let's talk about your years, like at Penn State. How did this career come out? Did you go to Penn State thinking this is what you were going to do? Did you have another plan? And how did the universe sort of deliver this incredible career to you?

[19:00] Marco: Thanks. Sam yeah, it was cool because I went to Penn State and to me, Penn State was kind of like my chance to have an adolescence because I didn't really have the opportunity in high school to really have the proper adolescence that I needed. So Penn State was my opportunity to kind of date and meet people and also to have a stronger social network where I could be myself and also get a great education. But to me, those four years were more about a delayed adolescent period for me. And along the way, I was doing theater. And I was in theater at Penn State, and it was great. But I also had this interest in doing hair, too, and that's also something that my mom really encouraged. Although my uncle is such a famous hairdresser on the East Coast, my mom is the one. She was a makeup artist and very artistic, so I think I came by it naturally. And my mom sometimes would even have me style her hair way before I was even licensed. And then when I was at Penn State, it might have been a combination of different things. The fact that people knew that I was from a hair family, so maybe they knew they could trust me more. But the women that I would perform with, whether it was choir interestingly enough or a show or whatever, would ask me, can you style my hair before the performance? And it was just sort of fun. And at the time, it would happen sometimes on the weekends and you're at college and we'd have a couple of drinks or whatever, and you're in school, and I would style their hair, and it was like, this is interesting. The world is asked. I think we have to follow kind of sometimes what the world asks of us rather than we envision it, and we have to kind of let go of this because the world just sort of said, you know what? You're really going to be good at this when people are asking something of you, and it's a wholesome a true thing that just comes easy for you naturally. That's the stuff that we have to pay attention to. And that's what I did. And I thought, this is really interesting. So I tried the theater thing, and to make a long story short, after Penn State, I went back to Pittsburgh, and I don't think I was really comfortable enough at that time because I hadn't really reached out to you or any high school friends. I think I was still struggling personally with where I wanted to go and what I wanted to be. And I did get a license to do hair, and I did hair with my family salons for a couple of years there. But then the moment happened when an Italian hair color company I don't even know if you know this Sam that's based in Pittsburgh. It's called framesi. Yes, okay. A lot of good things just sort of fell across my path or came into my path. They came in to train us as hair colorist. And when they came in and I saw these women and men presenting and teaching on a stage, I connected with that because I like a stage. And then I also heard them talking about color, and I thought, oh, my God, this is my thing. And again, it's like the universe just sort of presented it. And I thought, a, I love color. I want to know about color. And B, I want to teach and be on stage. And so that's what I did, is I went to them and I said, look, I want a little bit of a more maybe a liberal environment. I want to do something bigger. And I love La. Can you get me a job? And they basically trained me to be their La hair color teacher. And so that's how I got out here. And I was training people my age when I was half my age, and just because I knew a lot and I was able to fake it till you make it. And then I worked in house at another hair color company out here after that. And then I said goodbye to everybody. I said, I want to do my own thing. And I really wanted to do my own products. So because of that, I opened up my own salon. And that's been going on for 17 years. So it's a big chunk of my life. I mean, I kind of just like fast forward at everything. But that was sort of the trajectory. It was like Penn State styling friends hair. And then, interestingly enough, Sam, some of the same women who I styled their hair at Penn State to piggyback on what you said about social media connecting, I'm now connected with on social media. And the ones that aren't in town, they're buying my products.

[23:26] Sam: Right.

[23:27] Marco: And that's kind of what I think has happened with you, too, is like, we just have connected with so many great people that we cared about.

[23:36] Sam: Yes, absolutely. So you talked about kind of what's happening around you and paying attention to it. I have to ask, have you ever read The Alchemist by Paolo Kaeljo?

[23:50] Marco: No, tell me.

[23:52] Sam: So it's a parable about this young man who knows that it is his life purpose journey to get to the pyramids at Giza. And I believe in Italy, and he wants to go. And so he saves up and he gets on this journey and he gets to Egypt and he's robbed immediately and all his savings, and he has to work to make enough money to actually get to Giza again. And he meets an alchemist along the way and learns all these lessons. But the big lesson that he learns is to listen to what the universe is trying to tell you. And I actually kind of love that you haven't read the book, because my experience, when I first read it, I started to look back on my life and I thought, there have been things that the universe has told me about who I am. And it took me, unfortunately, until I was much older to consciously be open to those signs. But I also learned and so this is going to lead to my next question. I also learned that those times that I didn't follow those signs, what the universe was trying to tell me because of some preconception that I needed, I graduated from college and my parents told me, you need a job with benefits, you need stability. I wanted something more creative. I wanted something more freelance. I wanted the autonomy. And they were like, no, corporate, corporate, corporate. And I ended up in a couple of jobs where my soul was dying every day. It was terrible. So did you ever fight the sign as I'm talking about in your life? Were you just sort of organically able to say, this feels good, this feels right, I'm going in this direction. Do you have an experience of where you fought that?

[26:00] Marco: I relate to the corporate thing because I wanted safe too. I get that and I think that's what I think I needed or I thought I needed when I came out here. And I think there is something about being in a job that there was one company that I worked at and it was a great experience learning some technical know how, but I kind of look at it as like an education for me rather than something that was beautiful or anything like that. And it was working in house at one of the color companies out here. And there were no windows. And I was in a little office with completely encapsulated inside of a factory. And I was next to the factory, and I remember just hardly ever having time to go outside. And I thought, I can't live like this. I'm miserable. And so I kind of am echoing what you're saying about I was pretty miserable in those kind of jobs. And I think I knew I needed to get out. And even though it was really hard and really risky, now I like to do what I like to do. I think some people find that they're good entrepreneurs. I know you have and I am. And then other people are comfortable working for other people and that's fine, everybody's different. But for me, I was really unhappy in that experience in that building where there was a factory and there was no sun and I was in a little office, like I said, I kind of look back and I think of it more like an education. It was a big education for me to take from rather than it was kind of a horrible experience in some ways. And why would you want to live, by the way, in Southern California where there's beautiful weather and then be inside this factory all day with no sun?

[27:51] Sam: Right.

[27:52] Marco: So I know what you mean about that kind of oppressive feeling in a job that you really don't like. I'm glad I got out of that. I'm glad I had the experience, but I'm glad I got out of it, which it sounds like same for you.

[28:06] Sam: Yes. And I'm telling my soon to graduate from college son, your first job, their generation tends to think they're going to get out and they're going to be making six figures and they have a job that they love. And my husband and I have both told our son, sometimes your first job is to tell you exactly what you really don't want to do, and that's okay. And you kind of stick it out. Things that I learned, signs that I was given. Again, I was sort of fighting against it and took this safer job. I didn't have a ton of self awareness to put the words to it like I'm an out of the box thinker. And so over the years, I've realized one of the phrases I hate more than anything is, this is the way we've always done it. We don't do it that way. I would propose, well, we could try this, or we could do this. And how about we did this? And maybe it was something to streamline, maybe it was just something to boost employee morale. We've never done that. Why would we do that? It's demeaning when you are a creative person and thinking this way to be told that your ideas are stupid, of course, but also it's like, why are you okay with it being exactly the same forever? What is it about this corporate culture that says it's okay to be stagnant forever? And so it took a couple of experiences of that, thinking, I need more. And those experiences I bring to my business now. So how do you take those, the good, the bad, and the ugly from your career in your business now? Because being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. So, you know, when you have those hard times, how does that all work together?

[30:02] Marco: You know, it's funny because I think one thing I did really learn many versions of when I was in those corporate roles in my 20s was structure. So I think that's the good part about, like you said, let's do it this way because this is what we've always done and it's always worked. But then there's the flip side, which I know you'll agree with, which is if you always do what you always did, you'll get the same thing all the time. So it is good to mix it up. But once you have the structure of corporate experiences and that feeling of structure and knowing what that is gave me a framework to work from. And then I think it's important to have structure so that you can then let go and be free. But if you have no structure to begin with, or no guidelines, then you can't succeed freely. It's almost like a haircut. Like if you're cutting someone's hair and you have no guidelines at all, then it's going to be a big mess because creativity without any structure, I think is a big mess. I think Van Gogh or any of those paintings, painters would feel the same way. Free form is great, but you have to have some sort of methodology behind it. So I think the corporate experience. Gave me that structure. And also for business purposes, we build upon these experiences, and I can draw upon them as an entrepreneur and do my own thing over the years. It's like, oh, you know what? I went through that at corporate. I remember how we dealt with that then. I'm going to use that right now in this moment when someone's asking me this question. And maybe if I hadn't had that corporate experience that sucked, I wouldn't be able to answer this question and handle it diligently if I hadn't had that structure given to me. So I think that's what I'm able to draw upon, whether it's manufacturing the products and figuring out a formula or dealing with someone who works for me or does a job for me, if that makes sense.

[31:58] Sam: Absolutely. And the person that struggles with the structure piece of it certainly appreciate and respect it. I haven't mastered it yet.

[32:10] Marco: I got a great story about I'm the same way deep down, sam, when they first asked me to do hair shows and teaching, they said, okay, Marco, here's your show. You're going to be on stage. Please give us an outline of exactly what you're going to be doing from beginning to end. And do you want to know something? I hated it. I didn't even want to fill that out. I was like, are you kidding me? I'm like, just let me get out on stage and I'll be fine. I'll do the model. It will be great. I'll do the hair. They wanted that structure. And it's funny, I don't do as many of those, particularly same type of live shows anymore. I do more my own, probably, because I can make my own structure. So I'm kind of with you on that. I still don't like the structure in some ways.

[32:54] Sam: Yeah. When it comes to branding, I think sometimes that even takes over when you have a lot of things you want to say and everybody says you've got to keep it structured, you've got to have it niche down on all of this. But it's like if you are a person who loves to learn, who likes different challenges, things like that, you have to make sure that's layered into your brand as well. I know you've done lots of shows and great series and things like that on redheads. Thank you. But if that was all you did, you play with the color, you do different things, and so nobody wants to be locked in a box, and so allowing both of those to coexist oh, absolutely.

[33:40] Marco: Especially when it comes to the redheads. And I don't know if anybody out there will understand this, but well, maybe they would. Maybe your audience who has gray hair and wants to be a redhead. I was trained to put natural color in with the red to COVID the gray. And so that's what I train, and that's what I train others to do. And it's safer, and there's more structure. But I've had a client recently, and she said, you know, I don't want you to put any of that natural color in there. I just want to be flaming red on this gray hair. And I said, okay, so we broke the rules, and she loves it, so sometimes you do. But again, I had that structure. I know what the structure is. I can let go of it and play.

[34:20] Sam: I think as a person who has sat in the chair of color experts, the fact that you are willing to be flexible also when you're successful in a creative arena, to say, my opinion is the right one, it's the best one. I don't know that I told you this. I was blonde for years, right before I went to college, until I was about 35 years old and starting at about 27, 28, I was saying, I think I want to try red. I think I want to try red. My natural hair pulls a lot of red. I want to try it. And every single one of them said, you'll hate it. I won't do it. The person that I go to now is like, yeah, if you hate it, we'll change it, which is just like, that's the best way to go with it. And I may not come out with the same color twice because I'm like, I'm a little bored with this. Let's try this. And it's been so fun to play with it, because she recognized it isn't permanent, and she's good enough as you are. If this isn't what you want, Mrs. So and So, you don't want the natural color. We'll do it. You want the flaming red. But if you don't love it, we'll figure something else out later. And I think taking that ego out of it and saying, we can play with it and be creative, this is my recommendation, but I respect what you're looking for. Also, when I'm listening, that's huge.

[35:44] Marco: Thanks. And there's sometimes some difficulty, too, because you can from an ego standpoint, I could choose to get offended and take it personally that she didn't like what I've been doing for her. But I try to twist that around in my mind and think, this is a luxury that this woman is coming to me. She knows she's comfortable enough with me, and she trusts me enough, and she knows that I can do it, that she can say, oh, no, I want you to change this. And the fact that I'm open to it, and I have always said that the number one reason. And it's funny you'd mention that women and men too, but I think definitely women with color leave their hairdressers is because they don't believe that they can change their hair color. It's like if they want to change, they might need to go to somebody else. And then I used to say always that you may see somebody going to somebody else or in somebody else's chair. Let's say this hairdresser is on vacation for a month, and you need to get your hair done. And then the new hairdresser recommends something different, or that person feels comfortable saying, I think I'd like to try something different. And then that new hairdresser addresses the change and gives that person something new. The original hairdresser might lose a client to that person because that person offered them change. And I want that to happen. I want everybody to think that I am available to them for change. Now, if it's going to sacrifice the integrity and the quality of their hair or if it's going to make their hair look really bad, I'll say no. But that's generally a rarity. Except for the one thing, and anybody who's listening that has worked with me is when somebody wants to be like, white platinum blonde and they have dark, dark hair, that's the one time I'm like no. But in general, I think there's kind of room to play, which I know you've played with your hair color a lot over the years, and I love that.

[37:38] Sam: It's fun. It's, again, another creative outlet for me.

[37:43] Sam: Okay, squad, I hope you are enjoying this fun and informative introduction to my friend Marco, but I need to take a hot minute to tell you about his incredible line of hair care. I started using Marco's Collagen color guard line a few years ago because my hair was brittle and losing the shine of some very pricey professional color way too quickly. His shampoo conditioner and mostly the collagen reconstructor has strengthened my hair while also leaving it super shiny. This combo supported my goal of growing my hair really long without any damage. And the best part, it helps me hold my color longer. A constant battle for dyed redheads especially. Visit the show notes to link to Marco's website and earn 15% off your first order. You won't regret it. That's www.marcopoluci.com.

[38:39] Sam: You have a number of celebrity clients. How is that? Well, let's break this into two parts. First, let's start with how did you get to a place where you were attracting these kind of clients? Because as an entrepreneur, you probably didn't start with a huge book. And especially if you came from corporate, you didn't have a chair somewhere. So how did you build up your business? And then how did you segue it into attracting these pretty significant clients over the years? Because that's fine.

[39:23] Marco: Yeah, it was kind of unique because in some ways, the location that I requested to work for that corporation, one of the jobs I had corporately, that I think I enjoyed more was going out in the field, as they say, and teaching at Salons. And I lived and worked in West Hollywood. And so I was able to hang as this color expert because they didn't have the color knowledge that I had. So I was able to give these hairdressers in West Hollywood who were working on celebrities kind of at the top of the scene. And I kind of got acclimated to the whole thing there. I'm like, oh, I see how they do it. They needed me because they needed to know how to do color properly. A lot of them, trial and error is how they got to where they were, or they would use the same hair color formula on everybody, but I would step in and teach a big class at their big Beverly Hills salon and say, this is how you do color. But after a while, I was like, why am I the one teaching? And they're the ones doing not that there's anything wrong in teaching, but you know what? And I saw these Italian names out there in Beverly Hills, and I thought, I can have that same name. I can do it. But something like that does not happen overnight. And it's kind of what you're trying to instill into your awesome sons is, yes, I'm not just going to land in La. And be handed this celebrity clientele. And I do tell Hairdressers that it took me years because I had to first figure out how they related to the celebrities, how they handled them, what the needs were of these celebrity clients. And I kind of got that by teaching these people. And so I was already physically, geographically in the right area. And then after a while, just by virtue of networking, which is something you and I kind of knew about, and I know you're good at, too, and it's fun for us. I was networking just naturally within the entertainment business, and so I met people who managed actors, and my other half who have been together now for 21 years. He actually meets a lot of celebrity actors. We share clients now. So I think some of that happened is, oh, my God, marco is really good with color. Nobody else around here really knows how to do color. Let's send him some of these actor clients. And then when I got into business and opened the salon, I attracted PR people friends, just because I was in the neighborhood, but they would say, let's do gifting. And so one really cool example of gifting in this area is there was an award ceremony, I don't even know if it's still around, called the Spirit Awards. And I did a gift bag for the VIP to the Spirit Awards, and one of them was George Clooney receiving this. And like a year after, I guess, he or his assistant received the gift of a free color or whatever from Marco. I can't remember what I said in the bag. His assistant called and said, do you mind if I redeem this gift card? And I said, sure. I mean, it was George Clooney's assistant, so I figured it would be worth the investment to give her the gift that she was given. And then about a year after I did her hair this is why I'm saying it takes time, just like with any business. A year after, they called me and they said, can you come to my house and do George's hair? And I was like, sure. And that was a tough I was very nervous to do that. That was a really nerve wracking. But he was wonderful and lovely.

[43:11] Sam: I was glad to hear that.

[43:13] Marco: And he opened up a bottle of wine and his assistant was there with me the whole time because he didn't really know me from Adam, even though I was referred. I can understand that with his status. That's just like one example. But again, it's really just about relationships. Because then later on, years later, I happened to be over at his house and his wife, who I don't know well, I met her once, but George Clooney's wife was getting her hair done at the same time, and I met her hairdresser there. And I gave him my card because I own a salon. And then, like a year after that, john Mellenkamp's friend called me and said, I heard through George Clooney's wife's hairdresser that you do his hair. And Mellencamp came to get his hair colored by me, which is a really cool so I sort of forgot about that. But that's sort of like how it starts to happen.

[44:10] Sam: We're all six degrees and it's all about networking. Some of us just land in slightly elevated networks, I guess.

[44:20] Marco: That was really cool. Yeah, that was really cool. I don't see either of them too often because John Mellencamp doesn't live in La. And he has a wonderful hairdresser who takes care of him. And she was with him at the time that I worked on him and we're still friends. And George Clooney doesn't spend much of his time in La anymore, so he's more in Europe.

[44:40] Sam: That's amazing. That's amazing. Now, I know you have one particular client who also has a wife who, as a young gay man in the theater, probably was pretty awesome for you to come across. So you want to tell us that story?

[45:03] Marco: Sure. Well, my other half has always managed James Brolin. And Jim is a wonderful, nice, down to earth guy and he happens to have been married to Barbara Streisand all these years. And so I've had the luxury of working on James Brolin's hair all these years. And he has a beautiful head of hair.

[45:30] Sam: Yes, he does.

[45:33] Marco: And I have met her a few times and she is absolutely wonderful. And I have not had the luxury of working on her hair, but I know that she is supportive of what I do for Jim's hair because I know she looks over his hair cut and he gets home and I meet the approval. And that's been a really cool experience because one time I was able to be over at their house and Jim was able to tour some of the special spots. It's almost too much to share. It was so cool to be able to be in that home, and especially as a young theater guy or girl. We all loved looking up to Barbara Streisand. I mean, she's just the quintessential.

[46:29] Sam: 14 year old Marco. What was he doing when he was meeting her?

[46:35] Marco: Oh, my God. Just die. Yeah. I mean, literally so nervous. I mean, just nervous the whole time.

[46:46] Sam: That's just so cool.

[46:48] Marco: Yeah. And then it was interesting because when we got to the restaurant, she was faced a certain way, and too many people were staring, so she turned around and faced a different way, and I think that gave me some understanding of what it's really like. I know that sounds ridiculous because people have been so successful, but it's not so easy. It's not such an easy path, which is why I think a lot of hair celebrities, it's a tough path for them to just exist and have a normal life. Jim is pretty good at it, though. He's pretty easy going. She's nice. She's good at it too, but he's just kind of like salt of the earth, best guy you'd ever want to meet kind of guy.

[47:38] Sam: One Pittsburgh La. Connection that you have that if I get out there, I want to schedule an appointment for the same day as this person is Joe Manganello.

[47:48] Marco: Oh, yeah.

[47:48] Sam: Because I saw a photo of you.

[47:50] Marco: With him, and I was like, yeah, he's awesome.

[47:55] Sam: He seems like a really great guy. I know a lot of people here who know him. They say he's a great guy. And a good friend of mine actually went to school with him, and he used to carry her books home. I've seen his junior high pictures from her.

[48:11] Marco: Yeah. And you know, that one I have to credit my family with because he used to go and get his hair done at my family salons in Pittsburgh. And so somehow we reconnected out here. And he trusted me because he knew that I was related to this family. So I got to give some props. That's one celebrity I kind of met through the family, and I met him when he wasn't even a celebrity. He was just starting out as an actor. So I've known him a long time, and he's just like a regular guy. I think he just he's the kind of guy that would just want to sit around and watch football games. He's a big Steelers fan.

[48:45] Sam: Well, and I know he is big into Dungeons and Dragons.

[48:48] Marco: Totally like a regular dude to me.

[48:53] Sam: And again, hearing the stories from my friend who went to school with him, we probably actually have a lot in common with him, like being that kind of, like, awkward, because he was she said he was very awkward and the big thick glasses and all that stuff. And he's ended up having this amazing life. And there's a guy, we were talking about the alchemist, and looking for the signs and things that all connects into manifestation, the whole idea. And the alchemist is like the signs from the universe and manifestation and you can make things happen in your life. And there's a great story about Joe that I love. He was asked, who is your ideal woman? And he said, Sofia vergara. And he hadn't even met her. And I love that story.

[49:52] Marco: We have to watch what we say because our words can become truth. If you walk around and say, I'm exhausted all day sometimes you do need to share that you're exhausted. But if you say that all the time, you will be. Whereas if you say I'm great, then chances are you might be great.

[50:10] Sam: Absolutely.

[50:10] Marco: I didn't know that. That's cool. I've never met her.

[50:16] Sam: Yeah, I think that's a great story. You're very busy and again, I thank you for your time today. So it's like your real busy time of the year. How do you practice self care?

[50:26] Marco: I start the day with meditation. I have to get up early. Even if I miss a little bit of sleep, it actually benefits me to get up and do a meditative practice. So I get up and I get my coffee ready and then I sit on a yoga block because everybody says, what's meditation? It's weird. It's some weird thing. It's really not. My meditation is just breathing and doing some yoga poses. And so I have a structure and I have it timed because I'm a control freak. So I like to time it. So I'll do like four minutes and then I know, okay, it's time to go on to the next breathing exercise. And then during that I'll take a few sips of coffee. And so by the time I'm done with my meditation and this is like twelve minutes of my day, my body is more relaxed. Sometimes if I have an acre of pain, because we all do, I might even put like ice and or heat on an area of my body while I'm sitting in that yoga pose. So speaking of self care, so I'm hilarious. If I'm drinking coffee, I'm sitting in a yoga pose, I'm breathing and I've got a heat pack. You know what I mean? It's like this is my morning. And then I do a little exercise and I kind of do the exercise based on how I'm feeling. So if I feel like I need cardio, I might do some cardio. If I feel like I need stretching, I'll do stretching. It's not perfect and it never is, and I never have enough time to do it all, but as long as I do something that structure and then I have a relatively healthy breakfast with some protein, that kind of gets me going during the day. And then I really try to make sure that I can close out my evening early enough. And I go to events, and I'm kind of known as the guy that even just last night, I was at an event in a showroom for interior design, and the one woman was like she's like, I see you're the guy that you come early and you leave early. I'm like, yeah, that's me. I'll come, I'll have one drink, and then I'll go home and have a night because I need the jump start at the beginning of the day, but I also need the downtime at the end of the day, literally in order to survive. If I stayed out till midnight, it's just not who I am.

[52:38] Sam: It's a very physically demanding job. I mean, standing on hard floors because you can't work on carpeting as a hairdresser. I know a lot of people in the hair industry end up with carpal tunnel and back issues and knee and hip issues. So yeah, you really do have to.

[52:58] Marco: Take care of your body, especially now, because when you're young ish it doesn't matter so much, but then as you get older, you really have to take care of yourself and feel good.

[53:14] Sam: Absolutely.

[53:14] Marco: If I don't feel good, I can't help anybody else. I think self care is really important.

[53:21] Sam: That's great. Okay, so final question in this part, one of our interview. What was the biggest obstacle that you've had to overcome in all of this? Is there like a single moment or a single theme that may be carried out longer in creating this beautiful career that you have for yourself?

[53:51] Marco: Fear. That's the theme. I think just because of some of the experiences that I had personally as a kid, I think I grew up somewhat fearful, nothing necessarily that my parents did, just situationally. And so I think I struggle with fear and I often do things while I'm fearful of doing them. And how it played out in different times in my life is when we got so busy at my salon and we lost hot water, we didn't have the proper hot water and we were having to shampoo clients with cold water. And you think, oh, the world is going to end and I'm so afraid. So it's conquering fears. That's what it's always been about for me. And I figured out a way out of each situation is day by day. And like that situation, I gave a lot of the products, a lot of the clients free products, or I would go and hold their hands while we were giving them a cold water shampoo. I mean, it's not ideal. And then I got a bigger water heater, but then there's the I was just starting out though, so I was like, oh my God, can I afford to buy another water heater right now? It's just always about fear and sitting with the fear, figuring a way out or a way through.

[55:19] Sam: That's fantastic. It's actually going to lead me to one little extra bonus here. So when people ask me, clients, whatever, how do you, Sam, think you can teach confidence? Because it seems like it's something that's kind of internal. My big thing is I don't know that I actually teach the confidence because to me, it's just overcoming a fear. I teach bravery. Do you think that the bravery piece of that the fear is there? It's that getting over it, through it, beyond it, whatever. Acknowledging that it's there and doing the thing anyway is like the lesson in that and kept you propelled forward 100%.

[56:19] Marco: It's feel the fear and do it anyway it is, and that's courage. And then that sort of builds on itself over time and then you can draw on those experiences. When you went through the fear the last time, whether it's dealing with an emergency or I keep referring to construction, but there was a leak in a nearby business and I thought it might have been my fault and I was freaked out. But then I thought, no, I have to call the plumber. What are some steps? There's action steps. There's action steps that we can take. And that's kind of what you're describing as being brave enough to take the action steps, right?

[57:01] Sam: And sometimes maybe it's not maybe it's just doing it not feeling the bravery necessarily, but just saying, I got to do this thing well. Thank you so much for being with me today. I hope that the audience will stop back for our bonus episode where we're going to talk a little bit about trends with hair and some tips that you have and talk a little bit about your product. So thank you for being with me today, Marco.

[57:26] Marco: Thanks. This is terrific.

[57:29] Sam: Thank you for joining me. Sam Dicka at Meant for Moxie, the podcast. A huge thank you to the dear Marco Pelosi for being such a fun guest. Make sure you stop back for the bonus drop of tips, products and some fudge chat about whatnot that I'm going to be adding to each of my episodes. Please visit Marco salon and product site at www.marcopalusi.com and grab your 15% off your first order. Meant for Moxie is the companion podcast to Moxie Mama by Sam Ditka. More information can be found at www dot moxie. M-A-M-A TV. The podcast is produced by Timothy Ditka. My music. The energy is courtesy of Abhishe Music and can be found on itunes.