With the grand opening of Rattler’s Edge, FAMU’s first on-campus barbershop and beauty salon, Malik Miller can barely find time to sit down. The 24-year-old is too busy making the final arrangements on his latest project.
“I’m nervous, anxious and very excited,” Miller said. “But it makes me that much more passionate about what I’m doing.”
Miller is now the owner of Rattler’s Edge, an idea he said he has had since his freshman year in college.
But before coming to the university, Miller spent two years at barber school to become a certified barber, a trade he used while cutting hair in the dorms to help support himself in college.
“I was pretty much independent the entire time,” he said.
Eventually Miller got a job at Sheer Designs, a local shop owned by his current business partner, Levy Woody.
After awhile, Miller began to think how much more convenient it would be for him and FAMU students if there was a salon on campus. He kept the idea to himself until former SGA president Andre Hammel introduced the same idea during his campaign for presidency.
“Andre mentioned that the university needed an on-campus beauty salon as one of his ideas for [campus],” Miller said. “When I heard that, I was like, ‘Whoa.'”
Was it just a coincidence?
It may have been, but Miller was convinced not to let the opportunity pass.
“I went up to Andre, told him my idea, and he loved it,” Miller said. “I had already drawn up a blueprint for the shop and I was ready to put it in action.”
Hammel said he gives credit to Miller for actually making the idea work.
“I was already aware of Miller’s entrepreneurial ability,” Hammel said. “Once we met with President Gainous, Malik was competent and competitive enough to win Gainous’ seal of approval.”
Contact Tiffany Pitts at pittstiffany@hotmail.com.