Watch this video created by Alberto Genao to hear Alberto's full story.
I arrived to the United States in 1973. I ended up in New York City because my mother had been living there since 1966. After a month there, my father decided to send me to Providence to live with my brother. I enrolled at Hope High School and I graduated in 1976.
The Beginnings of What Became a Career
My uncle was a barber in the Dominican Republic, and I used to watch and hang out in his shop. That's how I first got exposed to hair cutting. With that experience, I made the decision to attend the Arthur Angelo School of Cosmetology when at that time is was on Washington Street, in Downtown Providence. I completed the program in 1979 and I found a job with an African-American barbershop called The Talk of the Town.
I worked there for about three and a half years, when I met a person named Andy Clary, who worked in a bank. Andy arranged for me to get a loan with SBA, the Small Business Administration. When I got the loan, I was able to open my salon at 1017 Broad Street, and stayed there for about four years. In 1986, I was offered another opportunity to purchase the property at 1053 Broad Street. And that's where I stayed until 2012, when I retired.
I worked there for about three and a half years, when I met a person named Andy Clary, who worked in a bank. Andy arranged for me to get a loan with SBA, the Small Business Administration. When I got the loan, I was able to open my salon at 1017 Broad Street, and stayed there for about four years. In 1986, I was offered another opportunity to purchase the property at 1053 Broad Street. And that's where I stayed until 2012, when I retired.
The best thing that I did, my most proudest moment, is when a group of us founded the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations (Coalición) because that was the agency that gave respect to the community. That was the agency that put the name Hispanic high in the eyes of elected officials a policy makers.
You see, when you think about who are and what is a "Hispanic," you think about it only as a word, or maybe you think of a particular neighborhood. You’re not thinking about the people who may not live in that particular neighborhood, those who have established themselves outside of the south side of Providence. But, I tell you, those who do live [in that neighborhood] are people who have worked hard to be there: they run their house, they live there. The early years [the 1970s] were a period where the majority — mainly those who are not Hispanic — thought that these [Hispanics] were only people who were into drugs, and this and that. In reality the majority of the people there were very decent people... they lived very well and worked hard. So part of what I and a group of community activists did was to remind others that not everybody who lived in the South Providence neighborhood was poor or needy. Then and today, there are many professionals living in South Providence, and they are proud to live there.