From Pool Hall Hustler to International Star
As an entrepreneur - and since the news business is my seventh career - I am always fascinated by how people have navigated their lives and successfully built their own businesses through good times and bad.
I met Richard Calcasola - an internationally recognized leader in the beauty industry and owner/creative director of Maximus Spas and Salons - through another highly successful person in the beauty industry, my friend Lois Christie.
The phrase that best describes Calcasola’s journey is “You’ve come a long way baby.”
He spent his formative years growing up in Corona, learning street smarts by hanging out in “Spaghetti Park” and at the Corona Ice King.
His remarkable journey to success was deeply affected by his mom’s guidance and often-repeated words of wisdom during his early years.
“My parents came to America from Sicily and struggled to earn a living,” he said. “Since my parents were working long hours, my grandparents became surrogate parents to me. My mom, a talented seamstress/designer earned a steady income, but it was my fear of my dad’s wrath that kept me out of trouble and taught me to respect my teachers.”
“It was also driven into my head,” he continued, “that whatever I did I’d better be the best.”
He hung out at pool halls after school, and his first “career” was as a pool hustler.
“I spent so much time there I got really good at it and enjoyed the benefit of always having money in my pocket,” he told me honestly.
But fate had other plans for him, and when the pool hall closed, Calcasola decided to pursue a career in the beauty industry.
“I decided to go to hairdressing school because my girlfriend and brother-in-law were in the business,” he said, admitting that, “it didn’t sound bad to hang out with girls and buy fine clothing.”
The $600 beauty school tuition, paid at $10 intervals, opened a new world to him - a world that now, 30 years later, has made him a star in the beauty industry.
But the path has not always been easy.
He opened his own salon, Maximus, over 30 years ago, with successful Long Island locations in Merrick and the Source Mall in Westbury.
But he felt the pain both financially and professionally when his third site in SoHo opened just two weeks prior to 9/11.
“I invested over $2 million in what was soon recognized as the ‘Salon of the Year,’ he explained. “We were written up in national magazines for our innovative design and quality of services. But the saddest day in our history - the bombing of the World Trade Center - left us all lost. I was grateful we didn’t lose anyone, but no one ventured downtown and our planned customer base of clients from the World Trade Center disappeared.”
I asked him how he “survived.”
“I think,” he said, “it was my mom’s voice in my head. She taught me to walk with dignity and pride, to dream big and never to worry about a rainy day — you’ll get an umbrella.”
He continued, “I am an optimist. To me I could not imagine failure. So I was more determined than ever to find a way for my business to survive.”
Just eight days from losing everything, Calcasola drew on the relationship he had built with L’Oreal.
They rented space in his salon as a training center and then ultimately took over the lease.
“They became my umbrella,” he said.
Recently, Calcasola was part of a worldwide creative team assembled to shape and influence the perception of the industry for professionals and consumers. He not only makes the trends, he predicts them and people listen!
His plans for the future include launching another Long Island venture and bringing together all the innovative skills, knowledge and trends he has learned from his trips around the world in order to meet his clients’ needs into the 21st century.
A new journey awaits him - I’ll be watching . . .
Calcasola’s “Top Ten Secrets” to Success:
1. Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.
2. Reach for your dreams.
3. Build relationships.
4. Be a person of your word and have integrity.
5. Never quit.
6. Believe in yourself.
7. Work hard.
8. Change is necessary and good.
9. Be the best at what you do.
10. His favorite saying is “I didn’t know I couldn’t.”
