MAKING A DIFFERENCE:
This holiday season we've launched a series focused on the positive, passing the mic to people in our community who are making a difference, sometimes in unique ways.
Over the last month, we've taken a swim through a unique program, listened to how a local officer is connecting with kids, and taken a ride to a small town farm making a big difference.
As we've seen with some of our previous profiles, there are all sorts of ways you can give back.
For example, Mission barber Josh Pacubis often gives out free haircuts at events benefiting low-income residents.
He's also making a difference in another way, by simply sharing his story of how his second-chance family's love led to his personal and professional success.
JOSH'S STORY:
There's a certain buzz about a barbershop, from the hum of a razor to the snipping of shears, to the rise and fall of voices.
It's among those conversations at Deluxe Studios in Mission you might find yourself drawing inspiration from one of the barbers, Josh Pacubis.
Armed with a ready grin and an upbeat personality, it's easy for customers to find themselves smiling alongside him.
But he wasn't always so easygoing and carefree.
Josh was born in the Philippines, but his biological parents died when he was very young, and he was split up from his older sister.
"As a kid, I didn’t have the toys and stuff. I remember some days I didn’t eat, you know, it was rice and soy sauce," he shares with a wry chuckle.
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While bouncing from home to home of extended family members, as young as 6 years old, he'd often find himself fending for himself on the streets.
"I would collect bottles glass bottles and I would sell it to stores and stuff. I would go through the garbage and stuff and pick those up. It was hard back home, for sure. You know that’s what you had to do, either you sell stuff or steal. I did all of that stuff. I’m not proud to say it, but that was just what I grew up in," he admits.
Thankfully, in 2002, he was connected with an aunt and uncle living here in the U.S., who adopted him and brought him over to where he started third grade. However, he said the transition from a third-world country was initially tough.
"Like having working water, you know? Like the simple stuff, like a working toilet, that was that was a huge thing. AC, you name it, it was a huge change for me," Josh recalls.
However, his adoptive parents poured love into him and his three siblings, helping him through the transition, demonstrating the importance of having a strong work ethic, and motivating him to one day pay what they gave him forward.
As he set out to make his second chance family proud, he tried a number of jobs and career fields.
However, it wasn't until he gave cutting hair a try that he finally found his fit.
"So, I bought my first clippers and I cut my dad for like two hours in the sunroom. And I was like, 'Okay, this is what I want to do,' and I didn’t look back after that," he recalls.
Unwavering in his determination to succeed, he went back to school, graduated, and didn't just rent a chair, he opened his very own business, offering spots to other barbers.
And within a year, he says that business is booming.
You'll find him there, seven days a week, with the majority of his chairs full.
Josh knows for those on the outside looking in, it must seem like the American dream.
But if you sit in his chair, he'll quickly tell you it's also the product of hard work, new beginnings, and lots of love. Some advice he passes on to younger clients is to try different things, to not be afraid to fail, and to not let your past cloud your future.
"I don’t want to be known as just I cut good hair. I want to be known as somebody that motivated people, you know? To reach their potential, or just be a positive influence to the next generation."
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