When you work with dogs,
there is a path that is forged for you. You're
supposed to keep your head down, work hard, showcase
your work, and eventually an old person will tell you
that you're good enough. I thought, is this it? Is this what I'm going to
do forever, you know? How did other people create
a career for themselves that lasts long after they
passed away? I decided to reinvent the
way we groom our dogs. I am Gabriel Feitosa. I am 31 years old. I'm the owner of Gabriel
Feitosa Grooming Salon in San Diego, California. And my shop brought in $1.3
million last year. We groom about 20 dogs a
day, which is, say, 120 dogs a week. I'm really bad at
math. So it's going to be like,
what, 500 dogs a month? Most of the dogs that come
to the shop, they're not all leopards and giraffes. Most of them are regular
haircuts. We make about 20
transformational grooms a month, I think. Just make her different than
any you've ever made. Oh, yes, for sure. All of the dogs, even if I
do ten tigers, they're all different tigers. But I like a cutie mark. What is mark? Like? Like a little heart. Oh, yeah. We can do it. We can do that. So we
decided that she's going to have a pink and white
inspired design. So this design costs about
$800. It has carving and
sculpting from head to toe. So his name is Rusty. He's going to be half
leopard and half tiger. So this process, I'm
creating a print or two animal prints. The most
challenging part is that we need to be precise. The clients that want the
transformations, they have all their unique stories. Sometimes it's because it's
an event coming up. I've done dogs for children
with disabilities. We've done therapy dogs
that visit hospitals. We've done people that just
want to look really cool with their dogs because
everybody has their reason and people fly from
everywhere to get their dog done. What I do brings so
much joy into people's lives and into dogs lives as
well, and I have found a purpose for it. You know,
it seems like the kind of thing that it just looks
fancy and it's unnecessary. But, the amount of smiles
that you put on people that are walking by and just see
one of those dogs, I think is a kind of experience
that you don't forget. The rent is one of the most
expensive parts. Product can get expensive. Also, luckily, I'm
sponsored by a lot of brands, so that cuts down
my cost a lot. Having employees in
California is really expensive as well. I have all the renovations
that I've been doing. Honestly, I invest most of
my money right back into the business. I feel like I
created a safe space where people come here and they
just feel good, you know, doing what they love. I
grew up in Brazil. I grew up in the outskirts
of Sao Paulo. Yeah, my family didn't have
much and I kind of like fell into dogs when I was about
12 years old. I remember taking my
sister's dog to the grooming shop and I just thought,
well, that lady did amazing. I was like, wow, she played
with dogs all day and make money and I just got
obsessed. My family used to say that
I didn't have passions. I had obsessions. I started grooming them and
going every day for school. My mom had disappeared for
a while. My dad had alcohol problems
and I just thought that spending that time with the
dogs was magical. It was also like escape
from the reality that I was living at the time. I think
when I saw all the shapes and sizes, all the
different breeds, they looked like different
living sculptures and they have so much warmth and
heart inside, you know, they're so kind. Eventually, I dropped out
of school to pursue dog grooming. I think I was making maybe
$1,500-$2,000 a month before I opened the business. And when I opened the
business, it didn't get much better. If anything, I
think it got a little bit worse. Slowly, that
increased. It was really scary because
I didn't know what to do. I only had the room in the
back. I was like, you know what?
I'm going to take over this whole building. I didn't
know if the people would come. It was very
challenging to renovate this space. Hiring people was a big
challenge also. I had no idea that I had to
deal with creating a team, making sure everybody likes
each other and everybody gets along. But I
definitely was still living paycheck to paycheck. I was
always making sure I would get the money, pay the
bills and see how much is left. And I started seeing
how it brought joy to people. I never imagined
going from the slums of Sao Paulo to Hollywood being on
prime television. But when I got to the show,
I had this challenge that was to transform your dog
into another animal. And I made my dog into a
goldfish. And that was the moment
that I knew. The hair dye has been going
on forever. It wasn't something that I
created. There have been creative grooming
competitions for decades now. I'm just doing it in a
way that everybody can have it. I think last year,
which was 2022, was the year that I actually saw things
happening. I think the money and the
success is a consequence of following your passion and
your purpose. If grooming dogs is the
most random thing, but that's what you love doing
and you do it to the fullest and the hardest you can,
that can actually happen. You know, I came to the U.S
. with two scissors and a
clipper. This salon is a dream for
me. I always wanted to work in
a place where I felt acknowledged as an artist
and a professional. Now I have a place and I
can show the world that this is also possible.
