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Vic Blends Academy In 2021, at the height of the pandemic, a young barber from Fayetteville, North Carolina was giving out free haircuts on the street and posting motivational videos online. His name was Victor Fontanez, better known as Vic Blends, and his mission was simple yet profound: to show young people that any passion—no matter how humble—can become a platform for purpose. “I just wanted to inspire kids to chase what they love,” Vic told me. “No job, no trade, no idea is less worthy than the next. I wanted barbers to really have confidence that they could change the world through what they do.” Those videos, filmed with honesty and heart, quickly went viral—earning millions of views and catching the attention of Scott Budnick, the Hollywood producer behind The Hangover and Just Mercy (via his company 1Community), and founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC). Budnick, who has spent years working in prisons, recognized the deep resonance Vic’s message had with incarcerated youth. “I thought, how cool would it be for these guys to meet him in person,” Budnick said. “They were watching his videos and getting inspired by him. Why not bring him inside to meet them face to face?” A Cold Call That Changed Everything One night, Vic got a text from a mutual friend, Irv Roland—NBA trainer and close friend of Trae Young. “He tells me this guy named Scott Budnick, who produced The Hangover, wants to talk,” Vic laughed. “So I’m thinking I’m about to be in a movie!” MORE FOR YOU Instead of a movie role, Budnick offered him something even more meaningful: an invitation to visit a California prison and meet the young men whose lives were being transformed by his message. Two weeks later, Vic was inside a state correctional facility, sitting with incarcerated youth. It was a moment that would change the course of his life. “When I left that day, I felt something shift,” Vic said. “I was supposed to open my first barbershop in Atlanta. My realtor had just sent the lease. But being there, hearing those stories—it was like God was redirecting me. I realized this was where I was supposed to be.” Building the First-Ever Barber School in a California Prison What started as a chance visit soon evolved into a groundbreaking collaboration between Budnick and Vic. “I didn’t even know this before,” Budnick said, “but there had never been a licensed barbering program in a men’s prison in California. Think about that—there are barbers in every prison cutting hair every day, but none of them were able to get their license. These are $100,000-a-year careers we’re talking about.” With Budnick’s advocacy and Vic’s leadership, they worked with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the state licensing board to establish the first-ever state-certified barbering program inside a men’s facility—Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California. Vic personally financed nearly $100,000 to transform a dimly lit prison classroom into a world-class barbershop and training space. “I wanted it to look and feel like a real barbershop,” Vic said. “We ripped out everything—redid the floors, lighting, walls. We brought in incarcerated artists like Daniel Garcia to paint murals. I wanted these guys to walk in and feel proud, to feel human again.” Garcia, who is serving a life sentence without parole, has become a celebrated artist inside the prison system. His murals now grace the walls of the program—a powerful testament to rehabilitation through creativity. The facility now trains up to 30 men at a time, with a full-time instructor certified by the state. Students work through the same Milady’s Barbering Curriculum that Vic studied himself. Upon release, they graduate with an official California barber’s license, opening doors to legitimate careers and entrepreneurship. Scott Budnick Scott Budnick The Ripple Effect of a Haircut To Vic, success is not measured in fame or fortune—but in the lives touched through service. “Success is defined by how many people you can impact,” he said. “When these guys come home and start cutting hair, every conversation, every haircut becomes a ripple of hope. You change one man’s life, and that ripple travels through hundreds, thousands of others.” Barbering, for Vic, is also a sacred act of healing—especially for men struggling with mental health. “Men don’t often have safe spaces to talk,” he said. “But when you sit in a barber’s chair, you open up. There’s trust there. There’s vulnerability. I always say, people won’t remember how you made them look—they’ll remember how you made them feel.” The impact of that emotional connection became crystal clear at the grand opening of the Chowchilla program. “One of the guys told me, ‘For the first time in a long time, I feel human,’” Vic said, his voice breaking slightly. “That’s something I’ll never forget. When they’re in that space, they’re not inmates—they’re students, professionals, human beings again.” A Scalable Model for Transformation The Chowchilla barbershop is now being hailed as a proof of concept for how purpose-driven collaboration can redefine rehabilitation. Budnick and Vic are already in talks with several other facilities, including San Quentin, R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, and multiple juvenile halls in Los Angeles. They are also exploring partnerships with Santa Monica College, which could help expand the program into youth facilities and offer college credit. “This is what good collaboration looks like,” Vic said. “Scott believed in me. I believed in the mission. And together, we showed what’s possible when you lead with love and purpose.” Vic Blends and Scott Budnick Purpose Over Profit Vic insists on funding the projects authentically, working with brands that share his vision. He credits companies like BaBylissPRO, which donated state-of-the-art clippers (including unreleased models not yet available to the public), and Takara Belmont, which provided $5,000 barber chairs—“the same chair I put President Obama in,” Vic said proudly. Future collaborations may include brands like Acorns, to teach financial literacy and investment to barbers—an area Vic is passionate about addressing. “Barbers make money fast, and we spend it fast,” he said. “We don’t have 401(k)s or retirement plans. I want to change that. I want barbers to build generational wealth, not just survive.” A New Kind of Freedom At its core, this project is about dignity and self-determination. “When you teach someone a trade,” Budnick said, “you’re not just giving them a skill—you’re giving them agency. You’re giving them freedom.” Freedom not just from incarceration, but from hopelessness. From being defined by past mistakes rather than future potential. Vic agrees. “If we want safer communities, we need to do more education,” he said. “We need to make sure people come home with something to lean on. When they can make an honest living, that’s when real rehabilitation begins.” He’s currently building his next barbershop in Atlanta—his first commercial property, a repurposed church that will employ twelve barbers and serve as a hub for mentorship and community empowerment. “My passion led me to my purpose,” Vic said. “And my purpose is to serve others. That’s what I want this next chapter to be about.” In a world where too many systems are designed to punish, Vic Blends is quietly proving that love, skill, and purpose can transform even the darkest spaces into classrooms of hope. One haircut at a time. 1Community is expanding its acclaimed Stories from the Table campaign with the launch of Grandma’s House, a live event experience inspired by the Emmy®-nominated Netflix film NONNAS. Opening November 15 in Los Angeles, the free, family-friendly installation transforms storytelling into a sensory journey through food, culture, and memory. Each themed room is curated by a local grandmother whose food traditions and stories reflect the city’s vibrant cultural mosaic. Building on 1Community’s signature “guerrilla impact” model, Grandma’s House brings the company’s mission, using entertainment to drive real-world connection, off the screen and to the table. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
