David Raccuglia: The Relentless Tenacity That Transformed A Maple Syrup Pitch Into A Global Grooming Empire

As a part of our series about “Five Things Anyone Can Do To Have Fabulous Hair”, I had the pleasure of interviewing David Raccuglia.

David Raccuglia is a man of many titles and accomplishments: company founder, entrepreneur and renowned photographer, but his first professional title was hair stylist. Frustrated by the lack of grooming options on the market, but inspired by what he recognized as a true need, David founded American Crew® in 1994, bringing his expertise from behind both the barber chair and the camera to develop the brand and its collection of grooming products designed for men and the stylists they trust. He has built success through a well-earned reputation for all things relevant, refined and modern. His vision of uncompromised quality is key to his success.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I like to call myself a product of the ’70s, that’s when I really feel the inspirational part of my life took place. At that time, while I was just graduating from high school about an hour outside of Chicago, I felt like my barber, Bob D’Angelo, was the coolest and most fashionable man I’ve ever met. Though he was a tough guy on the exterior, he was always happy and never without a smile on his face. I drew the connection that his love for his work and the creative field was what really inspired and made him happy. His passion drew me to the craft of barbering and men’s grooming.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I think it has to be when American Crew was acquired by Revlon. It was a really interesting time in my life — being someone who was in the creative world and all of a sudden, I’m sitting in the Revlon office, meeting with a company who wanted to take my vision globally was an incredibly memorable moment and a pivotal point of my career.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I started American Crew in 1994 and at that time, there really wasn’t a stylish men’s professional grooming brand on the market. Breaking into the market at that time was very difficult as salons and hair professional didn’t necessarily understand the necessity of having a men’s brand.

Around this time, I was doing a lot of trade shows and one in particular, in Chicago, there was a packed audience, about 700 to 1,000 people, and we did this amazing men’s hair runway show and I could tell by the audience’s response that we weren’t just on to something, but we were going to change the game. At that point I knew I needed to just stay the course, fight hard, and speak with more people to break down those barriers to show that men would respond to a grooming brand.

The key takeaway I would hope an entrepreneur looking to break into the grooming, or any industry for that matter, is to keep up your tenacity and continue to fight for that thing you’re passionate about. Never let your passion waiver, even if the response isn’t initially what you feel it should be. Continuing to have that passion will drive you to find and own your lane.

In your experience what were the most effective ways for your business to generate leads and sales? Can you share a story or give an example?

Back in the early-to-mid 90s, there was no social media, even cell phones weren’t a normal course of business at that time. Leads had to be generated through in-person relationship building; the wonderful thing about being in the professional category is going door-to-door to salons to educate as many barbers and hairdressers as I could to get them to understand the power of men’s grooming and what that could do for their business was the only approach I had.

It was almost like a traveling road show, we started locally in Chicago and expanded to the Midwest before making our way across the entire US and then internationally — we had to get in front of the people and get up on our pulpit to put our ideas at their fingertips. And, though it took a while, once we got there, we were wildly embraced and were able to get professionals excited about the men’s grooming category.

One stand out story is deeply tied to a person who helped me get to where I’m at today. Part of our business model is selling to distributors and they, in turn, have a sales force that goes into the salons and barber shops. In Chicago, I met the owner of a distribution company, Steve Cowan, who when I met him, I instantly knew he was the best and better yet, he actually turned out to be the best. When I first met him, I had nothing to show him but an idea — I wanted to showcase the apothecary-like feel of our bottles in an amber colored glass but didn’t have access to it, so I poured maple syrup into a glass to show the look of it. I was literally pitching with nothing but I was blessed with having a very kind man in front of me. Steve saw my passion and the potential and decided to take my product. I would say he is one of the main reasons American Crew launched successfully.

Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

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Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

I realized early on that my passion for the grooming industry and skillset were my biggest assets. Whenever I would talk about finance or more of the business side back in the early days, I was truly out of my league. I distinctly remember being in a meeting with Steve and he said to me after we wrapped up, “David, I don’t think you should ever talk about global dominance or business distribution, you should stick to hair — let me handle it.” His delivery was akin to, “thanks for giving it the old college-try. It was a lesson for me made me want to learn how to be a better businessman.

Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path but know that their dreams might be dashed?

I think that our world is now at a point where if you can find an audience to listen to your theories, the products you think will work, or a different way of doing something that this world is very welcoming to something new. If you believe in it and you see you have something different, no matter how silly it looks, get it out there. With social media it’s a true changing of the guard with how brands are seen by the public. There’s truly never been a better time to be an entrepreneur!

Can you please share “Five Things Anyone Can Do To Have Fabulous Hair?” Please share a story or an example, for each.

1. Have a fabulous hair cut: the professional opinion of your face shape, hair texture, the right hair cut for everything male-specific is so important.

2. Figure out what you’re willing to do with your hair: what is your commitment to grooming? Ae you willing to blow dry or style daily? This is important to let your stylist or barber know.

3. Maintain your hair health: using the right shampoo is the basis to maintain your hair and scalp health. American Crew has a vast line of shampoos, like our new Daily Cleansing Shampoo, Daily Deep Moisturizing Shampoo and Detox Shampoo, to address different hair concerns in order to ensure you’re getting the proper care you need.

4. Leaning in to how you want your hair to represent you from a style standpoint: are you a part of a certain subculture that you want your hair to speak to? Of course, using the right styling products will help you achieve this, but having the proper cut will make it that much more impactful. We recently launched our professional Prep & Prime Tonic to really help prep hair for the style you want to achieve.

5. Have confidence in your look: no matter what you do decide to go with, having confidence and rocking your look will help you have the most fabulous hair.

Can you share 3 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Just because something is a trend, doesn’t mean you have to jump on it. Don’t abandon your own style or sense of self just to be trendy. There is the ultimate beauty in understanding your own style and having the confidence to rock it.

2. Health is the key to beauty. Whether that’s mental or physical health, maintaining a relaxed state of mind while ensuring you’re getting the right nutrients for your overall wellbeing is so important.

3. Don’t compare yourselves to others — everyone is uniquely different and that’s what makes them beautiful. Being the best version of yourself exudes true beauty.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I’m really blessed to have chosen the hair industry as a career. I do unfortunately think there are still those who think a trade-based or creative career can’t be as successful or fulfilling to some that they deem more “lucrative.” What I’d love to be able to do is to inspire more people, someone like a high school valedictorian, to see the hair industry as a viable option. I think they’d be inspired to see the amount of satisfaction they can get from truly changing lives. If more people understood what an amazing journey the beauty industry can be and saw the opportunity further than the salon, like working on movies or photoshoots, I think we can inspire many more great students to join us.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson” quote? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My father, who was a successful attorney from a modest upbring used to say something to me that has stuck with me my entire life, “why can’t you be successful?” Whenever I had a voice of doubt in my head, I would always think back to these words and never had an answer, just like my father did not. Once you ask yourself why you can’t achieve something, you’ll clear out all of the doubts and continue to strive towards your goal.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?

If I could choose one person, I think it would have to be the Dali Lama. I had the pleasure of photographing him (and unintentionally interrupted a meditation he was leading!) and just being in his presence was awe-inspiring. I think having a one-on-one conversation with him would be such an experience, plus I could apologize for interrupting his meditation!

How can our readers follow you online?

David Raccuglia’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_raccuglia_photography/

American Crew’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/americancrew/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americancrew

Thank you so much for this. This was very inspirational, and we wish you only continued success!