00:00:02 My name is Nelson Enrique Morales. I am an assistant to become a stylist. When I came to London I came to study English and then I decided to stay because my Mum, she's been here for about 18, 19 years so I went to work in a restaurant in a kitchen. So I didn't last too much because I didn't really...it was too busy.
00:00:29 So I went to enjoy in a salon, in a salon I used to work, they had a kitchen and I saw all of the clients like beautiful hair so I thought, "Hold on, I don't want to make sandwiches all my life." I went to speak with the manager of the salon so I'm really interested to become a stylist. At the moment she started like she was, I was, like, kidding or something but she told me, "Yes."
00:00:59 So, from here I now passed all my training to become a stylist. Got a passion to it. Always I had...I used to like rock music. I used to have really long hair and I used to do drugs and concert like getting crazy, mad, fights. So, that was my life for nearly three years in London. In 2005 when [a brother of mine] came to London for three months to visit and when he saw me with long hair like he was like a really embarrassed.
00:01:36 Because he never knew what I was doing in London. He told me, "Nelson, what are you doing to my Mum? You know, my Mum has been telling me that you are not in really good steps and she doesn't want to tell you." That made me feel really, really unhappy.
00:01:55 And one night we went to my Mum's house, they were talking so I just went into the room and my Mum was crying so I asked, "What's going on. Something is wrong?" And then my brother told me, "Nelson, I'm going to leave tomorrow and it's going to be really sad for me to leave you like this."
00:02:23 So, we went to my room again and I told him, "Ok, if you are leaving tomorrow, so tonight you want me to sleep. Why? Because you are going to help me destroy everything. Ok." So, we spent the whole night like, scratching DVDs, thousand of DVDs, all the posters from the wall and everything, everything, like, we had like 10 bags of black bins in the street. Unbelievable.
00:03:02 He was my inspiration to change my life. When I was in that kind of living life rocky stuff, I never thought... even about four years ago I never thought I was going to be here sitting. In 20 years time I would like to be in my country definitely, open my own salon in my country. All what I want is a house, and my Mum.
ENDS
Nelson Morales
Nelson Morales
My name is Nelson Enrique Morales. I am an assistant to become a stylist. When I came to London I came to study English and then I decided to stay because my Mum, she's been here for about 18, 19 years so I went to work in a restaurant in a kitchen. So I didn't last too much because I didn't really...it was too busy.
So I went to enjoy in a salon, in a salon I used to work, they had a kitchen and I saw all of the clients like beautiful hair so I thought, "Hold on, I don't want to make sandwiches all my life." I went to speak with the manager of the salon so I'm really interested to become a stylist. At the moment she started like she was, I was, like, kidding or something but she told me, "Yes."
So, from here I now passed all my training to become a stylist. Got a passion to it. Always I had...I used to like rock music. I used to have really long hair and I used to do drugs and concert like getting crazy, mad, fights. So, that was my life for nearly three years in London. In 2005 when [a brother of mine] came to London for three months to visit and when he saw me with long hair like he was like a really embarrassed.
Because he never knew what I was doing in London. He told me, "Nelson, what are you doing to my Mum? You know, my Mum has been telling me that you are not in really good steps and she doesn't want to tell you." That made me feel really, really unhappy.
And one night we went to my Mum's house, they were talking so I just went into the room and my Mum was crying so I asked, "What's going on. Something is wrong?" And then my brother told me, "Nelson, I'm going to leave tomorrow and it's going to be really sad for me to leave you like this."
So, we went to my room again and I told him, "Ok, if you are leaving tomorrow, so tonight you want me to sleep. Why? Because you are going to help me destroy everything. Ok." So, we spent the whole night like, scratching DVDs, thousand of DVDs, all the posters from the wall and everything, everything, like, we had like 10 bags of black bins in the street. Unbelievable.
He was my inspiration to change my life. When I was in that kind of living life rocky stuff, I never thought... even about four years ago I never thought I was going to be here sitting. In 20 years time I would like to be in my country definitely, open my own salon in my country. All what I want is a house, and my Mum.
ENDS
Nelson came to the UK to learn English. After a spell working in a kitchen, he trained to become a hair stylist. His family is a very strong influence on him and he describes his brother as "my inspiration to change my life" when he moved on from the drug scene in London and turned his life around.
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