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For nearly 30 years, American Barber Institute graduates have walked out of our classrooms and into careers that build real lives — some open their own shops, some become co-owners, and some join the most respected teams in New York.
Our Students' Barbershops
One school behind every chair
Real shops. Real careers. Here are six of the places ABI graduates go.
Levels Barbershop
Levels Barbershop was founded in 1996 on 125th Street in Harlem by Kamal Nuru. Today it spans Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Orange County, NY — alongside The Antique Barber product line, the Barber World TV media platform, and the annual NYC Barber Battle.
Several of the Nuru family co-owners are proud ABI graduates who earned their licenses with us about 15 years ago before helping build one of the most iconic names in NYC barbering. Many of the licensed barbers at Levels today are ABI alumni too — placed there by graduates who came before them. The relationship is alive today: Barber World TV featured ABI Lead Instructor Harold "Barkim" Brown on Episode 007.
Train at ABI. Earn your license. Build something that lasts.
Diamond Fadez
Diamond Fadez Barbershop sits one block from ABI's flagship campus at 308 West 39th Street — a unique combined barbershop and tattoo studio that customers call "the best barbershop in the city."
The shop is owned by Mike — a proud ABI graduate and the older brother of current ABI bilingual instructor Richard Cancel. Mike's success is also why Richard came back to ABI to teach: same school, same craft, two generations of one family training the next wave of barbers.
One school. One block. One family. Generations of master barbers.
Untouchable Cutz
When Jimmy walked into ABI, he was already on a different level — super advanced from day one, asking questions, pushing boundaries, and building friendships with everyone who taught him. Just two years after earning his ABI license, Jimmy opened his own shop.
Roughly 15 years later, Untouchable Cutz is one of Staten Island's most respected barbershops — a beautiful modern space backed by a team carrying 50+ combined years of experience. Jimmy has hired many ABI graduates over the years, and his shop now offers private tutoring and weekly grooming classes — passing the craft on to the next generation.
From license to ownership in two years. The grind never stops.
Expo Gentlemen Salon
Not every ABI story is about a graduate who opened their own shop. Some of the most important stories are about the owners who hire our graduates.
Joe isn't an ABI graduate — and he didn't have to be. As the entrepreneur behind Expo Gentlemen Salon, with locations in Staten Island and Brooklyn, Joe has built two thriving shops by trusting American Barber Institute to send him the talent he needs, year after year. Multiple ABI alumni anchor the team across both locations — built on something simple: every graduate ABI sends, performs.
When Joe needs to hire, he calls ABI first.
Otis & Finn
Otis & Finn Barbershop is one of NYC's most celebrated state-of-the-art barbershops — featured in GQ, BuzzFeed, HuffPost, FOX5, and PIX11 — with four locations across Long Island City, Court Square, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg.
ABI graduates are part of the team that earned Otis & Finn its reputation for classic, high-quality barbering and a radically inclusive community space. One graduate, James Cavanaugh — working out of Greenpoint — has cut hair professionally for five years since earning his license at ABI, and Otis & Finn proudly names ABI on his official bio page.
Shops that back their alumni publicly and treat their team as the brand.
NYC Barber Shop Museum
On Manhattan's Upper West Side, the NYC Barber Shop Museum — operated under REAMIR & Co. at Columbus Ave & E 70th St, with a second location in Sunny Isles, Miami — is the first museum of its kind in New York City: a working barbershop where every cut is performed surrounded by more than a thousand artifacts.
It's run by Arthur Rubinoff, a fourth-generation barber whose lineage stretches from Fergana, Uzbekistan, to the Upper West Side. He opened the museum in June 2018 after tracking down over a thousand artifacts worldwide; it earned New York Style Magazine's Best Barbershop award in 2015 and now operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. For years, ABI has placed graduates with the museum — a trusted, ongoing relationship between a school and a master.
To learn at ABI is to step into a craft. To work here is to step into a lineage.
The ABI Promise
Train at ABI. Walk into a real career.
Earn your license. Build your craft. Become a partner. Hire the next generation. For 30 years, our graduates have never had to wonder where they'd work.