Origins: Background and Education
Born at Cook County Hospital and raised near Ogden Park, Sunni Ali Powell promotes “positivity and professionalism” in the Englewood community by using his platform as a licensed barber-teacher. With the grand opening of his new location on the horizon, Sunni has plans to impact the future narrative of Englewood.
Sunni graduated from De Lasalle Institute in 1988 and spent a combined five years studying film and television at Southern Illinois Carbondale University and Columbia College. Sunni is in the Director’s Guild of America while being the electrician for “international Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, . He worked on A/V equipment while studying and even won “Best Film” while attending Columbia This led to him working on the set of many pop culture favorites like the television shows E.R., CSI, Chicago Hope and the movies Hoodlum, Ali, Malibu’s Most Wanted, The Johnson Family Vacation, and Contagion. Powell felt Chicago was in a “good film mode” which led him to work in Chicago for 5 years, yet his work continued in Atlanta and Los Angeles. It was his time in LA that turned him into the union barber of today.
Career: Road to Barbering
For three years Sunni was in a relationship with Kim Kimble, Beyonce’s Hairstylist. He sold her hair products and was graced with the opportunity to travel the world “all because I was Beyonce’s hairstylist boyfriend”. Traveling all over the world not only blessed him with an international perspective but familiarized him with the hair game, as he helped manage her shop in West Hollywood. Always a pioneer with hair, claiming to be “one of the first dudes in Chicago who had dreadlocks”, he took his wisdom of the hair-game to Englewood to become the premier professional barber
Powell’s Barbershop tagline is “ the heart of Englewood”. With Sunni’s goal “to sustain, push forward, and propagate barbering” he wants to regain the barbers status as a respectable career. Believing barbers can promote “peace and positivity or violence and disease”.Hosting community resource events, supplying free books to the community, offering free hair cuts to kids, partnering with organizations in the shop, among many other things. At the new location Powell’s will be offering offering a barber college for students and granting the opportunity for “barbers to become owners after 3 years”. This partnership will create the opportunity for the collective of entrepreneurs to “be the example and the conduit to do it all again”.
Englewood, Life, and R.A.G.E.
Sunni was friends with Rashanah Baldwin when he found out about R.A.G.E . Baldwin worked with Aysha Butler and Sonya Harper on CAN TV so she invited Sunni to a R.A.G.E. meeting at Teamwork Englewood for local entrepreneurs. After the meeting he started to partner with community organizations through the association for his community events . Sunni adds, “if it wasn’t for R.A.G.E I wouldn’t be here”.
In 2016 there was a shooting at Powell’s Barber and Englewood came together. R.A.G.E. held a meet and greet fitting the tactics of the Public Safety Task-Force; gave Powell’s $1000 with Mr. Leak stating, ‘a lot of people got shot at my business and I almost closed down, but people came to me and helped me so I’m going to help you”; Sunni even partnered with R.A.G.E to use his donation for a big back-to-school event with Leak and Sons’funding. Through a networking event he even met Deon Lucas, an architect, who introduced Sunni to the retail thrive zone grant and is part of EG Woode.
Being a long time R.A.G.E. member, Sunni’s favorite moments were the various meetings held by the association. He said, “something great was happening”, at the meetings since it was the “ the barometer of the neighborhood”. He is part of the Jobs and Economic Development Taskforce where he love to promote the job fairs and thinks So Fresh Saturdays (R.A.G.E. summer park festival) are “off the chain. His favorite R.A.G.E moment was standing on the stage at Lindblom Math and Science Academy with Michelle Rashad, Alderman Lopez, The Police Commander, himself, and “all the cats”.
Sunni’s significant other is Alysha Monique who he met at Whole Foods Englewood’s 5 after 5 event, which was curated by Erik Jones’ Blue Sapphire experience. Sunni describes her as, “ a jazz musician with a college degree who can sit at the piano and play about 500 songs”. She will be the booking agent at the new EG Woode location for music talent and will be hosting an event at Kusanya Cafe on July 31st called, “Chocolat Noir”.
Sunni has a 16 year old son named Hannibal Langston Powell. Sunni named him after a general and a poet, based on the Carthage general and most photographed man of the 19th century. He attends Walter Payton College Prep and is the only child.
Sunni looks at the culture of his field and states,”my passion is to inspire others to do great things with this platform outside of cutting hair”. One way is by utilizing his guild, Chicago Barbers Alliance, and having a “Westside vs Southside” competition. He also works with Urban Prep’s program with the intention of allow the students of the junior college barbering program to get their 1500 hours to be able to have their barber’s license. His passion for changing barber’s perspective of their profession involves having the presence in the community to be a mentor.
Thank You Mr Powell For Your Dedication To R.A.G.E.!!!!
R.A.G.E. 