At that point in time, the title "celebrity hairstylist" wasn't on his radar — there was no social media to look to or blueprint for how to get there — so he set his sights on the film industry. At 27, Aspiras packed his bags and left San Francisco for Los Angeles.
"I left all my friends and moved there with $1,000, which was a lot of money for me back then," he says. At first, things didn't go as planned: he couldn't find work, no one would book him, and he ended up houseless for six months, living out of hotels.
"When I came to LA, I thought I was just going to be a breakout star because everybody kept telling me how great and talented I was," he says. Ultimately, he got a job in retail at Barneys to make some money and went back to doing test shoots for free, just as he had in San Francisco. "It was a pretty rough time," he says. "But I kept pursuing my dream."
Then he got a phone call from his now-agent who had seen his work from random odd jobs — and his life completely changed. He asked Aspiras if he wanted to work with Paris Hilton, who was "rebranding herself and starting a new franchise." The gig was for her new TV show, which meant devoting his entire Monday through Friday to it. He decided to quit his retail job and take a chance.
This jump-started his career in the entertainment industry, but he didn't feel the slightest bit overwhelmed or in over his head. "The reason I had so many different jobs and types of experiences was to prepare me for that moment when I was given the opportunity of a lifetime — working with Paris Hilton."
Aspiras continued to work with Hilton for years until the show took a break in 2007. Then came a new opportunity. "I got another phone call out of the blue saying, 'Since you have a break, would you like to work with this new artist that's coming out? Her name is Lady Gaga."
Intrigued by the idea of working with a musician for the first time, he said yes. "Little did I know it would become a relationship now that is going on almost 15 years."