Portage Park’s Nina Grenke-Kosinski honored for career as a barber in a male-dominated profession

by BRIAN NADIG

At the March 12 City Council meeting Alderman James Gardiner (45th) described Portage Park area resident Nina Grenke-Kosinski as “a trailblazer,” as she had a 44-year career as a barber in a male-dominated profession.

Shortly after graduating from the Moler Barber College in the late 1970s, she bought and managed a barbershop in a Downtown office building. “At that time, as you can imagine, that was unheard of,” Gardiner said at the council meeting.

The council was honoring female leaders as part of its “Women in History Month” celebration. Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th) and Alderwoman Ruth Cruz (30th) also were scheduled to speak about Grenke-Kosinski, but the council meeting went long and comments were limited.

Occasionally a man would walk into her shop and ask, “Is the barber in?” and Grenke-Kosinski would respond, “I’m the barber.” The man would be surprised and sometimes leave, with Grenke-Kosinski recommending another barbershop.

“That’s okay. It’s a personal choice” who cuts one’s hair, Grenke-Kosinski said.

There were several obstacles that she had to overcome buying a barbershop which her male counterparts didn’t necessarily face.

“Back then women couldn’t even have major credit credit cards” without their husband, she said.

That said, acquiring a business loan, opening a business checking account, and securing a lease on a commercial property was not easy. 

She worked as a waitress 40 hours a week while in school, managing to save $5,000 to invest in the business. Another $5,000 came from a loan, which a friend and mentor, Bob Klager, co-signed.

Eventually she ended up owning a couple shops, but in 2021 she decided to leave the profession. There were not enough customers left, as the work-from-home mentality of the pandemic had cleared out many of the office buildings, she said.

Why did Grenke-Kosinski decide in the first place to become a barber in a society, as she said, where “women were cosmetologists and men were barbers”?

Basically there’s no particular reason, she said, adding that she liked talking to men and perhaps call it “a dare.”

“It was that simple.”

She now works as a liaison to local businesses for the Portage Park Chamber of Commerce. As a former small business owner herself, she said that she loves helping and working with area merchants.

”Nina is Superwoman to me. She also is kind, hard working, and motivates you never to give up,” chamber secretary Jacqueline Mancias.

“Nina is nothing short of remarkable and incredibly deserving of this recognition.An entrepreneur, wife, mother, grandmother, parishioner — the list goes on. While she’s known for her signature phrase ‘Be kind to yourself,’ her kindness, knowledge and dedication to the city of Chicago, especially Portage Park, is infectious,” chamber president Dan Butterworth said.

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