Tommy O

 (27 March ) is an American hairstylist, artist, businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is noted for innovation. Tommy opened the first salon in the country to have a liqueur license, include tattooing and body piercing in a hair salon environment. He has designed hair for celebrities such as; Balthazar Getty, Jason London, Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner and many more.

Early life

His early life was one of rural simplicity, with his entire childhood spent on a small acreage near Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated high school with honors and attended the University of Nebraska. Although he hoped to become a lawyer and eventually pursued a degree in English literature and business, Tommy O became an apprentice for his father, a hairdresser at his salon in Lincoln, Nebraska. He formed his first Corporation when he was 18, which developed software for hair salon management. 

After developing a reputation for his innovative cuts and working as a platform artist for various hair care companies such as; Rusk, Graham Webb and Paul Mitchell, he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990’s, where he worked for the world famous Giuseppe Franco Salon.

He moved back to Omaha in the late 1990’s and opened Tommy O’s Rock & Roll Salon. After 5 years he closed the business and pursued an amateur fighting career in Muay Thai kickboxing under the training of World Champion, Kurt Podany. Tommy then founded Modafino in 2016 with a patented fragrance infusion technology. He is currently a primary shareholder in five (5) companies involved in developing disruptive consumer technology.

Tommy was born to parents Elnore and Fernando in Lincoln, Nebraska. His mother, Elnore was born in Elk Creek Nebraska to a very large German farm family. Her father, Charles had 15 siblings and the Epley family was know for their size and athleticism.  Tommy’s father, Fernando was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and came from a Mexican immigrant family of 12. Fernando served as a Airborne Ranger for five years before moving back to Lincoln and attending beauty school. Tommy’s parents met in beauty school and have been happily married since 1964. They currently live on the same acreage in which, Tommy grew up. 

Education

Tommy attended a small high school in rural Nebraska, between Lincoln and Omaha. He was good student and played football, baseball and wrestled. His grades were good enough to gain him a small scholarship to the University of Nebraska where he joined the Theta Chi Fraternity and pursued a degree in English Literature and business. He dropped out after 2 years and attended beauty school in Lincoln, NE at the College of Hair Design. He subsequently attended the Vidal Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica, CA, the ABBA Accademy in Cerritos CA, The Rusk Academy in West Hollywood, CA, the Graham Webb academy in Arlington VA and reentered the University of Nebraska to finish his degree.  

Los Angeles

Tommy spent a lot of his early years seeking fame and fortune. After traveling to Laguna Beach after high school graduation, he decided that he wanted to be a part of the Hollywood lifestyle. He attended beauty school there and traveled to Los Angeles before moving there in 1994. 

He worked at Giuseppe Franco Salon in Beverly Hills and did hair ad makeup for several small film projects, magazine covers, runway shows and educated hairstylists with his own style of cutting. He was hired by universal studios to do hair on the Movie “To Wong Foo,” which was filmed in his home state of Nebraska. He was a member of the Nebraska Coast Connection, an organization for people from Nebraska living in Hollywood to network. He met Alexander Payne and Lou Hunter there whom inspired him to begin screenwriting. 

Omaha & MMA Futures 

Tommy opened Tommy O’s Rock N Roll Salon & Spa in Omaha in 1998. It was the first salon in the country to have a liquor license and combine tattooing and body piercing in the same location. 5 years later the salon closed and Tommy became discouraged with the hair salon industry. He stepped away from the salon and began fight training. 

Tommy worked with trainer Kurt Podany from 1998 to the present day training in Muay Thai kickboxing. His last fight was in 2005 at the regional finals in Peoria Illinois. He later started the website MMA Futures with Nathan Rogers and is still broadcasting Mixed Martial arts to this day. Three-time UFC champion, Jens Pulver was a commentator early on for the live events.  

Philanthropy

Tommy has always had an interest in philanthropy. At the age of 16, he and his garage band performed a charity concert for a classmate in High School that was diagnosed with cancer. He later produced a series of charity fashion shows in Lincoln at the age of 18, working with the late Designer Duran Knudsen. In Los Angeles, he donated his time to events raising money for the AIDS epidemic.  

After moving back to Omaha, Tommy raised money for the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association with large events featuring the likes of Bobby Conn and other performers. Both Charities are very near to his heart as he has had several family members afflicted with both diseases. He also worked with the Nebraska Cattleman’s Ball to raise nearly 1 million dollars for cancer research.  

During his time leading MMA Futures, he worked with Jens Pulver and “Dude Be Nice” at all live events to raise money for anti-bullying campaigns. Most recently, Tommy has worked with United Luv to put iPads into the hands of children with cancer going through Chemo therapy. Charitable giving is a passion as he insists on holding events and giving donations to charities through all of the companies he works with and owns.

Lincoln & Modafino

In 2010 Tommy decided to move back to Lincoln and worked with friends Nathan Sebastian and Jason McLaughlin at their newly opened salon, Iasan & Sebastian studio salon. He spent 2 years with I?S Salon then decided to work with his father re-branding his salon, Fernando’s. He continued to work with his father at the newly branded Salon F until 2016. In 2016, Tommy came up the the idea for a fragrance and ingredient infusion device called the Moda-Cap. Modafino was formed on July 7, 2016. His flagship salon opened in June of the following year. Modafino products also launched that year with shampoo, conditioner and treatment. They continue to sell products on modafino.com and Amazon globally.

Ellemate

In late 2019, Tommy was approached by his lifelong friend, Chris Johnson to assist in the marketing and development of Ellemate, a patented sodamaker in the USA, the Caribbean and South America. Ellemate was launched in 2020 and continues to sell on ellemate.co and Amazon to this day.

Personal Life

Tommy married Kimberly Johnson in 1994 after meeting her at a charity fashion show. They moved to Los Angeles together and divorced 3 years later in 1997. Tommy never remarried, has no children and currently lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.