Darryl Glover moved to New Jersey to be a dancer. Hip-hop was his love, and he wanted to make it happen. The commute into New York City to take classes wouldn’t be bad, and he wanted to be greater than he already was.

In reality, Glover, 24, went to New Jersey as part of the Teach for America program. Since 2007, Glover has been teaching kindergarten at the Chancellor Annex Avenue school in Newark.

He figured he could teach kids the alphabet during the day and attend dance classes at night. Just like Fame: The Newark Years.

But after nights of parent-teacher conferences, lesson plans, and going over clever ways to make his students “good scholars” (that’s what he calls them), Glover realized he didn’t have much time to dance.

When he did take the occasional class, it was centered around jazz, which Glover wasn’t even into.

One thing he did enjoy was fashion. Just like everybody else out there, he paid attention to the labels, but he wanted to be a part of something great. Since Glover was very particular in what he wore, he figured being a stylist was the perfect choice.

Everything started for him when his friend A.V. Perkins sent him a link on Craiglist for stylists for the VH1 show Glam God with Vivica A. Fox.

Having no experience, Glover made it to the semifinals (which ain’t too shabby), and it only motivated him to do more.

Styling for him is a long process. He has to create looks, or concepts, get the clothes and style the shoots. It can be very taxing on the young teacher. He books most of his gigs on the weekends since those are his free days.

“I don’t know how I balance being a teacher and styling,” he said. “I’m still trying, but teaching is what comes first.”

I was fortunate enough to watch Darryl styling a shoot, and I definietly could not do it. Surely, coming up with concepts must be hard…

“I do research after I come up with a concept, but the more I look at someone else’s work the more it becomes similar,” he said. “The industry is so small and people are talented. Nothing is original.” So Glover puts on music in his Belleville, New Jersey apartment to move him.

He still tries to make looks his own and he credits Dita Von Teese, Kanye West, and Grace Coddington, the creative director of Vogue as his influences.

Since that Glam God audition, Glover has styled for Amerie, magazines, and the Holy Grail, New York Fashion Week. Last September, he worked the shows for Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Phillip Lim, Bagdley Mischka, and about eight other shows. Not bad for a newbie, huh?

Glover is trying to fine tune his craft. He started taking classes (when he can) at the Fashion Institute of Technology so he will receive a certificate in costuming and styling. He is learning how to sew and stitch.

With all of the good stuff that comes with styling — famous designers, celebrities — there has to be some kinds of problems.

Glover said he used to have troubles with fitting models in the beginning, but now that he is a semi-pro he has leanred from his mistakes. “I used to not have enough clothing, but you always want to make sure you have more,” he said.

“Styling is a trade. It’s a craft. How are you going to make a size 2XL fit a size zero?” So now on every shoot, he is armed with his fit kit that comprises of cotton (to stuff bras, of course), wet wipes, binder clips, pins, double stick tape, a petticoat (to make skirts and dresses fuller), a steamer, among other things.

“Now it’s pretty smooth.”

What’s next on Glover’s list? Teach for America might send him to Japan to teach English. He’s looking at it as a great opportunity to learn about Japanese culture. They’re hot over there. In the meantime, he is also trying to make the move into Manhattan to make it easier for styling.

He hopes one day to break into wardrobe and costuming for television and movies. But as far as becoming the next Rachel Zoe, not so much. “I love Rachel Zoe, and I love that she has authority,” he said, “but I don’t know if I want to be Darryl G. the stylist. I know there’s more.”

And I can’t wait to see what he’ll do next.

(Photos from Darryl G’s facebook page)