During the COVID-19 pandemic, many teenagers began expanding their extracurriculars into businesses, continuing to inspire and motivate many to this day.
Sophomore Deisy Lopez started her acrylic nail business, @naailedbydeisy, to make nail appointments as accessible as possible. She realized how expensive acrylics had gotten and decided to start doing them by herself, eventually expanding into her own business.
“What inspired me was I always loved getting my nails done, but sometimes the prices were up to $120 or $140 for a simple set,” Lopez said. “I just got tired of paying that. I was like, ‘I don’t have money like that,’ so that inspired me to start doing it myself.”
Sophomore Suhayla Rayann and sophomore Sophia Shing started their shared press-on nail business, @moonboutique024, for different reasons. Shing, the nail artist, hoped to make her hobby into a business, and Rayann, the publicist, hoped to grow her publicity skills.
“I used to always make press on nails and do other people’s nails and also do my own nails. It’s just a hobby that I really enjoyed,” Shing said.
Lopez explained that her journey of becoming a nail tech started years ago. It was difficult at first, but she found that with passion and practice, the work was worth the effort.
“I’ve been trying since 2020 to start, but I never really took a course professionally. It was honestly really complicated at the start because I didn’t have much knowledge of how to do it,” Lopez said. “Slowly I took a course, and that’s when everything started improving.”
Rayann added that in her business journey, she noticed mistakes and grew from them, and motivated by their dedication, the business has now excelled.
“For me, it was really exciting, but I think we found our mistakes and we grew on that. Now we’re getting more sales,” Rayann said.
Not only is growth from mistakes important when managing a business, Shing said, balancing one’s business, school and home life must be a priority as well. Shing has organized her time and plans to maintain a manageable schedule.
“I think time management and writing down any plans you have, money, things, earnings or ideas you have for your business (is important) and being able to know how much time you have and how much time you need to put aside,” Shing said.
With a business comes stress, and for students, they worry about school, extracurriculars, family life and their small business. Shing has realized that to maintain a low level of stress, she must communicate with the client and set a timeline.
“Normally, whenever I have orders, I tell my client that I need a week to fulfill the order, or a little less than a week. Sets usually take 1-2 hours, so I ask for a week,” Shing said. “I’m able to choose when I’m least busy to fulfill their orders.”
Rayann advised that anyone who hopes to start a business must feel inspired and be ready to balance their lives.
“I think if you don’t have that thing driving you to do it (start a business), then don’t because at the end, it’s not going to feel good,” Rayann said.
Through her nail journey, Lopez has noticed the tendency for others to criticize her or her work, yet she is only concerned with her own and her clients’ opinions.
“Not everyone’s gonna like my work, and as long as I’m happy with it and my client is, that’s all that matters,” Lopez said.