As a self-taught nail technician who is very passionate about what she does, Ava Yang, a sophomore at Lambert High School shares her background and inspirations about what she does. She is a very creative person who loves beauty, giving her the spark for her journey of being a nail technician.
“I got a job at Sweet and Sassy, and it just inspired me to start painting the little girls’ nails,” Yang said. “ I just really love to do nails.”
Yang developed her skills through her initial job while also experimenting on her friends. By now she was already creating basic things like gel and SNS(Signature Nail Systems), which is a type of nail powder you dip nails into. She has also started doing creative designs and custom prints on the nail sets. She got inspired by others on social media who were doing cool sets and she started doing research on how to paint designs on nails for any occasion including homecoming nails or any custom designs one might desire.
A challenge she faced getting into the industry was knowing what products to get and what investments to make. She wanted to be sure that the products she used would be of the same quality as the type of products one would find at a nail salon.
“I want to get my cosmetology license”, said Yang. “As I said, I’m very interested in nails, but also, I’m really interested in hair and makeup”.
“Right now, I’m just trying to decide what part of cosmetology I want to go into because that breaks it into many different categories.”
Yang is currently not old enough to have a cosmetology license, but she does take clients who message her on Instagram and hear about her through word of mouth.
She aims to strike a balance between her academic commitments and cosmetic passions as well. Whenever she has homework, she tries to do that first. Then she does nails, but most of the time when Yang does them it would be on the weekends.
“School doesn’t really interfere with doing nails,” said Yang. “Honestly, to me, it’s not that hard to balance out, but I bet it will be once I start getting busier and getting more clients.” Said Yang.
Yang, as of now, is branching out her passion for doing nails. She would like to get more clients in the future and when she gets her license. Doing nails as a hobby allows her to showcase her creative skills and create visions that make her clients happy. In the future as she has said she would like to go to cosmetology school and learn more about the other industries in the beauty sector.
