Nails 101: A Student Blog

Meet Stacelyn

by NAILS Magazine | April 1, 2013 | Bookmark +

Editor's note: We're excited to introduce you to several new nail tech students over the course of the next few months. Up first is Stacelyn Jones of Charlotte, N.C. Please help us welcome her to the NAILS Magazine blog world.

Hello, my name is Stacelyn and I'm addicted to anything and everything that pertains to the wonderful world of nails (now you say “Hello Stacelyn” like we're actually sitting in a support meeting). The road to discovering my little problem wasn't an easy one; in fact it was quite a long hard trip. Before finding my passion I struggled to try and discover what I was good at and what I could actually make into a career. In college I took aptitude tests to see which area I possessed the greatest skills, only to find out that I was sort of like a chameleon and I could adapt to any work field. So adapt is what I did...for years. I've worked in retail, volunteered at the hospital, bookkeeping, and medical billing/coding; and I was really good in all of them but none held my attention for an extended period of time. It never failed, I'd be excited about starting something new and then get bored so off I would go again in hunt for what would make me happy (and keep me happy).

My mother would always remind me that I was very creative and that I should be doing something that would let me use my creativity. Who knew that I should have been listening to her all along (Mom if you're reading this then FINE, you were right.) but I was young and only knew I didn't want to be what I would consider a “starving artist”. So I would sit and brainstorm, coming up with a lot of good plans that took me nowhere. I say these plans were “good” because they were — for someone else, just not me.

One day I'm looking for a design on the Internet that I could take into the nail salon with me and pray that whoever I end up with can at least get it to look somewhat like the picture, and a thought occurred to me. “Why don't I try to do it myself?” It sounded like a good idea to me (because this way I can save myself the frustration of having to go to the nail salon and end up with the person who I had last time because she was the only one available and leave not satisfied) and I wasn't doing anything at the time and I happened to have some Stripe Rite that someone gave me as a gift so I went for it. One of the BEST decisions of my life! Immediately I feel in love with the entire concept, and like anyone who falls in love hard and fast I wanted to know more about my new passion. It had never occurred to me that I could take my love of drawing and painting and place my masterpieces on a smaller canvas — my nails (duh). Back to the Internet I went until I came across this website (www.nailsmag.com) and the rest...well you know the rest.

I live in Charlotte, N.C., and most beauty schools here want you to go through the entire cosmetology program, which I considered doing until I found out that you only spend a small amount of time actually learning about the art of nails at the end of the course (and that I have no desires to do hair whatsoever). I lucked out and found the Academy of Nail Technology and Esthetics that offers an all nail program, but they too had a catch. In a perfect world I would be married to an insanely rich man whose sole purpose in life is to make sure I'm happy so all I would have to do is go to school carefree. Since this world is far from perfect I happen to have a full-time job and the Academy of Nail Technology and Esthetic's hours are primarily set up for someone who doesn't hold a full time job. So with this not-so-perfect world making the decision for me, I'm forced to attend part-time. The required hours in North Carolina to complete before taking the state board is 300 hours and I can't wait until I hold that certificate in my hands! I start class on April 20th and from here on out there's no looking back. My only regret is that I hadn't listened to my mother sooner. Ssshhh...just don't let her know that I admitted to that :)

— Stacelyn

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