Five aspiring beauty industry professionals will each receive $2,750 tuition compensation toward a qualified nail education program through generous funding from CND and their distributor partners.

As a college student, scholarship winner Kira Motley of Livonia, Mich. dreamed of a career doing nails, but her family didn’t think of it as a real profession. Fifteen years later, Kira decided to “live my own destiny” and enrolled in nail school. Kira’s application essay reflects her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for giving back. “I want to open a nail studio that visits local shelters and helps women transitioning into the workforce,” she wrote.

The BCL CND Tippi Hedren Nail Scholarship honors actress and humanitarian Tippi Hedren, widely recognized as the “godmother” of the Vietnamese-American nail movement.  Ms. Hedren helped thousands of Vietnamese refugees find careers in the nail industry during the 1970s.

“We are honored to have the support of longtime partner and founding nail scholarship funder CND,” said Lynelle Lynch, president of the Beauty Changes Lives Foundation. “Through CNDs generous gift and support of emerging talent, these scholarships are helping the next generation of professionals join a nearly $8.5 billion industry in the U.S.”

Jan Arnold, CND Co-founder and Style Director, said the scholarships fill an important role in preparing NextGen talent. Expressing her enthusiasm for the competition and winners, Arnold stated, “Congratulations to all of our winners!! We are all so proud and excited to see these amazing and talented women fulfill their dream of becoming Nail Professionals!  A career as a Nail Professional is a rich, rewarding and incredibly exciting choice, especially now when Nails are at an all-time high. We will watch these new Professionals soar with greatness."

Winners and their respective scholarship schools are as follows:

Melissa Haseley, The Salon Professional Academy, Buffalo, NY.

Hasira McGee, L’esprit Academy, Livonia, Mich.

Kira Motley, L’esprit Academy, Livonia, Mich.

Cassie Myers, Aveda Institute-Maine, Augusta, Maine

Valnedra Rosser, L’esprit Academy, Livonia, Mich.

Winners’ inspiration boards may be viewed here. 

Launched in 2014, the BCL | CND | Tippi Hedren Scholarship is administered by the Beauty Changes Lives Foundation and features a spring and fall competition. Information on Beauty Changes Lives scholarship programs is available here.

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