From the Editors

The NAILS Annual Holiday Letter

by Cyndy Drummey | December 1, 2006 | Bookmark +

Greetings from Torrance, Calif.! The NAILS family has had an eventful year. We started off with our All-Reader-Written issue, which you would think was easy considering that we don’t have to write it, but it is quite a bit of work coordinating nail tech writers from all over the world. Not to mention, we had to decide between two covers from the Cover Tech Contest, and because we ultimately couldn’t choose, we ended up with a tie!

We were short- handed for the first part of the year as we launched VietSALON without a full-time editor (thankfully, Tri Ta came aboard just in time to handle the second issue). As an added benefit, though, Hannah has picked up a few words of Vietnamese.

We hit the shows during that crazy period known as “show season,” which starts in February in California and ends in August in Orlando (How is half the year considered a “season?”).

In February we went to the ABBIE awards and although we went home empty-handed, we enjoyed how the awards were transformed to an industry production! We all hit the ISSE show, and Danielle and Susan (our art team) joined us at the booth to meet our readers face to face (and to get some good deals on products). In March, we sent a crew to Chicago for the Midwest show.

In April, it was on to Garden Grove, Calif., for the Vietnamese Beauty Expo, where we showcased the first issue of VietSALON and met two of the most-dedicated individuals in the beauty business: school owners (and sister and brother) Linh and Tam Nguyen. Hannah went to the IBS New York show by herself while the rest of us stayed behind to work on the Power Issue for July.

April was also a highlight because the annual Maggie Awards brought us three new awards, including the crown jewel: Best Trade Magazine in the Health/Beauty/Fashion category. (Danielle was so excited she dropped one of the awards.) In June, we were finally fully staffed again. Sheila (our sales and marketing coordinator) and Sree (our senior editor who came all the way from Atlanta for the opportunity to work with us!) joined the team and haven’t been able to exhale yet.

By mid-June we were already starting our planning for the 2007 issues. We were in Las Vegas twice in the month (the second time, four of us got stuck there when LAX lost electrical power, so we ended up taking one of our famous road trips to get home).

Jayna joined Michelle and Mary on a trip to Orlando for the Premiere show (her first trip to Florida) and was thrilled to hobnob at the Networking Barbecue with all the people she’s met only on the phone or over the Internet. In late September we held a networking function at our office and met 18 fabulous nail techs who shared insights and funny stories about clients. By the beginning of October we finished our December issue and began the horrendously huge task of putting together the Big Book (Why couldn’t we have come up with something like the “little book” and saved ourselves a lot of work?).

So here it is, almost November and hopefully by the time you read this, Hannah will be on sabbatical in Hawaii, Sheila will have recovered from updating the Big Book directories, Sree will be measuring Hannah’s office for curtains, and Jayna will be on her way to Missouri to see her folks for the holidays. As for me, I hope to be spending the holiday with my other family (the one that includes a husband and kids). And to you, we wish you a happy holiday season and a great new year.

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