For senior Lesly Torres, the pandemic was when her creative endeavors started to take off. When getting her nails done was not possible, she started experimenting on herself and quickly realized the talent she held. That’s when she decided to share her nail art with the world by becoming a nail technician. 

The process of doing acrylic nails is lengthy and tedious. Torres doesn’t only make the nails but also creates the art on them. “It usually takes four-plus hours for the whole set to be complete,” Torres explained. “I used to be very self-conscious about how long I used to take.”

Over time, she has realized that her techniques created nails that were worth the time they took. Torres has been utilizing a new and innovative nail system called Gel X: a soft gel nail extension system that is considered to be more natural-looking and gentler on your nails. This technique helps her to focus more on the actual art than the nail structure. 

Torres emphasized that the internet is a great resource for young people aiming to start a business. She has been able to advance her techniques by watching a lot of YouTube videos and doing research online.

While the internet helped develop Torres’ skills, it was social media that enabled her to gain popularity. She finds that posting her nail sets on Instagram has been really good for her business. Torres also books most of her clients through her Instagram account: @rottennails. 

Torres’s family has been really helpful in her endeavor. Her sister aided her at the start by supplying her with the material required in the start to pursue her business. Even Torres’s stepdad, whose asthma gets triggered by the fumes of the acrylics, has been eager to accommodate and support her business.

In the future, Torres hopes to take her small business to a bigger platform and make it her full-time job. Even though this is just the beginning of Torres’s career as a nail technician, blowing up on Instagram and remaining fully booked has further supported Torres’s belief that her business is only going up from where it is. Being in charge of the nail brush has helped Torres expand her creative boundaries and venture into the unknown all by herself. •