Becoming a Nail Educator

Vu Nguyen, Dean of Education for Gelish, shares with us how he got into the nail business.

When most people begin a career in the nail industry, they only envision themselves working at a salon and performing services on clients, then one day opening a salon of their own. This was not the case for me, I never wanted to do nails…

I grew up watching my mother masterfully create oil paintings as a young child. She didn’t do this as a full-time job. Her full-time job was being a maid. She did it for pleasure and I saw something very magical in her artwork and was inspired at that very young age (around six or seven years old) to develop and pursue a passion for art. I have three brothers, one older and two younger. My older brother and I competed with each other by drawing cartoons and comic book art with markers and pencils, but we never picked up a paint brush at all until our teenage years.

We didn’t have a lot of money when we were going up so we didn’t have a lot of extra cash to be spending on frivolous things. Art was a great thing that we could do that didn’t cost a whole lot to get started, so we spent a lot of time seeing who could draw this or that better (he would always beat me) and that kept pushing and inspiring me to be better than him and my mother. By the time I got to the 3rd grade, my teacher told me I should enter the school’s art contest. So, I did. I won first place and knew from that very moment that I wanted to be an artist for my career. By 4th grade I was winning several local and school art contests, even got suspended from school for selling my art to the other students at recess and lunch.

Before graduating high school, I was accepted into Cal Arts, a school founded by Walt Disney and many other well-known artists. This was a major turning point for me because I knew that the cost of attending this school was very high and that my parents would not have the money to pay for the tuition. When I told my parents the news, they were disappointed that they couldn’t afford the tuition, but they also said there’s a reason why the term “starving artist” is still relevant. They hoped that I would have gone to law or medical school, but I didn’t see that in my future. So, I went to community college to get a bachelors degree in Fine Arts. I had already gotten quite a few courses done at a summer program I attended at Cal Arts the previous year, so I thought this shouldn’t take too long. As it turns out, I never finished getting my degree, with only a few courses left to get an associates degree I started to learn a very different and controversial type of art, tattooing. Once I found tattooing, I began working as a tattoo artist.

My mother has been my inspiration since I was able to pick up a pencil. Mom hated tattoos and was not thrilled at all with what I was doing for a living after leaving school. She also wasn’t happy in her own job (doing alterations for the US military), so she asked me if I would go to beauty school with her. Of course, I didn’t want to let down my mom so I went with her and we both graduated together.

After graduating I could barely get a job at a salon working for free (I got to keep the tips). Most salons in my area at the time wouldn’t hire a male nail technician, let alone one with tattoos. While at this job, I would read the trade magazines between clients and during down time and I was inspired all over again, this time in nail art.

I had no idea that there was this whole other world to the nail industry. My first goal was to make it into a nail magazine. So, I started doing nail art on my clients, taking photos and sending them in to the all the trade magazines I knew of. Before I knew it, a magazine had published my work in their readers nail art section.

Although I was thrilled (and I WAS thrilled), I couldn’t help but think, “Well what’s the next step?”. Seeing other techs with trophies and winning competitions in these magazines helped me set up my next goal; competitions!

My very first competition I was so nervous, but I had a game plan. I knew exactly what my nail design was going to be and I had practiced it all week. In preparation for this competition I packed the colors and brushes I needed in a fishing tackle box, not very professional looking, but I knew I had everything.

Being my first competition, I arrived early and chose where I wanted to sit. As other competitors start arriving and setting up their tables, I thought I was doomed. Some techs brought 10 airbrushes and what seemed like the entire color wheel and here I am with a tackle box and limited supplies in comparison to everyone else. I ended up getting 2nd place out of about forty competitors and after that, I already had my sights on the next competition.

I was so pumped I started teaching my younger brother (Robert Nguyen) how to paint artwork on nails using mostly acrylic paint and encouraged him to go with me to Las Vegas for the next competition. We walked away with three 1st place trophies and I beat the NailPro Cup champion. After another successful competition, I think I got my brother hooked too, but again “What’s the next step?”

I knew that most of the other competitors were linked to a brand, meaning they are sponsored by and represent a nail manufacturer. I equated it to an athlete being sponsored by a sports drink or athletic clothing company. I knew we had to do the same thing, but how do we get their attention?

Win more and more competitions was what we did and that was when OPI asked us if we were interested in becoming educators. We took their offer and from there so many doors opened, eventually leading me to my current position with Gelish.

Being an educator has fulfilled my passion for art, but has also let me share my passion with others. I never would have guessed that I would be traveling the world (having been to every continent except Antarctica), meeting some really cool celebrities, and working with and learning from the best nail techs in the industry.

Looking back, I feel very blessed to have met a man who has changed and continues to change my life, Danny Haile, World champion nail tech and CEO of Gelish. I met Danny about fifteen years ago when I was an educator for OPI. Five years ago, I decided I wanted to make a switch and educate for Gelish. I have had the chance to work side by side with Danny Haile, a man that has so much knowledge and talent involving nails and the nail industry, it’s unbelievable. Not only is it so important to love what you do, but to honor the people that have impacted your life. Danny Haile is a nail tech that wants to make the best products for the industry and understands what nail techs need because he himself has been the nail tech out there in the trenches doing the job so many of us do.

There’s something that a lot of people don’t know about Gelish, there are three owners; Gari-Dawn Tingler, David Daniel and Danny Haile, and they are all nail techs themselves and have a clear picture as to what the working nail professional needs to be successful. They have created and introduced many of the nail products we all use today, from colored acrylics to LED UV Light technology. The relationships I’ve been able to cultivate and build on with the three owners is priceless, as I’m not only able to see them as my bosses, but my friends as well.

In the nail industry the relationships we have and find not only bring joy to lives, but also open so many doors that we may have never thought existed. I have learned so much from working with Gelish, things that I would have never been able to do if I never picked up that trade magazine.

The nail industry is an amazing profession that offers not only something for everyone, but a unique opportunity to be exposed to so many great and talented people, including wonderful people to work with on a daily basis. This industry is like a family and the relationships we form, the friendships, business contacts, etc. are some of the best possible and will last a lifetime.

And for all of this, I am grateful. Not many people get to do what they love and live their passion for a career. I am truly one of the lucky ones.