“I was working in the medical field, but it wasn’t my passion, so I went back to bartending. If there are two things I can do, it’s sling drinks and talk to people! So I went back. I enjoyed the work and was making great money. Then one day, I was getting my nails done and my nail tech said, ‘How do you feel about doing an apprenticeship?’
‘An apprenticeship for what?’ I said.
‘To do nails,’ she said.
Now, I had never done nails and it wasn’t anything I had even thought of doing. But the stars had aligned—I had just been hired at Bath and Bodyworks to make some extra money for Christmas. When I explained the situation to my boyfriend, he said, ‘I think you should go for it.’
So I did.
For my first set of nails, we brought my daughter in. They were HORRIBLE! I wish we had a picture of them.
But I kept going because I fell in love with it. When I was working in the medical field, I was helping people. Bartending I was connecting with people. In doing nails, I get to do both. I get to help make people smile and feel beautiful while talking and connecting. It’s important to have a business that is clean and create nails that look beautiful, but it’s really more than that. It’s about giving someone a good experience and creating a relationship where they feel like they can connect with somebody.”
- Ashley Earle, Ashley's Nails on Midland Street in Bay City, Michigan
