We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Camora Fuller . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Camora below.

Camora , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

While working a full-time job, in February of 2020, I decided to start school to become a licensed nail tech. At that time, I did not know a month later it would be the start of a world pandemic. I continued with school and kept working my 8-5, but unfortunately, I caught COVID-19 in the middle of June. I had to take leave from work under the Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to get better. Due to lingering complications from COVID, I still wasn’t able to return to work once my FMLA expired and so, I had to quit my job. Now I had no steady income and was only a beginner nail tech that hadn’t graduated yet. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay my bills but I kept going to school and managed to graduate at the end of October. At that moment I knew I had to make becoming a full-time nail tech work for me. This was a huge risk for me because I’ve always had a paycheck to look forward to and now my income was dependent on my craft, customer service and my personality. I’m a very introverted person, so I knew this would be a challenge for me but I was ready to take the risk. Three years later and I’m still standing, able to pay my bills and live a happy fulfilling life as a nail tech. I love what I do and wouldn’t change it for the anything in the world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Camora, I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. In 2014, I moved to Glendale, AZ fresh out of high school to attend ASU-West and enrolled in their Psychology Program. After graduating from college in December of 2017, I was working a great job in my field of study, but found myself leaving after a year. Over the next couple of years, I held jobs both in my field and outside my field, until I decided to enroll in nail technology school. I’ve always had a passion for nails, but never thought it was possible to do them myself. I began seeing a lot of nail techs pop up on my Instagram and I began to think maybe I can become a nail tech. It was in February of 2020, when I enrolled at the Academy of Nail Technology and started my journey to become a licensed nail tech. I finished nail school and became a nail tech that offers only sculpted nails and gel manicures. I love sculpting over using plastic tips because it is much healthy for the nails, the nails last longer and the nail fits the natural nail properly. Women who have larger nail beds typically have issues with plastic tips fitting their natural nails but, with sculpting I can give them a nail that fits naturally with no problems. With plastic tips, a lot of times if a client hits their nail hard their natural nail will get damaged, with as much as half of their nail missing. With sculpting I can still provide them with an overlay so they don’t hate the sight of their hand. With sculpted nails, if you hit your nail, it’s less likely to damage your natural nail like plastic tips do. There are not a lot of nail techs that sculpt, so being a nail tech that only sculpts, definitely sets me apart from a lot of other nail techs in my area. I’m proud to say I’m still continuing my journey and haven’t let my trials and tribulations stop me from doing what I love. My goal as a nail tech, is to not only provide my clients with beautiful nails but to give them an amazing experience that allows them to be relaxed and comfortable. Providing my clients with a comfortable space, allows them to be themselves while receiving an amazing nail experience.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

For me the two best sources have been word of mouth and Instagram. With every client I do my best to provide them with an amazing experience that makes them want to tell others about me and the creative and quality work I do as a nail tech. I also do my best to post content on my Instagram account so people looking for nail techs in Phoenix can find me.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Posting on social media and doing giveaways has been the most effective way for building my clientele. I wasn’t a social media person at first so it was hard in the beginning to commit to posting every day. Now I try my best to post at least once a day to get more exposure. I’ve had clients say they’ve found me from my posts so, I know that it’s working. Also when I hit a set goal of followers on my Instagram account, I will do a giveaway for a free set that runs for about a week. During that week I gain more followers and more exposure since I require everyone who wants to enter to share my giveaway post. Even if someone doesn’t win the giveaway, they’ve been exposed to my work and tend to book later down the road.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.camknails.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/camknails_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camknails?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@camknails_?_t=8agDL6HUskF&_r=1