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

Dyamond , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

One unexpected problem was the covid-19 in the year of 2020 that’s when all businesses had to close down because of covid and it was very challenging and hard because I couldn’t go to work and I missed my clients. While I was stuck at home during the pandemic I started developing problems I have (Tourette syndrome) ((A nervous system disorder involving repetitive movements or unwanted sounds)). I was diagnosed when I was 9. The ending of 2019 I noticed that my tourette’s more changing and I started getting dizzy more and around July/ August of 2020 I started having these blackout spells where I would have really bad muscle spasms and I would pass out it turns out that I was having seizures. I was doing repetitive motions in my back from ticking (random uncontrollable movements) and I was grinding away at my backbone’s and my spine was greatly affected and I was falling a lot and when they said that the people in beauty salon and nail salons could go back to work I couldn’t because I was in severe pain and I didn’t know what was going on with me. It got so bad that I had to stop driving and I ended up selling my car because the motor had went out in it and of course I couldn’t drive. 2021 I tried to go back to work and I really couldn’t I was having seizures on my client very violent severe seizures I was passing out on my clients I was having horrible episodes. When I was at home one day I was laying on my air mattress and my body rose up really fast and violent because I was having a seizure and my body slammed me back down and when I went back down I slammed my head on the hardwood floor and I gave myself a concussion but I kept going to work I had a bump on the back of my head for a month. I was doing my best and I ended up not being able to make ends meet and the place that I was working at. I ended up having to leave there because I could not pay my rent anymore and the clients that I did have they would still come but it wasn’t enough to pay my Booth rent take care of myself and pay rent where I was living. So in this time the doctor’s visits started and I found out that I have (neurofibromatosis) ((A condition that causes tumors to form in the brain, spinal cord, and nerves)). I was diagnosed at a young age with that and I went without monitoring for a long time I just found out that I had neurofibromatosis the end of 2021 from my mom. so I may be strongly dealing with a brain tumor I have episodes and seizures every day sometimes I can’t walk or talk or do anything sometimes I can talk but I can’t walk or I can walk but I can’t talk I also do have issues remembering I could be in a room full of my family and forget who they are and where I am in a split second. I also have to wear a baseball helmet with a gate attached to it because I can pass out at any moment or have a seizure and the craziest things is when I have my seizures I am fully conscious and I am fully aware of what’s going on and it is the most painful thing you can go through while being awake. When people see me they laugh at me because I look funny and they judge me very quickly and very harshly because I have to wear a baseball helmet so I won’t fall to the ground and kill myself. I have hit my head before without my baseball helmet and it hurts really bad. Hitting the concrete and having seizures and bashing my head repeatedly on the concrete or hardwood floors or stone floors and have to be fully conscious and aware and awake for that is truly hard and very excruciating. So me doing nails is it challenge because it hurts so much when I do nails it’s so fun I absolutely love what I do with all my heart but it’s excruciating. The back and spin pain and joint pain when I’m doing nails it’s awful I have to hold myself up when I do nails and when I relax I can hear and feel my whole spine cracking and when I have a tick in my neck thrashes you can hear it pop very loudly. I forget that I’m doing nails some times and I forget who’s sitting in my chair. Now that my life has been altered in such a way I can’t go anywhere by myself anymore I can’t drive I can’t even walk down the street alone because I may pass out at any given time. I don’t go to the movies anymore because the lights and the movement can cause seizures and different sounds can cause me to have seizures and different motions can cause me to have seizures. I am light sensitive, sound sensitive, and I am motion sensitive even when someone talks too loud or the sound or the pitch of their voice can cause me to have a a violent episode or seizures or it makes my head hurt and I pass out. At night I have to wear sun shades because the light from the cars can cause me to have violent seizures as well I have lost a lot of my Independence and that is a challenge in itself. It’s hard to go out and large crowds because I get over stimulated and I can hear people talking very badly about me and saying things like (look at her she looks so stupid) (She’s only doing that for attention) (look at this dumbass girl walking around with the baseball helmet on) ( what the Fu*k is wrong with her haha) or people laughing at me as soon as they see me and they don’t even know me or what I go through. Sometimes I can’t even get out of bed because of the pain or because my body is completely shut down it’s hard to sleep when you’re in so much pain back in 2020 I would wake up 2:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the morning screaming and excruciating pain and all I could do there is lay in the bed and cry and scream because of the amount of pain that I was in and now it’s become even more painful because I fall a lot and my joints and my body constantly hurting or constantly popping. My body thrashes because I have tourette syndrome I beat myself in the head I slam my head on things I’ve even bruised myself really bad on the shoulder because I am beating myself and I can’t stop or control it it’s like I’m a video game and someone else has the remote controller. when I have seizures my body contorts and twists and there’s nothing that I can do about it but lay and watch myself suffer there in pain . A lot of times I wake up with severe headaches and it feels like someone is taking a needle and stabbing me repeatedly in my brain or sometimes it feels like somebody’s taking a sledgehammer and beating me in my brain. Sometimes my body it feels like I got jumped by 15 people it’s hard to walk sometimes because it’s so painful it’s hard to do anything but I still keep a smile on my face and it takes me longer to do nails because of the pain and while I am doing nails my head does hurt and my body definitely does too I had to relearn how to do everything with doing nails and my life period. A couple of times I have woken up and had seizures and sometimes when I fall asleep I fall asleep having seizures. And when I forget and I remember again I remember myself forgetting and essentially I’m watching myself suffer and so is everyone that knows me it’s a real challenge to have something you love to do so much and can’t do it at all sometimes. I do have my moments when I’m sad and when I cry but for the majority of it all I’m happy. I’m happy because I love myself completely and I love doing nails and teaching people about nails and my condition.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Dyamond I just turned 26 in March of 2022 I am a licensed professional nail technician I have Tourette syndrome I also have Neurofibromatosis and I don’t know what’s causing me to have violent seizures and episodes it’s a mystery I have had various tests in the doctor still don’t know what’s wrong . (How I got started when doing nails.) I had just graduated high school in 2015 and I really didn’t know what to do and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do so I started praying to Yahweh the most high God and I noticed that God was pushing me more towards the nail industry. I was watching nail videos about how to polish nails and different designs and then when I started working I started buying different polishes and nail art things and I was doing my nails I will go to the nail shop and just have them lay down clear acrylic and whatever shape I wanted and then I would go home and design my own nails. My older sister noticed and one day she surprised me with the whole bunch of nails stuff powder liquid monomer and a drill and a nail lamp and she looked at me and she said if you quit I’m going to punch you in the face she said I see something in you and I would hate it if you would quit and plus I spent a lot of money on this I laughed I smiled and I said I won’t quit. And from that moment in 2015 I haven’t stopped and I absolutely completely and utterly fell in love with doing nails and I haven’t quit or stopped ever since. The services that I provide are acrylic enhancements pedicures manicures and nail art and I also teach how to do nails. When you do nails one of the biggest things you have to be disciplined about is sanitation because you work with different implements and people you must provide a clean environment not only for yourself but for your clients and your students and managing of your own business and your finances And being disciplined to stay on top of everything like contacting clients back checking your schedule making sure you have all the supplies and equipment that you need to fulfill your job. The problems that I have solved for some of my clients have been personal because your clients need a space where they can come into and relax and sometimes your clients needs someone to talk to without judgment and they also need someone that’s going to keep their business confidential it’s a stressful world that we live in so a lot of people carry a lot of weight and sometimes they just need someone to talk to and that understands and that doesn’t judge them for what they say or what they go through or what they may do. And some of the other problems that I have solved for my clients is having a good clean environment for them to go to an excellent work that won’t pop off in a week like when they go to chop shops and also providing a good experience every time they come sometimes I do have seizures on my clients and sometimes in order for some people to change they have to watch someone suffer a lot of my clients have seen me suffer and I have watched a lot of my clients change in the most amazing ways and my clients have changed me as well. When new and old clients come to me they don’t leave the same way as they came at first they leave happy and refreshed and well understood and not judged. What sets me apart from other people is that I’m unique and my work is different and unique and it’s not the same as everybody else and the experience that you get from sitting in my chair is unique and different and in a lot of ways it is and can be life changing I have Yahweh”God” all around me and especially in my business driving me motivating me and pushing me so a lot of people come in with her worries sometimes even feeling like an outcast or feeling unwanted and bruised or misunderstood and sometimes they come in with a load of worries and when they leave they leave happy enlighten lighter than what they came in understood and a lot of times complete. Am really proud of myself for pushing past all the odds that I have and are going through. I am so happy that my old clients and new clients understand what am going through and that there willing to help me and that they want to know what to do when I am experiencing difficulties. I want new potential people and clients to know that even though I have Tourette’s and seizures that I am completely able to do nails and do some amazing designs on nails and to perform the services that I provide and if I am unable to that they can always come back another day and that I will be able to work.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My life completely changed in 2020 in 2019 I would go to work and I started noticing with my tourette syndrome it was changing but I didn’t think too much about it. I just thought it was something different that my body is doing but in 2020 going into the year I started having really bad muscle spasms where my whole body would lock up and my muscles would contract and hold and then my body will relax and everything with release and I would fall in the floor and pass out. I also started having seizures and extremely violent ticks where my body was thrashing back and forth and twisting and contorting it was very painful and confusing because I did not understand what was going on and my text s were violent and very repetitive the same motion happening in one spot can cause so much pain and disfigurement in your joints. And sometimes I will wake up two and 3:00 in the morning screaming and crying and pain because my spine was so beaten up from the day and it felt like and I was grinding away at my backbone so by doing this repetitive motion constantly all day he was hard to breathe it was hard to walk it was hard to put on clothes because it would be so painful it would be hard to talk laugh breathe cough it would be painful to do anything and I didn’t understand what was going on with me . Sister pandemic happened I wasn’t working but when I would try to it would be so painful that I couldn’t and I would have seizures on people that I would practice on. And going into 2021 it got even worse I would try to do clients and I would have violent seizures in episodes on them and it’s like I’m a video game and somebody else has the remote controller when I have seizures I’m completely awake and aware of what’s going on I have (focal seizures) These seizures fall into two categories: Focal seizures without loss of consciousness. Once called simple partial seizures, these seizures don’t cause a loss of consciousness. They may alter emotions or change the way things look, smell, feel, taste or sound.))* . I also forget where I am what I’m doing and sometimes who I am I can be in a room full of people and know who everyone is and completely forget them. I have been doing nails before and I forgot who my client was and what I was doing and my client has to talk to me and help me to remember and bring me back and I remember forgetting and sometimes it gets really bad because it takes longer for me to recognize things at times and it’s very difficult to be working on someone and you just forget what’s going on and who they are.It’s also hard when I lose my speech because what is going on in my brain sometimes I can’t talk or walk or sometimes I can’t do anything but just lay there or sit there it’s kind of like being a zombie. It’s very difficult to work on clients when it gets like that because it feels like my brain is frying or somebody is beating me in my head or stabbing me in my brain with needles it’s very painful and it also feels mushy it’s a weird strange uncomfortable sensation and feeling. It’s hard what I go through but I still try to do nails the best way that I can and I love what I do but it’s so painful my back my neck even my arms and my wrist hurt when I work especially my spine. And sometimes I just have full blown violent seizures and I do pass out so when I work sometimes I have to wear a baseball helmet but in my everyday life I have to carry and where my baseball helmet with the gate on it every where I go so if i feel like I’m going to have a seizure or a episode I can put it on won’t kill myself. Because it gets very violent and sometimes the thrashing it causes me to repeatedly pound my head against the floor very hard. Having tourette syndrome and neurofibromatosis is not easy at all I go through so much in a day and I expected to go through a lot when I’m working when I work sometimes it’s good and easy and a breeze but it’s still painful and sometimes I will be doing good and I started having trouble and that makes the sets run a little longer. And I know people have things to do and they have places to be and I do my very best to make sure I’m getting them in and out but when it’s painful and I have complications it takes longer. People and my clients have been understanding but it still gets in the way sometimes but I still persevere and push through. My life has been impacted so hard. From me being able to be independent and drive on my own and go and do things on my own to a dramatically changing to I can’t drive anymore or even walk down the street by myself because I may pass out or essentially be by myself for a long period of time or work it’s altered a lot but I still push through and do my best everyday.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When my tourette syndrome got worse and I started having violent seizures and episodes. I had to relearn how to do some things like I’m doing nails and my everyday life I had to learn how to work with the tourette syndrome because it is and can be extremely difficult to work and live life having seizures on a constant basis and violent episodes and passing out but being fully conscious and thrashing of the body. I used to work a lot from the time of 2017 to 2019 I used to go to school and work like regular jobs and then I stepped out on my own and started my business and 2018 to 2019. And it was awesome I was doing driving and doing house calls and going to different businesses and doing nails and having people come to the place where I worked and doing nails to me not being able to drive and me not being able to work efficiently like I used to. This was a strong hard shift for me and it was even harder to endure and to keep pushing on. But I am still going to pursue my career as a professional license soon to be well known nail technician and the reason why I want to be a well-known nail technician is too provide people with inspiration to keep going on and to keep pressing. You have to be extremely strong to deal with what I go through and you certainly have to be praying a lot but with my circumstances I still push through. My life has been changed for the better because of what I go through I really found myself in life I found who I am and I also found out who I was (most people won’t understand what I just said but if you do you’re a like-minded person). The challenges of being completely independent for most of my life to now I need someone around me pretty much all the time to make sure that I’m okay and that I’m safe and it has been difficult to adjust and to be quite honest I’m still adjusting to some things that are going to happen to me. Having Tourette’s syndrome you have upheavals and they are bad and they get worse and worse but I don’t let that change what I want to do and what I’m going to do and what I’m doing my best to do. Learning how to do everything so you can be functional it’s a hard challenge but it’s worth it because of the growth you go through and growth isn’t for the weary or for the weak. I have also had all sorts of tests done CAT scans EEG and MRI and nothing has shown up on them and the doctors don’t know what’s wrong with me all I know is that I keep getting worse and worse I do take medicine but the medicine only helps to tourette syndrome and it’s a blood pressure medicine which I don’t have problems with my blood pressure but it helps me not have as many episodes with my tourette syndrome every day if I didn’t take my medicine I would be a hell of a lot worse than what I am now. The medicine does not help with seizures only Tourette’s. I also want people to know never take life for granted because your life can change in a split second in a matter of days weeks months or even a year and I know change is hard but when change comes make sure to have a plan and God will send people and help you to fulfill that plan and God will also provide to you the people you need and the people that you need around but you also have to pray for that that’s another thing I learned in this life change of mine.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Dyamondsnailbar444
• Other: I have two Instagrams Dyamondsnailbar is where a lot of my work is but it got hacked but people can still go on that page and view my work and my stories my current Instagram is Dyamondsnailbar444 you can contact me on there call and email

Image Credits
Dyamond’s NailBar Dyamond’sNailBar444