Meet Nadia Soto

We recently connected with Nadia Soto and have shared our conversation below.

Nadia, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I get my work ethic from my dad. My dad is such a hard working man and he deserves the world for giving my sister and I everything we needed. My dad has been working non-stop since he was a boy in Mexico in order to help provide for his family. I admire him so much for being driven to give our family a better life. I get work ethic from him because he encouraged me to pursue my career and work for what I want.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Nadia Soto and I am a licensed nail tech in the state of California. I didn’t plan this career for myself at all. I wanted to initially be in the psychology field but I didn’t find a connection to that at all. I happened to stumble upon nail videos on tiktok in 2020 and thought this is so cool and something I would like to try out. I took a risk a didn’t continue my psychology undergrad and instead enrolled into cosmetology school. I did finish community college with 5 associates degrees so I am proud of myself for at least giving it a shot and realizing it’s not for me .I was scared and overwhelmed but I think it was all worth it in the end. I love what I do and it doesn’t feel like a job at all. I think the most special part of being a nail tech is forming a bond with clients. Girls come in as strangers and eventually I feel we can call each other friends. I know they confide in me a lot and I think that’s sweet that they feel comfortable enough to tell me things. I like to create environments that feel comforting and natural and not awkward. As a home based nail tech I want everyone’s
Experience to be good and so I’ve become good at breaking the ice and getting to know my clients. What excites me is that my clients give me creative freedom and value my opinion as an artist. I recently started offering pedicures and it has gone really good. I have a salon chair so it is so convenient for me to provide these services to the best of my ability.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think patience, creativity, and self marketing were the most impactful on my journey. Being a nail tech doesn’t just happen over night. It takes a lot of practice and most importantly patience. It’s really easy to compare yourself to the people you see online. I used to do it a lot , but realized that everyone started off at different times and at some point they were right where I was. Creativity was also impactful because a lot times clients give you the liberty to do whatever you want and you need to be able to think about what they would like and not just something you would like. Self marketing was impactful on my journey as well because if you don’t promote yourself no one else will . At least not at first. You need to believe in yourself in order for other to see your confidence and want to book with you. You need to find creative ways to market yourself and find clients. Some advice I would give someone early on their journey is to not to give up and be patient . No one got is on their first try. It’s a profession that needs practice so don’t beat yourself self up or compare yourself to others . Everyone is on a different part of their journey. Be ready to think outside the box and come up with nail designs and express your inner artist. But, most importantly promote your business as much as you can! Make business pages on all the platforms you use and stay consistent. Focus on what’s trending and people with come across your page and hopefully book. It’s important to stay consistent because people will see it and think of you when they want to get services done.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I think it’s staying consistent with posting on all my platforms. I post on TikTok and Instagram, but it gets overwhelming sometimes. I do TikTok shop and collabs with brands so I do focus more on that, so I feel like sometime I get tired after going all that and don’t focus more on my regular content. I also used to post my availability on Instagram and stay consistent on there too, but recently it have slacked off. I feel like there’s no much going on and I get overwhelmed and don’t post. I do plan to get it together and make a schedule of when I post since I do have a lot of backed up content. I do notice that when I’m consistent there are more bookings.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nails-by-nadia.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nailsbynadia562?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nailsbynadia562?_t=ZP-8zoIK9OrZr4&_r=1

Image Credits

@m4rsphotos – insta
@bluem4r -insta