After suffering an injury and long recovery, senior Quinn O’Mara put down the volleyball and found a new way to spend her time by starting a nail business. O’Mara had surgery on her elbow in 2024. After her year-long recovery and some time on her hands, she was drawn into the nail industry.
“I would only get to do my own nails around Thanksgiving and Christmas but I always enjoyed it,” O’Mara said.
Throughout her volleyball career, nails were prohibited on the court, so she found her love of doing them during holidays or breaks.
After quitting volleyball, the business got more serious and her skill for nails continued to improve. Some of her friends and family drew more attention to her talent and asked her to do their nails.
“I noticed she would come to school with her nails done all the time so I asked who did them and she said herself. I was shocked and asked her if she could do mine,” one of O’Mara’s clients, senior Mollie Mckenzie said. Although O’mara wasn’t used to doing other people’s nails, she accepted the challenge.
“I got more tools from amazon and I created a setup in my basement so I could work on them more,” O’Mara said.
After more of her friends kept asking her to do their nails and having to balance her business with her other job, she started to charge $30 per set she did.
“I do 4-5 people’s nails a week, so balancing school, a job, and this business causes me to have less time on my hands so I decided to make a profit out of it,” O’Mara said. Over time, practicing the designs have gotten easier for O’Mara. When her friends ask for harder designs it is more of a challenge but it keeps her motivated to get better.
“I will show her a picture of nail inspiration from Pinterest and she does it better and cheaper than any professional. I don’t think I will ever go to a real nail spa again,” Mckenzie said. Her talent and ability to replicate an inspiration photo so effortlessly makes the price worth it for all of her clients.
“I will continue to pursue this business because I love doing nails,” O’Mara said.
