Eva Macias, a senior at Sahuaro High School, is well known for running her small business “Eva Nails.” Ever since she was a child, she would pick nail polishes and take an interest in them. Once she got older, she would see it all over social media. She’s been running her business since she was a 15-year-old sophomore.
Eva gained an interest in doing nails in her early high school years because her peers would all have jobs. Because she was born in August, she was young for her grade and unable to get a job like everyone else. Now enrolled in JTED, she aspires to become a hairdresser. She did not go to JTED for nails though, having already taught herself how to do them. Eva is on track to graduate JTED this May and will be a licensed cosmetologist. Not only that, but she is also going to graduate school by December. Balancing school, JTED, and appointments has been a struggle, but she has persevered through all of it. On top of that she is doing online school to get her foreign language credits. “Working hard now, to work less later.”
She started getting clients through Instagram and passing word. When Eva first started off, she would do nails in her bedroom for barely $10. It would all start as one color and one shape. From there, all her earnings would go towards getting more and better products. She wasn’t making any money since it would all go to getting better products for her clients. “Starting off, it’s not always gonna be ‘oh you’re just making your money,’ it’s gonna be you putting your money towards all your product…” Once she started getting better, she would expand out of her bedroom to a guest house that’s by her home, reaching out to more people, and expanding her services.
Eva’s plan was to quit doing nails when she turned 16 and get a different job, but she quickly changed her mind as she came to that age. She had built up such a big clientele and bonded with so many of her clients, “I have girls that rely on me every 2 weeks.” Eva takes clients from not only Sahuaro, but many other schools. She also loves that she gets to watch her clients’ lives evolve. By watching her clients realize they are having a child, doing their baby shower nails for them, and meeting the baby, she grows an emotional connection with them.
She does plan to continue to do nails on the side but she wants to focus mainly on hair. She doesn’t want to do it from home. She’s going to college at the University of Arizona for business, in hopes of opening up a salon, starting off with her and a couple of other girls.
She also aspires to open up salon suites to help anyone else who wants to start off doing cosmetology as she did. She won’t collect any of their earnings, just ask that they pay rent. She can’t wait to open up her own chain salon and kick off her business!
