Now that I am back at blogging it’s only fair to actually give you guys my back story. She here we go.
I started Nails Done Right in 2009 but this nail thing started a long, long time ago.
My name is Linda. I’ve been doing nails since 1986.
I quit school (Lake Howell HS) in the 11th grade in 1985. I hated school. I was a troubled teen with serious behavioral issues. We had traveled around a lot since 4th grade and I found making friends difficult. I started dating my husband that Summer.
Having a car given to me by my parents meant I needed to pay for insurance and gas money. So I had to get a job. Something close to home. My first job was when I was 17 years old. I worked at Popeyes Fried chicken on 436 in Casselberry. I loved working and making my own money so I worked a lot. After a year and a half I transferred to the longwood location by 434 and I-4.
One day at work I noticed these girls coming in with aprons and dusty white stuff all over them. After a week of visiting every day I struck up conversations with them. Donna, Del Marie and I’ve forgotten the 3rd girls name.
“Hey” I said, “I see you girls coming in every day and you’ve got these aprons on with dust all over them, what do you do?”
Donna was the senior of the group so she answered back “we are going to nail school. We’re studying to be nail technicians.”
Wow! Nail technicians! How cool I thought! I used to spend hours painting my nails, a different color on each even way back then! Only to end up in tears trying to remove the color from my press on tips because they would melt from the ACETONE polish remover! Haha. It took me going to nail school to figure that one out!
Ever since I was a little girl I had dreamed of being a hairstylist like my aunt Donna. I would brush and trim my Barbie’s hair, practicing every day, only to have my parents (dad mostly) take my dolls away because he said I didn’t know how to take care of my toys!
See way back then in the ‘80’s you had to be rich to afford getting your nails done. Having your nails done way back then was a luxury!
Donna proceeded to tell me that they were students. And as students they were allowed to work on people for practice. When she told me I could get my nails done for less than $20 I jumped at the chance! Student pricing was $17 for a Full Set and $12 for Fill’s.
OMG! I was The worst client ever! Every time I came in for a fill I’d have 2 or 3 nails missing lol… plus, I had always been a horrible nail biter. Ugh..
So there I am, the best client to practice on, every week I’d call Donna, you have time for a nail repair? Come on over Linda. So we all became friends.
120 hours and 6 weeks later they graduated nail school. They became the first graduating class of the Academy of Nail Tech Nēks and the rest is history. Donna went on to do my nails for a while.
Eventually I caught the eye of the owner of the school, Tina Kovacs. She worked out a weekly payment plan for me and i was off and running.
Eventually I realized that doing nails part time was more financially rewarding than working at Popeyes full time, so I quit and started my nail career. I worked with Tina for 3 1/2 years.
Funny thing tho, I must have said it for over a decade, aw naw, doing nails isn’t my career. One day I’ll go to cosmetology school and become a hair stylist.
It’s now 2025 and I am still sitting at a nail table filing ladies nails…
That’s all for now folks!
Next post I’ll tell you all the salons I’ve worked at
to be continued … Lx