Melissa Ramirez, a current sophomore here at Tarleton State University has made her debut as the current nail artist on campus. While studying animal science with a concentration in pre-vet, she has successfully made her own small business a dream come true. 

Ramirez grew up in Fort Worth, Texas going to two separate high schools, Northside and Diamond Hill Jarvis. After completing her high school career, she chose to come to Tarleton State University and pursue her dreams of becoming a veterinarian. 

“I chose to come to Tarleton because it has a wonderful Animal Science program. I love the campus and everything it has to offer, plus it’s away from home but not too far,” Ramirez explained. 

While enduring her high school journey, she found a love for nails. After three years of practice and dedication, she eventually decided to take on some clients during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“I’ve always liked getting my nails done and loved the idea of it. I didn’t start actually getting to work with nails until I was in high school during Covid,” Ramirez said.

Having a small business can be a lot to take on and a daunting decision to make. Luckily for Ramirez, she had her family to stand behind her and help her make her dreams come true. 

“I always looked up to my parents and see how hardworking they are. They always wanted me to be my own boss and not have to work for anyone,” Ramirez explained. 

Although not many could succeed at what she does, Ramirez is grateful for the opportunities her business has brought her and sees what she does as rewarding. 

“Away from the money aspect, I get to meet so many people everyday, get to know about them and create a bond with them. I get to make people more confident about themselves or just simply brighten up their day while doing what I love at the same time. I also get to work my own hours which is amazing,” Ramirez said.

Handling not only school but a business as well can be challenging. Ramirez has had to teach herself how to stay on top of school while attending to her clients needs. Time management is essential in her everyday life.

“I wouldn’t really say it would ‘conflict’ with school, but at times I do catch myself focusing more on my business than school, which I’m working on getting better at. A way I handle running a business and going to college is scheduling certain days for school and dedicating those days to that and the rest to my business. For example, right now this semester I only have class Tuesday and Thursday. But at the end of the day, it definitely has to do with time management,” Ramirez said.

Not only has Ramirez made herself popular through her nail and toe services, she recently began doing lash extensions as well.

“I’ve always been that type of person to want to do everything and anything and learn new things. If I could do real estate and interior designing for houses right now I would and still do nails and lashes. I’ve always had a passion for beauty and self care and as someone that gets eyelash extensions themselves, I just find them very fascinating I guess you could say. Some of my clients were actually asking if we were planning to ever do lashes months ago, and that’s a demand. As a business owner you have to respond to that demand,” Ramirez explained.

Not only does she take the time to schedule each and every client, the learning process behind lashing takes up time as well.

“The preparation time it took for me to start taking clients was about 4 months. I was driving to Fort Worth every week to my instructor for class. My instructor was encouraging me to take models and start working on actual people rather than my mannequin to get that actual feel since it’s completely different,” Ramirez said. “It could’ve taken me half the time since I did get the hang of it pretty fast. I’m guessing since my hand is already trained to keep a certain rhythm to do nails, it made it so much easier to fan the lashes and place them but I just wanted to make sure I was prepping the eye correctly, sanitizing the right way and offer my best to my clients before I actually serviced them. I’m nowhere near perfect and will continue to get and do better everyday.”

Although many of her clients hope to have Ramirez doing their nails and lashes forever, she has a different goal in mind right now.

“My main goal right now is to go to vet school and become a veterinarian and open up my own clinic. At times I do think about it and wonder if I should open up my own little salon since my mom actually wanted to do hair since she was little but never had the opportunity and she’s slowly wanting to create her own business but she just doesn’t know what yet. I think it’ll be awesome to be able to own a salon and just be us. Maybe in the future I can make both work,” Ramirez said.

While she is still learning new things about herself and her business everyday, she is clearly a natural at what she does. 

“Just like any business we have our ups and downs and that’s okay. We’re not perfect. There’s always going to be that one person that can’t be pleased or simply just doesn’t like you but we can’t control that. It’s better to focus on the good rather than the bad. Those who support us and our clients should be the main focus and number one priority,” Ramirez concluded. 

If you would like to book a service with Ramirez, be sure to reach out to her on Instagram at @_nailedbymel_. She is always accepting new clients and would love to get to know you.