On this bonus episode of The Walk Of Life podcast, Cheryl Thibault is joined by Phoenix Van Dyke who has contributed to the book ‘Career In The Beauty Industry; Discover If It’s For You’. They talk about the chapter Phoenix contributed and what got her into the industry.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- I tripped over a chair when I was a toddler (just over a year old) and caught my fingers in the broiler oven, which was on, so all my fingers were melted together. The doctors didn’t know if they would heal, but they did – I have all my fingers – but I have scars on the top of all my fingers. This greatly impacted who I became in the nail industry. When I was 7 I got my finger caught in the hinge side of a door that shut and cut off one of my fingers and had to have plastic surgery to have it put back on. Because of both of those instances my nail plates are very thin, my nail beds have permanent damage, I’ve never had beautiful nails. I’d hide my hands, sit on them, chew them. When I was 15 a friend went to nail school and brought me back my first full set of pink and white acrylic nails. All of a sudden I looked at my hands and I didn’t see the scars, I felt so beautiful!
- My first advertisements I put up in my high school, I made fliers ahead of prom for a full set of nails for $25 and I stuck them in the girls bathroom stalls at eye-level so the second you sat down you saw my name and my advertisement was right there. Now people have made entire businesses off the back of advertising in bathroom stalls, so I was really onto something there! But, I didn’t go to my own prom because I was too focussed on being a business owner.
- I would let people influence me, one way or the other, because I just didn’t have my footing. I’d encourage anyone thinking about becoming an educator to have firm conviction and be sure footed. You can learn and take all things on, but don’t be a clone of your educator/mentor, be you, be an individual, walk the walk.
- I was never interested in doing nail competitions, I thought the people that did them were really talented, but it wasn’t something I could do. But after training for a company in Europe and Florida which had been big into competitions and it piqued my interest a little bit, I started teaching myself what I needed to do for competition and would learn by watching. I competed at the very first Nailympia that was held in the US in 2017 and I took gold in every single one of the categories that I entered and walked away with the winner of winners trophy in my division.
BEST MOMENTS
‘At 16 I started a business after attending nail school that was a 60 mile drive each way, every day.’
‘Don’t think so highly of yourself that you’re above learning from everybody. People who haven’t been in the industry that long can help shed new light or help you think outside of the box. Things you could otherwise have blocked off.’
‘There are so many people I’ve met and connected with because of the competition circuit.’
‘I love teaching other nail technicians because not everybody has the opportunity to learn from somebody in Europe the way that I did. I wanted to share that knowledge, it’s not something to be kept away, it’s not a secret.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Phoenix Van Dyke is an Education Specialist at Wildflowers Nail Academy.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoenix-vandyke-31b062147/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Be a guest! - https://misscheryl.com/podcast/podcast-guest-form/
FREE E-BOOK - http://promos.misscheryl.com/
CHECK OUT MY BOOKS - https://misscheryl.com/features/book-launch-career-in-the-beauty-industry/
ABOUT THE HOST
Cheryl Thibault is a visionary, entrepreneur, multi-business owner, educator, influencer, and game changer in the beauty industry. A student of life, who will never stop growing and learning. She is assertive and an uncompromising beauty professional, and has been for over 40 years. As a long time founder/owner of beauty spas and education centres since 1981,
An Author, Co-Author and currently penning a series of books dedicated to telling her life story, overcoming struggles, and gaining life and career success. She
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