FARGO — Meet 21-year-old Ava Wahl, owner of Nails by Ava.
Her passion for nails started when she was just 11. What started as something she liked to do for her family and friends turned into a business.
“I’ve always loved doing nail art, so that’s been my favorite thing to do. So like, practicing that and everything, I feel like it set me off from some other nail artists,” Wahl said.
She started chasing her dreams of doing nails professionally at just 19 years old.
“I started nail school, and then I turned 20, and that’s when I started at the salon,” she said.
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The process of opening her own nail studio at age 20 came with a lot of paperwork and time.
“It was very stressful because there’s so much that goes into it,” Wahl said. “Even just, like, state board inspecting your room and everything, and making sure everything is perfect — that you have everything in here. But, I mean, once I got it done, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is where I should be. Like, this is exactly what I should be doing.'”
Her small business took off as word got around, which lead her to an “I made it” moment.
“Just a few weeks ago, when I put on my bio, like, my July books are full and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Like, it’s just like the second week of July, and I’m already telling everyone that they can’t even book the rest of the month.’ Like, that was a really crazy moment for me,” she said.
From basic designs to wild ones, Wahl’s done it all. But what matters the most to her is making clients happy.
“Seeing how happy my clients get when I do different things on them, like how happy they are and when they come back and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I got so many compliments on these, and everyone loved them,'” Wahl said.
To book and check out her designs, visit her Instagram at ‘Nails by Ava W’.
