Qiana Aviles’s passions as a young girl were not unlike many others’. Her dream was to become an entrepreneur and eventually run her own business. Although that was a fairly far-fetched dream for a little girl raised in the streets of Brooklyn, Qiana worked tirelessly to make her dream a reality.
Today, she is the face and CEO of several beauty hot-spots in New York City. She currently runs a nail salon, a beauty med spa, an organic hair products brand, and even her own nail polish line. But reaching all her accomplishments was anything but ‘dreamy’.
In her early years, Aviles lived her life on the run from the police with her mother, due to her family being involved in criminal acts. She claims they were both moving constantly for seven years until they got arrested in 1998. Qiana was 18.
Following her release, Aviles knew she needed to make severe changes to her lifestyle. She kept remembering the women’s faces she’d seen during her time in prison, and almost felt she owed it to them to turn her life around. And she did.
The Latina went back to school to complete her finance degree while working in the real estate industry. Her ultimate dream at the time was to have her own financial freedom. Then, one day, while sitting in class listening to her professor go on about establishing a business, Aviles had a vision of a nail salon that was unlike anything she’d ever seen done before in the beauty industry. Upon pondering the idea, she drew up some numbers, conducted thorough research, and ultimately decided it was an endeavor she absolutely had to pursue.
For her unique take on a traditional establishment, she decided to recreate the nail salon and give it a night-lounge feel. The salon would be dedicated to creating beautiful nail art, which was something that was not yet popular at the time. It would also be set up like a bar, where customers could come in, sit, relax, and get their nails done within a luxurious atmosphere.
It took five months to find the perfect location, hire the contractors, and see the idea come to life. Aviles chose a space in Washington Heights, right on the corner of Broadway and Dyckman Street.
“People were lining up outside to get their nails done the first day we opened,” Aviles says. The salon ended up having a waitlist that was over three hours long. People were desperate to get their nails done from this interesting new location in upper Manhattan. And even when the newness faded years later, Nail Lounge retained its popularity. “It’s still booming every single day. We’ve been lucky to the point where we’ve even hosted a few celebrities,” she tells us. The location has now been home to the salon for over a decade.
But that wasn’t enough for Qiana. Within five years of Nail Lounge, Qiana and her mother decided to start another entrepreneurial journey that focused on organic hair systems. The systems consisted of curated products, formulated to help boost hair growth and restore damage by utilizing natural, plant-based ingredients. They named it Vida Essentials.
Qiana originally decided to have her mother sell the brand out of the nail salon. It didn’t take long before they witnessed its rapidly growing success. More and more people visited the salon each day with the intention of merely purchasing Vida products. It was then that Qiana knew she had to take it a step further in scaling the business, so she created a website for her mother’s company. Since then, Vida has skyrocketed. Just a few weeks ago, they opened the brand’s very first manufacturing warehouse, where it fulfills its high demand of online orders.
But as if that weren’t enough to worry about, Aviles also has two more businesses to take care of.
“I have my own nail polish line called Q&A Lux Lacquer, which I created back in 2014. I only released eight shades and ordered 2,500 pieces of each,” Qiana comments. Much to her surprise, she was sold out of everything in a little under three weeks. Her most recent relaunch included over 25 shades, both old and new. They are all currently on sale at nailloungeny.com.
She also runs a beauty med spa right next to her nail salon in the city called Face and Body NYC.
It’s safe to say this Latina has been successful with all her business endeavors thus far, and she continues to push her growth further each day. In fact, Nail Lounge will be expanding new locations into New Jersey and Florida by 2021.
But amongst all her successes, Qiana always finds time to give back to her community. The nail salon serves underprivileged young women with free manicures for their proms on a seasonal basis. They’ve also gone to pamper the girls at their local children’s hospital, as well as survivors of domestic violence at local women’s shelters. Qiana says her next goal is learning more about prison reform and seeing what she can do to help the cause. “I remember the faces of the women in the cells next to mine, and I know it’s my job to help them. My next big goal is to figure out how,” she says.
You can see what Qiana has next in store on her social media platforms. Instagram.com/qianaaviles & shop Vida Essentials on vidahairgrowth.com. If you’re local to NYC or where any of her other locations are, book your nail appointment and shop Q&A Lux Lacquer on nailloungeny.com.