Today we’d like to introduce you to Martina Cruz.
Hi Martina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello, My name is Martina. I am 28 years old. Born and raised in Cleveland Ohio. Puerto Rican & Muslim. I started to do nails at age 15. Nails were presented to me by a friend of mine Nohely V. One day I slept over at my friend Nohely’s house & Nohely mother handed us a big nail box. I look through the nail box and started to mine and Nohely’s nails.
As I started to do my nails I said “Wow” I like this. Doing nails at that moment was so therapeutic to me. After that, I told my mom I wanted to get into nails. My mother whose name is also Martina handed me a couple of dollars & took me to Family Dollar where I purchased 1 dollar nail polishes in every color & nail art polish bottles in every color.
After that my mother took me to CVS where I would buy an acrylic nail kit. After that, I would practice nail art on my mother Martina’s natural nails. I would do family & friends acrylic nails in my mom’s basement where I set my mom’s basement up as a nail room & would take clients. I would constantly advertise on MySpace because back then there was only MySpace & no other social media platform.
I would do nail specials and do free nail sets to just get better at doing nails. I kept doing nails & practicing for many, many years alone until I graduated from Lincoln West High School that’s in Cleveland Ohio. After I graduated I went straight into cosmetology school because back then I could not find just a nail school so I had to take the entire Cosmetology course. It took me 1 year in a half to finish cosmetology school because back then I was taking 3 RTA buses to get to Cosmetology school.
I was a single mother of 2 who just graduated high school & I had many struggles as getting money to pay for RTA passes. Snow storms. Many struggles came but I did not give up because this was something that I wanted to do & I also wanted to give my children a better life than what I had. I was ok making sacrifices.
I finally finished Cosmetology School. It took me 4 times to take my state board test. Hair is NOT my thing so hair questions I struggled with but on the fourth try, I finally passed. I did not give up. I did not come this far for anything. Once I passed my state board I got into a nail salon & went back into my home basement and went back into a nail salon setting.
After all, I kept doing nails, kept advertising constantly, doing nail specials, doing nail giveaways, and keeping up with the latest nail trends. Word of mouth helped so much, being consistent I grew a stable clientele to now opening my very own nail salon in Cleveland Ohio called “AESTHETIC BEAUTY STUDIO”
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. It’s been many, many bumps, sacrifices, frustration, tears, happiness, and joy all of the above but I would not change it for anything in the world because I would not be who I am today without these life experiences.
It’s made me open-minded, strong, and independent. I’ve learned and continue to learn and grow. I’ve burned bridges and built bridges. I had to learn to communicate, listen, be patient, and be understanding. It’s been a growing experience for me & I am ok with that. We never stop learning and growing
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Aesthetic Beauty Studio is a newly opened Beauty salon located in Cleveland Ohio. Latina owned. We do Full-Set, Fill-In, Acrylic encapsulation, Acrylic Ombre, Character Nail art, Gel-X, Pedicure, Manicure, Teeth Whitening, and Nail Classes. Aesthetic Beauty Studio has its own affordable, good-quality gel polish line that everyone can purchase online and in person.
Aesthetic Beauty Studio focuses on giving clients quality work, clean, neat, natural-looking nails with a nail shape that customers love along with a nice laid, even, smooth acrylic with a neutral, relaxing salon environment that offers customers free water, coffee, and snacks. Just an aesthetically pleasing beauty salon
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I don’t have a favorite childhood memory. Everything about my childhood was happy, and fun with my family & I wish I could experience it again lol.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vagaro.com/aestheticbeautystudio
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/aestheticbeautystudio?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=
