Good morning everyone and welcome back to another super special edition of Nail Tech Spotlight! Today we have the incredible nail tech and owner of the Nail Tech of the Smokies Tradeshow, Jill Wright! She is a super star of a person with a great personality to match, I am totally tickled pink that she was been able to spare some time with us this lovely nail day. Without much further, let’s welcome Jill!
HI! Good Morning! How are you today?
I’m doing good & hope the same for you, too!
Im doing well thank you for asking! So I see you have been in the nail industry for a good amount of time because you are a wealth of information, may I ask how did you get started?
I dropped out of college going into my junior year when I realized that anthropology/archaeology/paleontology was not the career path I thought it would be. That left me floundering with no direction since my entire life up to that point was focused on “digging up bones”. Through a series of events, I randomly enrolled in cosmetology school & I knew then that I’d found my niche. I learned more marketable skills in beauty school than I had in 2 years at college. After doing hair for a short time, I was more drawn to the miniature aspect of working on nails & am now in my 37th year as a nail tech.
Wow! digging up bones! That is extraordinary. I am always intrigued into what people are doing in their lives before they find nails as it’s always such a stark difference. Yours definitely takes reign so far. That is incredibly interesting. From doing nails, what made you want to start your own nail show?
I’d been to a mini “nail tech networking event” at the Premiere Birmingham show & thought it would be fun to hold one in Gatlinburg, TN in the Great Smoky Mountains (my favorite place on earth). It turned out to be WAY more work than I’d ever anticipated & the rejections from nail companies to participate were daily, since back then few had ever heard of what we were doing back in 2008. Honestly, not much about it was “fun” on my end, because the work load to get that 1st one off the ground was tremendous, but the 50 attending nail techs wanted me to hold another one & we desperately needed something in the South just for nail techs, so here we are today heading into our 18th event this July 2025.
I completely understand after having my Nail Carnival, how much work truly goes into having an event let alone doing it a second time and so forth. I love that your event is in Gatlinburg, because it is a fun area, and an awesome tourist town, why did you chose it?
My Aunt first took us to Gatlinburg when I was a little kid & I still remember how magical the mist hanging over the Smoky Mountains looked, plus we saw a black bear with her cubs crossing the road in front of us which forced us to stop & watch them. Ever since then the Smokies has had my heart & it’s such a fun place for adventure!
Oh what a great memory, I remember my first bear sighting, it was something to behold. Well I believe you made a great decision, as Gatlinburg really is a wonderful location. When it comes to operating a nail show, what challenge do you find the hardest?
That’s a tough question because the challenges have changed over time. Back when we 1st started, the main challenge was getting nail companies to see my vision of what it could become & how it would benefit them. One of the ongoing challenges is creating “nail tech awareness” so more techs & beauty school students know what our show has to offer them, too. But the main challenge which will probably never change is balancing the “needs versus wants” of the participating nail techs AND of the participating nail companies in conjunction with following the rules that the Gatlinburg Convention Center requires of us all, while keeping my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the economy so I can best guide the show into the future so it’ll hopefully be around for many years to come.
I completely understand, nail techs can be needy including me. Do you have any advice for future vendors that would like to participate at your show?
Future vendors should contact me for the Exhibitors Terms 30 days after the show ends in July if they would like to get a booth & possibly a classroom at the July, 2026 show. Current vendors have 30 days “1st right of refusal” on their same booths, but classrooms are on a 1st come/1st reserved basis & cannot be booked without a booth. There are a few requirements for new companies in order to keep the show professionally nail centric & NOT have it morph into a flea market with all kinds of random stuff (just hand, foot & boutique salon products allowed).
Great advice! Now I must say, you have broke through Tik Tok so easily, and I am dying to know your secret, is there a tip you can give the good people out there who are struggling?
TikTok did not come naturally to me & I deleted my 1st account because I did not understand it. Then I restarted it a year later after watching YouTube tutorials on how TikTok worked. I still hated it, but literally forced myself to upload 1 video each day. By the 4th month, 1 of my Gatlinburg moonshine tasting videos went viral overnight & by the end of the week it had over 8+ million views. The best thing I ever did was to put my business’s web address right onto every video (not in the description box) because that meant over 8+ million people saw it! It’s harder now to go viral because more people are uploading videos, but if you have an intriguing video that grabs peoples attention within the first few seconds, it can still go viral. Also hashtagging is still a way for people to find your video when they’re searching for something in particular, so YouTube “how to hash tag on TikTok” to understand what I’m talking about.
I know thats gonna help a lot of us do better on Tik Tok. I juts gotta get pass my lazy hump. But I will try! As a show owner, where do you see our industry heading in the future?
While I don’t have a crystal ball to see into the future, I can still get inklings of where the nail industry is headed (but I could be wrong, so don’t bet the farm on me, lol). The number of “pro only” nail companies has drastically shrunk thanks to the Covid lockdowns most states enacted & each lost untold millions of dollars when their licensed customers all at once stopped ordering products. Many of their pro customers retired or went out of business when salons were gradually reopened. Meanwhile the thousands of new upstart companies, plus even some old favorites who were previously “pro only” all continued to sell their products to the general public AND to the pros via “Ambassador codes” (virtually every one you see on TikTok & Instagram use this business model now). A few longtime companies give licensed pros a “courtesy” 20% off discount, but the days of USA pros getting wholesale prices are gradually coming to a close. The longer the few “pro only” companies keep operating with the old business model that built their company means they’ll keep losing business & losing money to the rest of the nail companies who keep growing bigger because they sell to everyone in the world. Eventually hard decisions will need to be made as time changes everything.
I do see that hitting in a big way as well, covid changed the world immensely. I wonder how long the standards we do have will remain well, standard. Is there anything you haven’t accomplished and you are still hoping to check off in the future for your event?
My ultimate goal is to eventually way down the road sell the Smokies Nail Show to an experienced show management company who can keep it going as well as growing long after I’m dead & gone (fingers crossed not any time soon, tho)! Nail techs & nail companies need this in our previously neglected area of the South for nail education, so it would be a huge loss if the show didn’t go on.
Yay! I want the show tot forever go on! I love it! its one of my most attended! Lastly, how can the nail techs of the world get in touch with you, or find more information about your event?
Nail techs can find all the information needed for the show at http://www.NailTechEvent.com & they can always connect with me inside our private Facebook group for licensed beauty pros only called “Nail Tech Event of the Smokies NAIL SHOW in Gatlinburg, TN” & here’s the link – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2023112901251213/ (both Instagram & TikTok they can find me @NailTechEvent).
And there you have it folks, and inside look into one of the biggest and hottest nail shows in the U.S! I would like to personally say thank you to Jill Wright for her time and thank you to you all for always showing love. Make sure you stay tuned as more articles release, until then, I’ll see you later sweets!
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