Good Morning, and welcome back to another great edition of Nail Tech Spotlight! Today we have an amazing educator and owner of So Gel Nails! She’s a super star to all who know her and she has the sparkle in her eyes that’ll dazzle ya, introducing the spectacular, Becky Bunnell!
Good Morning! How are you today?
Good morning Calvin, I’m fantastic😁
I must say it seems the tables have turned, not too long ago, you interviewed me, and now here I am interviewing you, how have you been?
Yes! Interviewing you on the podcast was so much fun! I’ve always loved your vibrant personality.
I’ve been so good! Working hard and busy as ever. It’s a balance juggling all of the hats, but I’m blessed and humbled everyday.
Are you ready to begin? I’ll start by asking, how did you enter the nail industry?
Oh wow, well many moons ago lol, 31 to be exact, I had a sister in law that was doing hair removal via electrolysis. She asked me if I wanted to do nails in her space. Way back then, Utah didn’t have licensure for nail techs so I went and took an all day nail class, and bam! I was a nail tech! Scary right!
Wow! A nail tech in a day, now thats cool. You had YouTube University before it even existed! But look at how far you’ve come. It’s amazing to see. I must say you are the first person I knew who does apprenticeships, how long have you been offering those?
I’ve been a nail instructor for 21 years. I started out teaching at the local college after Utah passed licensing for techs. I thought, hey they are going to need instructors so I might as well be one of the first. So, I studied and went and took the state board test and became an instructor for the first nail technology program at College of Eastern Utah, now known as Utah State Eastern.
Later opening my own salon I started offering apprenticeships and I absolutely love it!
Oh how ambitious and wonderful. I love that you saw an opportunity to help and took it! Fantastic! Do you find apprenticeships are a much different experience than schools?
Very different. In a school setting there is a lot of book work, testing etc. to help students pass those state boards. Apprenticeships are more hands on, with more of the practical side of actually doing nails. They get to observe the instructors working on their clients, how salon life is, treating clients, working as a team, rebooking clients, trouble shooting when clients return and how to address those issues. Our student earn income for the services they are rendering during their apprenticeship. I feel students are much more confident and ready for the real nail tech life when they leave. We teach a new subject every Tuesday. We even have a business class to go over building a clientele, social media, taxes, registering your name with the state, applying for your nail tech license, continued education, networking with other nail techs, salon etiquette, burn out, policies, and procedures and setting boundaries with your clients. I try to teach them. We have learned over 31 years in the business so they can be successful and hopefully not have to learn the hard way.
Oh I love that! Honestly, I truly believe we could all be that much greater if we had apprenticeships only. All that hands on work in a hands on industry of doing hands, it just sounds handy to have! Now you have been working with SO Gel for many years, how did your relationship with the brand start?
I started out as an educator with SO Gel and quickly moved into a lead educator position. I loved traveling and teaching a product that I believed in and used exclusively on everyone of my large fully booked clientele.
And now you are the owner, how does that feel to own the company you once worked with?
It’s an amazing feeling knowing that hard work really does pay off. Dreams can come true. I actually had a SO Gel business card that I wrote “Own someday” on it and had it hung on my vision board for a couple years!
Along with that huge responsibility of becoming owner, I had to stop servicing clients, and I haven’t recorded my podcast since then either. There is a lot of weight on my shoulders as I want to continue the vision of the company but also make it my own.
Oh my stars, the business card! I love that! what a sweet reminder of the future you want. And I loved that podcast, it was amazing. Being that So Gel Nails is a gel based company, what would you say is SO Gel’s defining difference from other gels?
I’m proud that the company is for professionals only and I want to continue that aspect. I’m blessed that since 2011, the start of the company, they have always been Hema free, hypoallergenic, odorless and made in the USA. The safety of nail techs and their clients is so important to me.
We haven’t had to change our formula with the rise in allergies in the industry, it’s alway been solid!
I love the fact that it’s a simple product, it is your base, builder, and top coat. It can be used for structured manicures to any length of extensions as it has the strength of acrylic but with built in flex. Less products on your desk means more money in the techs pocket! My family, my educators, and staff are the heart of the company. I’m surrounded by beautiful humans with values and huge hearts. I couldn’t do it without them.
I love that, I have used your product and I think it was absolutely amazing. And to know you have such na amazing team with you is just icing on the cake of amazingness you’ve built. I would say you have made a very big name for yourself in the nail industry, what’s next for you?
First of all THANK YOU! I’m just going to keep being me, helping and mentoring others so they can reach their dreams too. I will continue to provide amazing products, I won’t fail at keeping this company thriving, I’ve made a promise to that!
That is promise you’re keeping very well. Oh Becky Boobear, it has been amazing speaking with you, where can we find you on social media?
I’m so thankful and honored that you reached out to me. You are a special soul. Never forget that! I was drawn to you the moment we met, and I think I keep pretty good people in my circle 🙂
Oh you are just the sweetest piece of loving, thank you so much. I am so thankful for wonderful people like you who have always been so kind and amazing to me. Meeting you at camp was the beginning of a wonderful friendship and I am still thankful today. And thank you all for taking the time to sit with Utah’s Greatest treasure. If you want to catch up with Becky and So Gel Nails, please visit all the links below. Until then, see ya later sweets!
You can find our products and supplies at http://www.sogelnails.com
@sogelnails
@nailinstructorbeckybunnell
@nailedacademy
http://www.nailedstudioandacademy
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