TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Inside MJNailz Academy, the students surround one nail station and look intently at the nail art being created in front of them by their teacher, Miranda Richardson. From flowers to sculpting the nail from scratch, Richardson demonstrates every single part of the process for her students.
Richardson has been doing nails for over a decade. She went to school, got her license and built her client base.
"At the time, I didn't see anyone like me doing nails," she said. "After a while I started to focus on not what I looked like but that this is what I wanted to do."
Throughout that time, she also started to teach others about nails.
"I wear a lot of hats," she said. "It means more to mean to pass the torch."
She said most beauty schools focus on nails for a short time and there wasn't a program dedicated just for nails.
“I feel like that wasn’t okay and that’s where MJNailz academy was birthed,” she said. “We have so many nail salons on every corner in every plaza but not a school where someone can go and learn to do nails.”
So in 2020, she opened MJNailz Academy. It became the first black-owned nail school in Tucson and Arizona, and a designation was awarded to her by the City of Tucson Ward 5.
“To show them somebody that looks like them and do what I'm doing and I think that’s very inspirational,” she said.
The students learn everything from nail product chemistry to hand and foot health.
“They don’t understand all the medical things that goes into nails,” she said. “Like if you have a diabetic client, you need to know that you can clip their cuticles with nippers.”
For three and a half months — about 600 hours — the students are not only working toward their license but learning how to build a business.
“We do have a licensed CPA or tax professional that comes and talks to them about doing their taxes as a business," she said.
Once they graduate, they have the opportunity to work in Richardson's studio.
“That’s the only way you would be able to work there is if you graduated from the academy and are a licensed nail tech," she said.
So Richardson keeps teaching students and creating a larger community of business owners.
“It’s been a huge blessing to be able to inspire people,” she said.
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Tina Giuliano is a reporter for KGUN 9. She is a native Arizonan and grew up in Scottsdale. Tina is passionate about storytelling and is excited to work telling Tucson's stories. Share your story ideas and important issues with Tina by emailing tina.giuliano@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
