Qiana Aviles had wanted to be an entrepreneur since she was fairly young; but that was quite the ambitious dream for a little girl growing up in the streets of Brooklyn.
Due to her family’s history of crime, Aviles spent several years– seven, to be exact– on the run from the police along with her mother. Then, shortly after Qiana turned 25, she and her mother got arrested in the state of New Jersey. Before they knew it, their lives had been completely stripped away for the foreseeable future.
She knew she’d have to change her ways and her mindset in order to move forward from the lifestyle she was raised in. And once she was released, she did just that.
Many resilient years of hard work and perseverance paved the way for Qiana and allowed her to go back to school to pursue finance. She was making a living by working real estate, but dreamt of achieving her own financial freedom. One day, while listening to her college professor explain the complicated process of establishing a business, she began to brainstorm ideas for future business endeavors. One idea stuck.
Aviles envisioned an innovation in the beauty industry with an interesting twist: a nail salon with a night-lounge atmosphere. She conducted her research, rounded up numbers, and decided that her idea was not just a want, but a need in her community. The salon’s unique take on the beauty industry and its focus on nail art specifically was enough to stir confidence in Aviles, making her certain it would take the people of New York by storm.
Using the money she’d saved up from her real estate job, along with the support and approval of her loved ones, Qiana began searching for the perfect location to occupy her first business. Once she did, it took five months for the contractors to bring her project to life. In 2010, Nail Lounge finally opened its doors.
“It was a huge boom from day one,” Aviles says. “I was confident it would do well, but we literally had people lining up outside the salon to get their nails done. I was so happy.”
But Qiana didn’t stop there. In 2015, she helped her mom start her own hair product line which was originally sold out of the salon. The products were formulated in her mother’s kitchen with 100% purely plant-based ingredients, as a result of Qiana’s mom being a big believer in natural remedies. They named it Vida Essentials. Before they knew it, people were pouring into the salon to get their hands on it.
Today, Vida lives on, but on a much larger scale. The brand now offers its products on their online store at vidahairgrowth.com. Aviles also tells us they’ve recently opened a manufacturing warehouse along with some new offices for the Vida brand; Quite the accomplishment for a humbly homemade family business. “We started selling this stuff out of plastic containers meant to carry wontons… and now we have our own warehouse. That, for me, is a big deal,” she says.
And the accomplishments continue. As if two businesses weren’t enough to manage, Aviles is also the CEO of Face & Body NYC, a beauty med spa founded in March 2017, as well as the owner of her own nail polish collection, Q&A Lux Lacquer. When asked how she finds the time to take care of her many business endeavors, she replies: “I don’t give myself a choice. Everyday, I get up, pray, ask God to guide me, and I go for it.”
So, what’s next for this Brooklyn-bred entrepreneur? Well, no new businesses for now, but she does have major plans for her existing ones. New Nail Lounge locations are under construction in Edgewater, New Jersey and Miami, Florida. They will be sharing a space with her other two businesses, Face & Body and Vida Essentials. Due to COVID, the expansions were slightly held back, but Qiana is confident they should be up and running by 2021.
While Nail Lounge already provides nail services for non-profit organizations, local hospitals, underprivileged schools, women’s shelters, and more, Qiana also plans to get involved with non-profit organizations that deal with prison reform in the near future. “That’s my next passion,” she says. “I want to do my part. I want to give back to those men and women who find themselves in the circumstances I found myself in not too long ago. I feel like it’s my responsibility to give them the second chance they deserve.”
Follow the rest of Qiana’s journey on her social media, Instagram.com/qianaaviles. Shop Vida Essentials on vidahairgrowth.com. If you’re local to NYC, book your nail appointment and shop Q&A Lux Lacquer on nailloungeny.com.
