I'm Alicia. My students call me Tata Kitty.

I started with a beginner course that was truly poor, paid for on credit. I was still employed elsewhere, and I quit everything to focus on nails, without knowing whether it would work.

When I look back, I think: what nerve! And in the end it is the best thing I ever did, because I had no choice but to make it work.

I had very little money. None at all, really. My first nail desk was an ironing board. I invested slowly, and here I am today.

No. Nothing in life is easy.

But there is one thing I miss: those first clients booking again, leaving with a smile and saying « wow, this is beautiful ». I have lived it so many times that it no longer moves me. It is still one of my best memories, even though that period was very hard.

A client, a nail technician herself, stole a photo of my work: she had removed my logo and put hers in its place. I was gutted.

Then I thought: if she has the nerve to put her logo on my photo, my work must be getting interesting. And since I have always had a business mind, why not share what I know?

I launched my first nail art course, on fine lines and arabesques in acrylic paint. Nobody does that any more. And from the very first session, I loved teaching.

I had become a machine. It no longer gave me anything: I had lost that feeling of wondering whether my client would be happy, of watching her come back. It was a given. They were all happy, they all came back. And I started to get bored.

I stopped in-person teaching because I needed freedom. I am someone who will work 15 hours a day if needed, or not at all. I like choosing my own hours. And I am quite a solitary person, even though I love people and sharing.

Teaching only online gives me more in my personal life, lets me structure my work better, and it is a huge challenge.

Because tone changes everything. Learning at a distance is already daunting enough.

In my feedback I want to be caring, because we all need that, and also to give you a push, because we need that too. My voice lets me be understood: when I have to tell you what needs fixing, there is no ambiguity.

In writing, people often misread each other. In audio it is warmer, and there is far more closeness.

I hate the word protocol: it is very school-like, and it turns the human brain into a robot. That is not me.

When you understand what you are doing, everything becomes logical, everything flows, and it sticks. In the end you no longer think about it, it just happens. And you cannot be an artist if you are constantly thinking. Yet this job is first and foremost artistic.

There are also so many different cases that a protocol will never cover every client and every situation. Logic works everywhere: you can answer far more requests, and you are far more professional.

My sentence, the one I repeat all the time: doing without understanding does not work.

I love breaking things down to the extreme. According to my students, that is what makes the difference.

I use a lot of metaphors and comparisons with everyday life: that is often what makes something click.

I also work on mindset, because I remember my own beginnings: when there is a lot of information, it is hard to take it all in, and hard not to doubt yourself.

And online, I am not speaking to one typical student: there are countless profiles and ways of thinking. So I explain in the smallest detail, in several different ways, to make sure everyone understands.

When I started, in 2009, people told me it was not a real job. Doing nails was not a real job.

Then I understood how precise, artistic, geometric and complex it is, far more than it looks. I refuse to let my work be looked down on, so for all these years I have been working to raise the image of the profession, and to help every nail technician be proud of it.

What matters to me just as much is the quality of the training. In France the profession is not regulated at all; elsewhere the rules differ from one country to the next. Either way, courses vary enormously, and when you are starting out it is hard to know whether you are being properly taught.

Many people also start believing it is quick and easy. It is not: it is a beautiful profession that takes time and a lot of practice. That is exactly why I take the time to explain everything.

Not improving my skills fast enough.

My beginner course was truly poor, but I had nothing to compare it with: I was convinced that if my work was bad, it was because I was bad.

I waited three years before taking my first advanced course. I remember that time as if it were yesterday: the sleepless nights trying to learn from my own mistakes, trying to understand why it was not working. I lost three years, with a lot of anxiety.

I have one every single day.

I get so many messages from students who have made their dream happen, who have left a job they no longer liked to live from their passion. A change of life, quite simply.

That is the most beautiful part of my work.

That the worst regret is never having tried.

It is an age our society unfortunately points at, when it is, to my mind, the best age to learn. At 40 you know what you no longer want, and you know what you do want. It keeps you from wandering, and you know why you are doing things.

These women often take longer to decide, because they have a life behind them and personal responsibilities, and they cannot drop everything overnight. But they are very often the ones who succeed best, because they are more serious and have more life experience.

And when it comes to learning, there is no difference at all with someone younger. None.

If you are hesitating, there is some frustration or a lack of confidence deep down. You doubt your abilities, your future, and you often project too far ahead.

Stay grounded. Remember where you come from, because everything serves you in life. Know where you want to go, it matters for the path. But what counts most is living in the present.

And the present already holds something beautiful: you asked yourself « could I learn to do nails? ». That means that deep down, you feel that need for change right now. That is real self-awareness.

So ask yourself the right question: today, right now, am I happy in my working life? If the answer is no, there is not much left to hesitate about.

Often, hesitating means being afraid. And fear is only a feeling: our mind struggles to leave its comfort zone, because anything new is frightening.

Because I am more than just a trainer in their eyes, I think.

I support them on technique, but also on confidence and mindset, on social media as much as in the feedback space. Every student is unique to me, I look after her until she succeeds, and even after that.

I think they feel it, and that I am a little like their nail mum. Tata Kitty, French for auntie Kitty: I find it lovely.