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Veteran starts nail tech school
An Army veteran launches a nail tech school on Milwaukee's north side.
MILWAUKEE - Inside the Center Street Nail Technology Academy in Milwaukee, Dr. Jennifer Potts leads the class.
She teaches her students about great manicures and how to run successful businesses.
"Word of mouth is the number one way that you’re going to get clients," Potts tells her class, "You want to put on the Ritz for that bride. Right? It’s a one-time thing."
Potts says nails have long been her passion.
"I love the transformation. I love the fact that you can come into a nail salon with no nails or maybe you have some nails that you want to change, and within a matter of 30 minutes, and hour, you can just see the individuals that you’re working on, you can see their dreams come to life," said Potts.
Opening a nail academy was Potts’ dream.
She spent five years creating the curriculum and welcomed her first students in January 2021.
She opened the school at 38th and Center in the same neighborhood she grew up. It was important to her to be a part of investing in the center city.
"We’re sitting right in Sherman Park right now, and we’re building Sherman Park," said Potts
Potts’ journey to owning a nail academy started somewhere nail polish wasn’t allowed.
"When I was in the military, we couldn’t wear nails. We couldn’t have fingernail polish at all," said Potts
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Potts enlisted in the Army when she was 18. She served two tours overseas as a cook.
Dr. Jennifer Potts
"The skills that I learned in the Army, just really being proactive, thinking outside of the box and being resilient. Those are skills soldiers bring into the economy every single day," said Potts.
On October 30th, she passed out caps and gowns to her next set of graduates as they screamed in excitement.
Each student is an example of how a veteran can make an impact long after his or her tour ends.
Potts told her students, "Guess what? You’re positioned right now to be the next person that invents something."
So far, Potts has graduated 32 students from her 10-week course.
Students graduate ready to take the state exam and get a nail technician license.
All students also graduate with an LLC set up to start their own business.
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