Business Women We Love: Faith of Uptown Nails

This 28-year-old nail salon owner is the real deal. I’m a moderately confident person, who believes in themselves and indulges in the wildest of dreams possible, yet I still have that little voice in my head telling me I might not be able to do “it.” Not Faith Hohman. This married, mother of one, and owner of Uptown Nails in Canton, Ohio firmly believes in herself, her family, her God—and she makes no apologies about it either. It’s rare to find a business woman in her 20s, let alone one who is successful, and has such a clear vision about where she’s going. During our interview I was shocked many times about her audacity. She speaks with a grounding you don’t find much, and is clearly an old soul whose soul has found its true purpose.

And don’t get me started on her style. She walked into our interview with her raven colored hair tucked behind her ears, a cropped smiley face sweatshirt—similar to those that made Drew popular, and swinging the trendy Coach X Jean-Michel Basquiat Rogue 25. Her business has miraculously gone up 12% since reopening during the COVID pandemic, which has already made up for the 3 months they were closed. And if that doesn’t sound like a miracle alone, she’s somehow gotten her husband to agree to get his manicurist license, so they can be on the same page about the family business. We spoke her experience working in the nail industry, why her salon is her first love, and why she’s always bet on herself. The following interview has been edited for brevity and length.

Were you always in the nail industry—talk me through your story.

Yes since 2011, when I graduated with my cosmetology license.

What made you take the leap to operating your own nail salon?

I worked with the Vietnamese for six years, and I figured if they could do it with the language barrier, that I would be successful. I saw them operating so well, and I just thought I could do this. Because I was American people gravitated towards me instead of them because there wasn’t a language barrier for communicating what they needed.

Why do it in Canton?

We would’ve done it in Columbus, but that posed a lot of competition and I knew I had a stronger following in Canton, because thats where we both [she and her husband] went to high school, and I could pull from people I went to school from and people I knew normally. Word would spread faster in a smaller city versus a larger city. We knew we wanted a family and we knew we’d have more support locally in Canton versus Columbus.

What was it like in those early days, how did you educate yourself on being a business owner?

It was very lonely. I was young and not a lot of people were doing what I was doing in my age group. I was 25, so none of my friends were at the same point in life as I was, even relationship wise. I had been with the same guy since junior year, so at the point of opening the business we had been together 7 or 8 years, and that wasn’t normal for my age group, so that was one conflict. The other was just finding support from friends and family who didn’t understand the business I was in, because its one of those things you don’t understand fully until you’re deeply in it. So the hardest thing for me was being confident in who and what I wanted to achieve without anybody else understanding where I was going with my vision. I was the only one who saw it and that was enough at the time.

Do you remember your opening/first nail appointment? What was it like?

I was fired on a Friday, for not being a team player and only wanting to adhere to my appointments. And within 48hrs I found this little room that I had to paint and whipped into shape, went and got my own supply of nail polish, my dad loaned me $800 and I paid him back in two weeks. So I was in that from 8am-9pm at night doing nails.

Most business owners, women specifically, say that they can’t do it alone—but it seems like you are, how?

I would have done it alone, I will say that. I was willing to bet it all on myself, and anything else anyone contributed at the time was great, but I didn’t need that to be successful. But every industry is different, and you have to evaluate that, and I won’t say I did it alone because God was my provider. My steps were so laid out, and I just walked that path that had been laid out for me.

You’re a wife, mom, and a business owner—how do you manage it all?

Balance was my word for 2019, I journaled it everyday. My son was born in May, and that whole year I battled postpartum, a new shop, firing people, and letting go of my ego to accept help, it was probably my hardest year. I think being a woman that had to rely on herself you feel so responsible for everything. So it was a battle of where do you give and where do you take.

Does mom guilt ever kick in?

When you’re a working mom you feel this guilt of being there for your kid, but he wasn’t my first love, my shop was. Opening my business was my first love and I saw that coming into fruition before anything else, before my marriage even. People like to say that your kids are your first loves, but I had already fallen in love with David [her husband] my junior year in high school so we had already had this stable relationship that I knew would always be there, so when I was concentrating on my shop that became my first love. I put my life’s savings, drained my accounts, took out cards for that. I couldn’t get a business loan as a woman for this.

Was there anyone who mentored you in your journey to becoming a business owner?

No, I just mimicked a lot from watching men and Google. I literally mimicked what was already happening in the Vietnamese shops, and I used their whole setup—how they paid people and ran the shops. I was an employee for so long that I really just flipped it on its head and did it myself.

Is there anything you wish you would’ve known about running a business before you jumped into it?

Taxes. It’s such a shocker, you don;t realize how hard you work just to pay your taxes. Such a high percentage of your income goes to paying taxes.

Do you have any advice, encouragement, or words of wisdom for women who’re dreaming about owning their own business?

Just bet on yourself. Don’t rely on anyone but yourself to make sure that your dreams come true.

What does it mean to you being a woman in business?

It’s so empowering. No matter the struggle you go through everyday with balancing, and knowing that nobody can tell you shit and you can make your own rules, I love that part. I knew best for myself, and I think a lot of women feel that way.