An aspiring young business owner isn’t something you see every day, but recently, Ash Udgirkir, a Lebanon Trail High School senior, founded the flourishing nail business UdgirNails.
“I always had a passion to do nails growing up and what inspired me [is that] I really wanted a job where I could kind of pick my hours and since there’s a lot of…school work and..this business, it helps me like pick my own hours based on my availability,” Udgirkir said. “And I don’t have to drive anywhere for it, it’s just my home. I thought it was like a pretty flexible business that I could run and I have previous experience in it too.”
Despite the business’ recent establishment, it has rapidly gained popularity amongst the students of LT, many of whom have gotten their nails done by Ash.
“I’ve always liked to do my nails but as a lot of girls know, the nail business is a lot of money and it’s like $80 for a set and so when I saw Ash was doing them for $25 I was really intrigued,” said Sarah Socratis. “ I was like this is going to help a lot of girls who can’t really afford $80.”
Every good business has to start by investing in materials, and Udgirkar has been able to do so through the help of her family. Through investing, she also tries to ensure that her customers are receiving the best quality work available.
“I went to India before and [my family] said: ‘Oh I haven’t seen you in so long so here’s some money’ and so I would say I invested about $220 into it and then every week I place maybe like ten to fifteen orders based on what I need and how I feel like [I could] improve the environment more.”
Many LT students have gotten to know about UdgirNails through her strong social media presence which allowed the business to gain popularity and support.
“She followed me on Instagram and I started thinking about going to her maybe like a week before school started so I [could] get my nails done,” said Socratis. “And Ash and I are really close friends, we have had a lot of classes together.”
The primary reason UdgirNails is different from other businesses is that it is powered by the passion and ambition of a young student.
“Growing up, I always just loved doing my own nails and others’ too. And I really liked doing complicated art; whenever I saw videos online, I would always be like ‘Oh I really want to try that,’” said Udgirkar.
The popularity and success of a business owned by a high school student is a commendable aspiration that serves as motivation to follow dreams and passions by using one’s full potential and talent.
