Rising Stars: Meet Sheyla Chavez Mendoza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheyla Chavez Mendoza. 

Sheyla, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I got married right out of high school at the young age of 18. My parents only had one condition, and that was to continue college. I originally was in school for nursing, and a year later, I had my first child. My daughter was such an easy baby, and with the help of my husband and parents, I continued school. Fast forward a few years, and I had my second baby, but little boys are not the same as girls, and it was much harder to continue school with a newborn and toddler, so I decided to a break from school and be a stay-at-home mom. After being at home for a few months, a friend of mine that owns her own nail salon posted about hiring nail techs because she was going to be giving birth soon. It intrigued me because I was told that my schedule would be flexible, so this seemed like something I would like to do. I thought it would be easy to jump into it because as a child my mom cleaned houses for a living, and one of her clients had a huge house. Out of curiosity, my mom asked the old Asian lady what she did for a living, and she said she was a nail tech for many years, owned nail salons and nail supply factories. My mom immediately told the lady that she had a 14-year-old daughter that loves nails and was super interested in learned to do nails. That was a complete lie, but because it never occurred to me do nails. Thanks to that, the lady offered to teach me how to do nails, and when I was old enough, she would help me get my nail license, and I’d work at her salon. After a year of learning from her we kind of drifted ways since she was getting older and then moved away. I kept the supplies my mom bought me, and in the one year I learned basic things, my interest in nails grew. I would take my little nail kit to school and do my friends’ nails. I then began working at a fast-food restaurant, and I’d offer my coworkers and managers to let me do their nails for free or a tip in exchange for letting me practice. After talking it through with my husband, we encouraged me to go for it, and soon after, I began working at my friend’s salon. I was so fascinated since the nail art was so advanced compared to what I learned when I was 14. I worked there for about a month learned from great artists at the salon, but because I was just learning it took me longer than others to finish in a timely matter which then interfered with being with my kids. Eventually, I decided to leave the salon; I was feeling discouraged, although I was learning quick it still took a lot of time away from my little ones. I told my husband I wanted to just quit and maybe just wait until my kids were a little older to get back into doing nails. He encouraged me to keep going; he’d say that even though I just started, I was already getting good, and people seemed to be interested in my work. My husband gave me the idea to maybe take 1 or 2 clients per day, but I didn’t have a place to work, so I began offering VIP house call services where I’d take all my supplies, my little table, and light to do peoples nails from the comfort of their own home. Then Shey’s Couture Nails was brown; I opened my Instagram and began promoting specials, doing giveaways, and posting my work. I quickly grew and I started to become known in my area. I kept getting better and better, and my clientele quickly grew. It began to get overwhelming having to travel all over the place and then decided to work from home for a little while. I looked for a new place to be. My husband then offered me one of his suites at his contracting business, and I was so excited to finally have a little place to make my own and be able to service all my clients. I then saw an ad about an ombré powder class in Miami, and I was very intrigued. I brought the idea to my husband because although my business was doing well, the course was pretty expensive, plus my flight, food, etc. Since this was a fairly new thing, my husband wasn’t too on board, but after many times of being insistent, he agreed to help me by paying for my course. I absolutely fell in love with permanent makeup. I came back home pumped and ready to add this new service to my business menu. I quickly began to get booked for this service, but now I was starting to outgrow my little suite after adding the bed and all the supplies. My next step was to open my own salon, and sure enough, my husband got word of a building wanting his services to fix up a whole floor inside a building, and he quickly asked if they’d consider giving me the contract in exchange for us fixing up the floor at our own expense. They agreed, and I was going to officially open my first salon. I was extra blessed because it was able to open salon suites and also my main salon with half of it being a nail salon and the other half a permanent makeup salon, and as a whole, we are Shey’s Couture Beautique. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being a salon owner is not for the weak. When people visit my salon, I often get many compliments that it’s beautiful, and what I wish people could see is all the hard work, late nights, sweat, and tears that were put into making my salon what it is today. We only had about 1-2 months to completely gut the whole place, from pulling out old tile flooring to tearing down walls and put-up walls elsewhere, plumbing, electrical work, new paint, new flooring put in, and so much more. Just when you think you’re almost to the finish line, another thing comes up. Thanks to my hard-working husband and our close friends and family, we were able to finish on time for out grand opening. That’s not to say that one it done there won’t be future issues that will arise, but it’s all about the attitude you take when these things happen. I can either dwell on the problem or get out of my rut and do something to actually fix the problem. For example, months after opening I’m thinking everything is running smoothly, finally things are falling into place, and I walk in one morning to see my ceiling had completely fallen with water leaking all over the place. On my new beds, all over my supplies, lights, etc. Yes, I definitely had a good cry, proceeded to call my mom and my husband. Sat there and stared at the mess and started to clean up. We had a 24-hour event 2 days from this, and we worked all day and night to be able to fix up everything in time for our event. I could have gave up and canceled the event, but I consider myself to be a woman of my word, and I felt like I couldn’t not cancel, so as always, my husband and I did everything to make it happen. Things like these can happen at any time, you just need to be mentally prepared for whatever life throws at you and always with a positive attitude. There will always be issues, people who discourage you and that do not support you, but above all that if you stay resilient and trust God, things will always come out in your favor. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in all things permanent makeup and specialty nail designs. Literally, everything that you can think of in the world of PMU, I have been trained in. From ombré powder brows, micro scalp pigmentation, nano brows, lip blush, and stretch mark rejuvenation, we have it all. I love the gratification that comes with helping people enhance their beauty. The smiles and reactions I get when I hand my clients a mirror to see what I’ve done with my hands makes my job worth it. I am mostly known for my beautiful nails sets as well. Those immaculate nail sets and designs you see on Instagram is exactly what you get when you get your nails done with me. Not only are the sets beautiful, but they last a long time, too so my clients definitely get their money’s worth. What sets me apart from others is my work ethic and professionalism. I ensure all my clients are happy with their results, and I do not stop until I achieve perfection and my clients are satisfied. I can proudly say I have a 100% success rate. I also love to teach; I offer beginner ombre powder brow courses and have successfully trained many women in the area that have now gone to becoming their own bosses. 

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
If I could make a list of all the supporters that I have had in my career, the list would go on and on. I am super thankful to have such a strong support system. My husband being my main support. He encouraged my from the very start to begin my career in nails. Then he supported me when I wanted to take my first ombré class in Miami and paying for my class, believing that I could do it, and I did. When I got the idea to open my salon, he was the first to begin looking for potential places I could rent. Thanks to him, I found where I am now, and he took care of renovating the whole place alongside my father-in-law. Everything from floors to paint, lighting, plumbing, and more. Of course, I wouldn’t be where I am now without my loyal clients that keep me busy and have supported me from the start of my nail career even when my nails were not the best and would pop off the next day and those that trusted me with their faces when I began my PMU career as well. Also, my village, my mom and dad being the main ones that help me with my kids when we have had to work long hours at the salon before our grand opening or when Im working. And my babies, for always being understanding when we have had to work on things at the salon or when I have a training, they encourage me. I owe them all my success. 

Contact Info:

• Website: Sheyscouturebeautique.as.me
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sheys_couture?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheyscouture

Image Credits
Glenda Mendez Photography