I Make a Living

Nai Roberts-Smith might be the mega-popular skincare expert labeautyologist these days, but like many entrepreneurs, she started in a dorm room. She was an amateur nail technician, complete with a wall of polish colours, and she would do nails for less than the price of lunch. “I had a group of friends who all did beauty services,” she says a barber, a few pals who did hair, and a league of friends acting as low-key brand ambassadors across campus. When she left college, she joined a salon as a nail tech but has aspirations of becoming an esthetician—a licensed professional who does facials and other skin-care treatments, usually at a spa. “I was good at nails, I liked doing it, and I felt kind of stifled by that.” But her hometown shop was full of estheticians, and they were unwilling to add Nai to their roster. She debated bringing her skills onboard cruise ships before realizing she would likely find work anywhere that was beautiful—Jamaica, Hawaii, Miami, or her new hometown, Los Angeles.In LA, Nai was “b