Sweet Squared

It's 1997 and I have spent my entire career in sales and management; I am dreadfully unhappy and having a bit of a mid-life crisis weeks before my 40th Birthday!  So, what did I do?  I decided to get happy!  I left the very well-paid job with all the perks that made me so unhappy and entered the world of nails.  I completed my CND Foundation course, started practicing and starting to build a clientele from home.  Within 6 months I opened my first wee salon - just me and my desk, praying for the phone to ring....fortunately word spread and the the phone did ring and I was soon fully booked. Fortunately I had a wonderful daughter who was ready to leave school and desperate to join me in the business.

The rest is history - our Nail Salon now employs 10 staff and we still have many of the clients returning every 2 weeks who first came to me all those years ago.  We celebrated our 10th anniversary last year and it was wonderful to give all of our regulars a lovely CND goodie bag as a thank-you for their continued loyalty.

I became a CND Ambassador in 2001. Having been approached by so many of my salon clients asking me to teach them and having had a desire to become a teacher since starting school at the age of 5, I was sure that I could not only expand my business but satisfy a long-held dream of my own if I could become an Educator for Creative (I had been a CND girl from day one of my nail career and knew that they provided only the highest standard of training, so, I approached CND and was delighted and excited when I qualified to attend the famous 'Bootcamp' - one of the greatest experiences of my life!  Samuel Sweet, you are the best!

At the end of that week, I won two awards, Best Nails - CND Bootcamp 2001 and Spirit of Inspiration Award - CND Bootcamp 2001. My daughter became a CND Ambassador 2 years later and having run all of our courses from our Glasgow salon for several years, it was wonderful to move over a year ago into our brand new dedicated Training Academy and Distribution Centre just outside of Edinburgh, easily accessible, just off the M8 and M9.

Our salon success has come from an honest desire to give - we strive to ensure our clients leave every appointment smiling.  Our Academy success comes from the kick we get helping our students and clients to achieve ongoing success in their lives too; our motto is Training. Advice.  Support.

Of course we would never have achieved our own success without CND; the products give amazing, consistent results and clients love to know they are getting 'quality'.  The ongoing lifelong learning on offer is wonderful for the new students starting out, all the way through Masters and on, to the CND Ambassadors themselves.  I give training, advice and support because that's what I get from CND!!!!

Favourite music (and bands); I love all kinds of music except Country or Heavy Metal.  Favourite of all time is Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.

Favourite movies (some specifics) My favourite movies are anything that makes me laugh out loud - The Life of Brian and Gregory's Girl are two favourites.  I also like moving stuff - Dead Poets Society, Crash and The Sixth Sense.
Favourite food;  I could live on salads and soups, but I'll eat anything really!

Coolest place you have ever been (and why): The Maldives is one of the most peaceful places I have ever visited (sometimes I just need peace and quiet and a good book) - snorkelling in absolutely clear water with all these amazing, colourful fish looking into my eyes and swimming between my legs was something I didn't expect to experience in this life - I only learned to swim in my 40's.  Visiting a 'medicine man' in Liberia, West Africa and having a white-hot knife pulled from a fire and rubbed down my leg was an interesting experience too 

Place you would most love to go to before you kick the bucket:  Before I leave this mortal soil, I would like to leave this mortal soil - how cool would it be to look at our planet from the Moon?  Blows my mind just to think about it!  If I can't do that, then a year road-travelling through every state in the USA would be fantastic!

Your most favourite quote “Carpe Diem – Seize the Day’ from one of my most loved films – Dead Poets Society!