My name is Valérie Ducharme , but my friends call me Val and I am THE nail master! Following several requests, I decided to make this small summary of my professional life.
Ok, let’s do this!
I am also a businesswoman, nail technician, mother, spouse, travel enthusiast, people person and even a coach on my own time. I have been working as a nail master since 2004 (almost 20 years) and we can say that it has given me the chance to learn and experience so many things.
After a few years of working as a waitress in breakfast restaurants, (yes, really!), my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas… Mmmmm… I didn’t really know… I found the idea of doing nails interesting and , not really being a fan of studying, I liked the fact that the training lasted only a few days. After all, why not… I had always loved drawing and painting.
First of all, in 2008, I made the decision to throw myself head first into entrepreneurship and become the owner of a salon where I was in charge of 13 employees. The years that followed were full of pitfalls, headaches, panic attacks because I had no idea how I was going to pay my bills, but I worked hard…I wanted to succeed …because the truth is that, like all crafts, it’s not always easy but oh so exciting. This is also why I created the Nail Master Cohort , in order to offer technicians all the necessary tools, accountant, photographer, NLP coach, etc. In essence, I offer what took me over 15 years to learn through trial and error. It is by taking many classes, training and teaching that I discovered the importance of sharing knowledge and that I was able to realize the impact of sharing.
Then in 2010 I started teaching nail art… I loved it! In 2012 I took part in my first competition… it was called the Golden Hand Of Canada and I won the people’s choice woop woop! and in 2013 I sold my salon to focus on my true passion: nails!!! And there, everything made sense, the opportunities came one after the other.
My achievements :
- Nails Artist for the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
- Salon Magazine’s Contessas Top 10
- Winner of the Canadian Technician of the Year award from Salon Magazine’s Contessas
- Several collaborations in the magazine in the form of step by step…
- HD Magazine’s Canadian Mirror Awards Nail Artist of the Year
- 1st place in the Canada Nails Cup of Toronto at the ESI International Tradeshow
- Nails Mastered creativity and Nails Mastered industry’s
- Mastered Live in Iceland
- Top 18 at the NAILS next top nails artist NTNA Nails Magazine competition.
- Finalist top 5 Canadian nails Artist of the year 2016 Contessa Award
- Appearance in the Toronto star
and many more…
the academy
Subsequently, I opened the Académie Valérie Ducharme with products (resins, powders, files, etc.) bearing my name. I also invited nail artists to my academy to give advanced training, always with the desire to share, during the Covid-19 confinement. It was called World Nails Live. I was thrilled because some of the most popular influencers in the world participated!
I must admit that all these accomplishments make me very proud. But today my mission is to pay it forward, to help other technicians so that they too can have a job that they are passionate about. That’s what drives me! following their progression, their evolution, their achievements… it fills me.
Finally, I really found a vocation that gave me the certainty of making a difference in my job. And ladies, the best is yet to come.
Sign,
Valérie Ducharme , THE Nail Master
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