Gemma studied at the University of Kent for two and a half years before making the decision to leave and pursue entrepreneurship. Kent encourages its students to weigh up all of their options and Gemma is the epitome of a former student who did exactly that.
How did you figure out university wasn't the right path for you?
It was when it got towards the end of first year, and I was getting more in touch with my creative side. I started realising that I wanted to do something more hands-on. I didn’t like sitting there doing essays. I wanted to do something a little more creative and fun and then it got to the pandemic and I was just like yeah.
The thing with uni and entrepreneurship is that you never have it figured out until you actually start doing it.
As an entrepreneur, have you found being a black woman has had any drawbacks or advantages?
I don’t think it has had any drawbacks but I would say 'yes' it has had advantages, but I would also say that there are drawbacks being black in the beauty industry. I had to post everyday and get people to post about it everyday and people feel more inclined to support because of the whole Black Lives Matter. Being black definitely sets you back more than it pushes you forward
How did you balance growing your business alongside your studies?
Balance was non-existent. When I was at uni I was taking clients but I didn’t realise the magnitude or the scale. People would come to me to get their nails done and I didn’t realise how much the business was growing and how many bookings I was getting.
From like Monday to Thursday I would be doing nails in Canterbury and Friday to Sunday I was doing nails in London. I had to pick whether I wanted to stay in uni or do the nails. The balance was uneven, I wouldn’t go to lectures and I wouldn’t do my essays until the last minute because I’d been dealing with clients all day.
What would you say has been your greatest achievement in your entrepreneurship?
In my opinion I would say two things; one would be launching the acrylic line I did this year, and the second would be how many girls I have taught to do nails that are now 'nail tech' and how it has changed the industry. People I taught have seen their pages go from 0 followers to 10,000 followers.
When I was training, I was training people who were way older than me like 27 or 28 year old and I’ve only now started training people younger than me. I taught a driving instructor who had heard about me from one of her clients and I thought it was so random, but like it just goes to show how word spreads in the weirdest of ways.
Do you have any advice for students who don’t think university is a path for them?
I would say my main advice is, the thing with university and entrepreneurship is that you never have it figured out until you actually start doing it. Just because uni isn’t for you doesn’t mean that running a business is either.
I also think running your own business looks glamorous because people don’t talk about how long it takes, how stressful it is and how important customer service is as well.
Who was your support system throughout your journey?
I would say family and (yeah) friends, but I don’t think friends really understood what it was like until I started making money. I think my support system has definitely helped me a lot. because they have always believed in me and they saw that my nail business was actually leading somewhere. As I started making more friends who run their own businesses they could understand, and they haven’t even reached a point where they want to be at yet.
