By: Nadine Hernandez

21 year-old college student and entrepreneur Danielle Brunier has built her own business dedicated to manicures. She's acquired responsibilities that involve balancing her time and keeping up with the latest trends.

In the next three to five years, Danielle, or as her closest friends call her, Boujee, hopes to open a nail bar that serves alcoholic beverages in Orange County, where she will then hire nail and beauty technicians.

Danielle is currently majoring in business and with that knowledge she anticipates learning how to manage income, employees and a nail salon.

"Being so young, I’ve been grinding out for the past two years to establish my career. I am a money-hungry person, and I love to work to gain experience and knowledge in the fields that I am interested in. Although time is ticking very slowly on my end; I have the determination and patience to keep striving."

Focusing strictly on nails and servicing pedicures and other nail enhancements, her business name is her artist name, Boujee Nails 909. In the future, she plans to change the name of her business to better suit her nail salon.

Danielle has been in business since February 2019. It all started by realizing the immense time and money she spent in nail salons.

"The quality was just not up to par for the amount of money you spend there. It geared me to starting my own, especially since I love beauty and being pampered. I also noticed that some salons do not follow the proper protocol that they are trained to follow. With that, I wanted to take the next step to build my brand and business specifically around the issues that I noticed at the corner salons."

With the help of Danielle's siblings, cousins, aunts and Danielle's word, she has been able to promote her business through them. She's created business cards, Facebook and Instagram advertisements to expand her clientele. Instagram's explore page keeps Danielle abreast with the latest nail products, trends and techniques. She also utilizes Facebook nail groups, Pinterest and YouTube to instill inspiration to be able to experiment through freestyle.

From being a business owner to a full-time college student, Danielle expresses the difficulty of balancing both of these roles. Although it may be difficult, she reminds herself to stay focused and remember the feeling of finally walking across the stage during graduation.

"Being serious about my business and future endeavors is the only way I’m pushing through since I am a procrastinator, but I’m closer to where I want to be which is making it even more worthwhile and motivating, despite the difficulties."

Danielle explains the importance of money, which allows a business to grow and gives freedom and creative expression. Taking all this into consideration, it grants her as a business owner to be different from others and create a successful business.

"Be sure of yourself. Be mindful. Ask a lot of questions. Write down as many brainstorm ideas as you have. Have fun when creating your business plans there’s endless opportunities," Boujee says.

Small Business: Boujee Nails 909