Walking into the LUXX Nails and Beauty Salon in Neptune City recently, I remembered how I had visited this place before. It was a little over a year ago, when I had come in to get my hair done for my senior prom: The overlapping voices of excited young women telling each other about their carefully-coordinated outfits created a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

The electric energy in the room was infectious, and there in the middle of it all was the owner, Tyesha Prince. As she greeted me at the door for our interview, I could already tell that she still was as warm and friendly as the day I first met her.

“What’s it like being an entrepreneur?” I asked. Prince laughed. “It definitely has its good days and bad days,” she said.. The LUXX Nails and Beauty Salon has been open for about three years. With Prince taking about six to eight appointments a day, the shop is usually busy.

Prince barely has time to do her own nails. “Because I’m so busy, I don’t have time. And I think that at this point in my life, I’d rather be pampered, too,” she explained with her eyes smiling behind her glasses. Managing a whole business by yourself can be stressful sometimes, but that doesn’t mean she loves it any less.

Her love for cosmetology began in elementary school. Her mother saw her interest in drawing and polishing and encouraged her to continue practicing. Sometimes, her mom would take her young daughter to the nail salons, where Prince would intently watch the nail artists work and try to replicate them when she got home.

Soon, her mother cleared out a room in their house to create Prince’s new “nail room.” At 9, Prince already had a healthy clientele; both young friends and adults, whose nails she painted for $5 to $7.

During our interview, Prince explained how quality customer service is very important to her. She especially values building a relationship with her clients. For instance, she learns so much about what they like and don’t like, to the point where she can sometimes take the wheel when doing their nails.

Her desk is neatly decorated with cups of artisanal wooden paint brushes and numerous rainbow-tinted nail utensils. As she designed my nails, she hunched over in such concentration, like an artist working diligently on her next masterpiece.

Finally, I asked her, “What is it like to be a black business owner?” She responded, “I’m very proud to be… not even so much as a black owner, but as a woman business owner. I’m proud. I think that we need more black-owned as well as women-owned businesses.”

Tyesha Prince’s LUXX Nail and Beauty Salon is located on West Sylvania Avenue in Neptune City. Prince takes pride in noting that at LUXX Nails, you don’t get a swipe-swipe-and-you’re-done job, like at many salons. You get a conversation and a valued relationship with a woman who will make sure that you walk out of there with your nails looking gorgeous.