Started from a “couple bottles of nail polish” four years ago, Cretia’s Nail Heaven represents a triumph for its proprietor, Lucretia Ann Sinclair, who says she has turned adversity into the fuel for her success.
Sinclair, 34, also known as “Cretia,” started the business after she was left with the task of fending for her two sons, now ages 15 and 9, as well as her niece, now 17, who she has been single-handily taking care of during the last four years.
“The push that made me decided to start the business was the separation from my ex-husband. I was basically left with two sons and my niece,” the single mother of two told Stabroek Weekend.
Although she received court-ordered child support from her ex-husband for their two sons, she realised that she needed to have an income in order to ensure that their every need was met. Despite having been a school dropout and a teenage mother, she says she has been continuously working to make a better life for herself and for her children.
“Everything I do, I try to put them first. If I got to do some spending of money, I always make sure I spend the majority on them, make sure they get the basic necessities. I hardly focus on me because I have them, I have the bills, I have the food, the rent, the internet, the electricity, so I always put them first in everything I do,” she said. “That’s why I work Sunday to Sunday, even on holidays, to make sure I can be able to pay my bills and take care of the kids,” she added.
Sinclair noted that she became pregnant with her first son, who presently attends an A-grade high school in Berbice, at the age of 17. She said she has also been criticised for being both a school dropout and teenage mother. “People would tend to bring up my past to defame me and paint a bad picture of me because of the fact that I was a school dropout,” she noted. Nevertheless, she said, she uses that as fuel for her drive to be successful. “When you rising and being more successful, people will pick on you,” she said.
Since opening her business, which she operates from her Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice home, she has fast become one of the leading nail technicians in the county. Her clients often rave about her work on social media as well as about her inviting hospitality.
According to Sinclair, some days she starts working from 6.30 am and she has appointments almost every day of the week. “The business is based on providing a good nail service to people,” she said, while noting that she has come a long way from when she started with just “couple bottles of nail polish.”
“One client came and I did her nails for free and she started to tell people I did her nails and I did it well and people started to come and from that I started working and buying more stuff,” she explained.
Now, she mostly orders her tools online. “No product is cheap that I use; everything is branded,” she noted, while saying that this is to ensure that she provides high quality nails to her customers. “So when I put my money and invest into expensive products, I want to give the best, that’s why my work lasts about two months or more and for some people three months,” she added.
Sinclair’s current goals centre on growing her business in order to ensure both she and her children can have comfortable lives. “I want to live a comfortable life when I get older and I want to see my kids happy. I want them to have everything I never had,” she said. “In the future, I see myself as an established businesswoman with not just one location. I want to be so established that I can rent people a chair to do hair and to do barbering in my own place. I always see myself as being self-made and being my own boss. That’s the main thing,” she added.
Sinclair told this publication that being independent gave her a sense of confidence she never had. And she thinks others who may be in a similar situation to the one she found herself in, could find similar success. “I would tell them (single parents) always maintain a focus. If you want to do something, do it. There is nobody that can stop you from doing it. If you want to be somebody, be it. Keep pushing,” she encouraged.
