Robert

Hi there! I’m Robert. My sister Victoria and I have been overseeing our family run boutique nail salon, Sènsé Nail Spa (pronounced sawn say), for 10 years now.

Our parents were rescued from the rough waters of the South China Sea on Christmas Day 1978, fleeing Vietnam. After working as a janitor and a seamstress for many years, my parent’s proudly purchased a humble duplex house. This would become my mother’s nail salon and our new home. She worked as a solo nail technician for over a decade while my sister and I finished middle school, high school and college.

My sister & I stepped into the business when our grandfather became ill and our mom flew out of the country to be with him. That was over 10 years ago. In that time, we went from helping mom operate the business alone to becoming one of the most popular nail salons in the city of Seattle with a team of professional nail artists.

We are a 2nd generation award winning family operated nail salon and have been in business for over 20 years. Sènsé specializes in custom nail art work inspired from Japan and the world over.

We have a unique membership model that allows our guests to pay a monthly service fee for unlimited maintenance on their acrylic and gel nails..

We are so proud to celebrate our 10 year anniversary as 2nd generation owners this year! We have always believed in the importance of giving back to those with the same entrepreneurial spirit. For the past 5 years, a portion of our proceeds have gone to different families on Kiva.

Check out our Kiva lending team page: https://www.kiva.org/team/sensesalon/loans

Our biggest challenge is hiring employees. It takes a lot of time and effort to properly train and find the right nail technicians. New employees must complete our advanced nail art training for 2 months before they become income producing and are ready to properly work on our clients. We have very high standards for our business, and our clients love our dedicated staff who offer high quality nail services, attention to detail and art work.

Our immediate goal is to hire 2 new employees and train 2 new employees thereafter to continue to grow. We can add 50-100 new members with this loan increasing cashflow to sustain full time employment. This loan will also allow us to purchase new manicuring stations and new nail dust collectors to continue to protect the health of our clients & employees.

A loan of $10,000 helps me to hire two new employees.