A New Mobile Nail Salon Making Its way In the Beauty industry

The new nontoxic and organic nail salon is now driving to their clients in the New York and New Jersey area

Chica Glamour Mobile Nail Salon logo Photo: Taken by Chica Glamour Facebook page

The pandemic has caused a mass burden to everyone in the world, the rapid rise of deaths and cases are slowly rising again as businesses start to open up. Companies who are now struggling to keep their business alive are looking for any help they can get, specifically the small businesses.

A business owner and Founder of a mobile nail salon, Jody Nelson said how difficult it can be for small businesses to grow their clienteles. Nelson, 35, is a Jamaican-born native who always had a passion for creativity in art.

"I found a passion for it [nails] because I like drawing nail art," said Nelson. She attended school to get her licensing in becoming a nail tech, which she then was hired to work part-time in New York City. However, all that changed when she realized her true potential and purpose in the industry.

Nelson said, "I felt like I could be doing more. The environment at the place I worked was too intense, I knew I wanted to change the industry." Her passion for nails grew into something bigger when she got a full-time job offer to work for an organic nail salon.

The new job helped her to open up her own nail business that serves a purpose in promoting more organic, natural and nontoxic nails. "I started my mobile nail salon, it took me awhile to get to that point but that was my vision, to start Chica Glamour," said Nelson.

Founder of Chica Glamour, Jody Nelson sharing a selfie Photo: Jody Nelson

Nail salons today use many chemicals in their products that make the nails more weaker than they already are, Nelson now paints her clients nails with healthier and nontoxic products. The products at Chica Glamour are allergy free and made from all natural plant based ingredients.

As the small business manages to operate during Covid, Nelson dreams about her nail business becoming big and expanding to other states. She refers the business as unique and different.

"Chica Glamour is a very modern salon. We stand for equality, no matter what race, age, or gender you are," Nelson said. As a black woman, Nelson represents diversity and empowerment within her business. The nails she paints on her clients, aren't just colors, they stand for unity and express the personality of the client.

Nelson sees her clients more than just customers. "Every client is very unique to us, and we treat each client as an individual," Nelson said. She believes in her work and how her business can help empower people in different ways.

The pandemic took a harsh turn on her business, leaving her with few clients a week. However, her passion and motivation does not stop her from dreaming big and continuing to keep her nail business alive.

Mental Health Emerges During Global Pandemic

COVID-19 has spread all across the world, killing millions with rising numbers in cases. The economy declined, and now with states re-opening back up, it seems that many states in the U.S. are seeing a second wave of the virus. However, this also initiates how much Mental Health has been emerging during this period.

The pandemic took a huge factor on everyone's mental health and still continues to affect those [individuals] that suffer already. "With over five million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, the threats on health were eminent," said 21-year-old Joshua Tirado.

Tirado emphasized on how it is not only the physical aspect of our health that is impacted, but also the mental and emotional health. While mental health increases, the media has not done a deep thorough job in reporting how much this issue has caused someone to live their day-to-day life.

22-year-old Jennifer Panella stated, "It is defiantly important to talk about, especially with the media. It highlights the raw human side of us, there is nothing wrong humanizing it." Panella also explained how we [people] were not prioritized in mental health, not until the pandemic and isolating ourselves from the outside world.

Although the media needs to shine more light on understanding how mental health affects someone emotionally, socially, and physically, 23-year-old Katherine Braunstein says different about the media's coverage on mental health.

"We [the media] actually do cover it more than people think, and there is plenty of places to check that out," said Braunstein. Braunstein also struggles with anxiety and depression and says going outside for a walk or calling people and reaching out to others can really help.

The media has downfalls on covering on mental health, but it is time to highlight the struggles and how individuals are impacted. All the many stories on how these individuals are surviving the pandemic while struggling mental health, it is the definite time to get in their mind and dissect what they go through during this hard period.

Students react to what Democracy really is today in the U.S.

Image of a Democracy poster with hands raised. Photo Courtesy: Autor Invitado

Students react to what Democracy really is today in the U.S.

According to Merriam Webster, democracy is a government by the people. A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Students from Montclair State University came forward and discussed what democracy is today and how it is represented. For some, democracy is seen as what it is defined as, but for others, the U.S. is not a democracy.

A 22-year-old Montclair State University Public Relations senior, Jennifer Panella, agreed that she does see the U.S. as a democracy. “I define democracy as the freedom and right to choose eligible members to govern our democracy,” said Panella.

Jennifer Panella’s theatre photograph back in highschool Digital Image

Debates amongst Republican and Democratic candidates have also been a huge part of what democracy is and should be for the country because debates are beneficial. “Based on the debate and information provided on news outlets, I am able to decide who I believe is best fit for different roles such as president, every vote counts,” added Panella.

Some may also use other countries as an example to the U.S. of a democracy. A Political Science major senior at Montclair State University, AJ Melillo, 21, described Athens, Greece as a democracy. “A true example is Athens, but there is no real common democracy to point to as a true democracy,” said Melillo.

Student AJ Melillo visits FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in Washington, DC. Photo By Anabella Poland

The 21-year-old believes that a democracy is a government in which it is completely run by the people. “The people directly vote upon issues pertaining to the society,” added Melillo. However, there are a few who say the U.S. is actually a republic and not a democracy. One Montclair State student spoke out about the U.S. as a republic.

Sam Carliner, a 23-year-old Journalism major, is a student that is passionate about the political climate today. Carliner, who also has a weekly News show at the University’s radio station, talks about how the U.S. can be a true democracy on his show.

Sam Carliner spending his summer in Japan Digital Image

“I don’t consider the U.S. a democracy, it’s a republic. To make it a democracy, we would need to have laws in place that give the people as a whole significant power over elected representatives,” said Carliner.

Carliner would love to see the U.S. as a democracy one day, but the time does not seem to be anytime soon. The term democracy and republic has been a long debate by many people, making it difficult to distinguish if the U.S. is a democracy or not.

Yahoo users debate whether the U.S. is a democracy or republic Photo: Yahoo answers

According to aei.gov, “Our system is republican in that the Founders understood that the public is the only legitimate sovereign of government. But it is not wholly democratic, in that they feared the abuse of that authority by the people and designed an instrument of government.”

The U.S. does not only show a democracy or a republic, but in fact, both. The different views and opinions will not give a definite answer whether the U.S. is a democracy.