Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Orzhekh.
Hi Olivia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My Story
When I look at what we have built today, it is hard to believe where it all started.
We opened our salon in 2021 with very little money, very little support, and absolutely no roadmap. I had moved to the United States only a couple of years earlier, and at that point, I had little more than a dream: to build something of my own, do something I truly loved, and create an experience that would make people happy.
I still remember my New Year’s resolution for 2021-open my own salon that year.At the time, I didn’t even have my nail technician license, I had no established clientele, and I was still at the very beginning of my journey in the nail industry. I had never run a business before, and I certainly didn’t have a clear plan for how I was going to make it happen.
But I had a vision, and I decided to figure everything else out along the way.
We officially opened our doors on December 24, 2021 — just one week before the end of the year.
So I guess you could say I kept my New Year’s resolution.
I was an immigrant, and at the time, getting access to traditional business financing was extremely difficult. I had no established U.S. credit history, and lenders were not exactly eager to take a chance on a new business owner. So we had to find our own way. We took out personal loans, borrowed money from friends, and invested everything we could.
Almost everything in the salon was done by us, with our own hands and on a very limited budget.
Even finding a location was a challenge.
Many of the shopping centers we looked at already had nail salons, and landlords were often reluctant to bring in another business that could potentially compete with an existing tenant. On top of that, I was a completely new business owner, and I was a young woman speaking English with an accent. Not everyone was willing to take that risk.
Then I met an incredible real estate agent who decided to believe in me.
She found what turned out to be a fantastic location and helped me navigate conversations with landlords. At one point, I had to meet the property owner in person so he could look at me, hear my story, and decide whether he wanted to work with me.
That was the reality of starting this business.
Nothing came easily.
Hiring was another major challenge. At the time, very few nail technicians around us knew the techniques and systems I wanted to offer. I couldn’t simply hire a team that already knew how to do what I envisioned.
So I had to teach them, but I quickly realized that building a successful salon required much more than having talented nail technicians.
I also had to build an entire support system around the business from scratch. We needed designers, website developers, an accountant, a social media manager, and marketing professionals. I had to learn how to find the right people, explain my vision to them, manage their work, and figure out which areas were worth investing in.
Marketing was especially challenging. We had to spend significant amounts of money on advertising simply to make people aware that we existed and to introduce them to a completely different type of nail service. There was no established demand for what we were offering, so we couldn’t just rely on people already searching for Russian manicure or structured nail services.
I was learning all of this while simultaneously learning how to run a business, manage a team, communicate with clients, and build a brand — all in a language that was not my first language.
Before opening the salon, I had no business experience. I had never managed a team or built a company. I simply knew how to do Russian manicure, and I believed that clients deserved a completely different level of quality.
That was one of the biggest lessons of building this business: being good at what you do is only the beginning. You also have to learn how to build the entire system around your expertise — the people, the marketing, the operations, the finances, the technology, and the customer experience.
I wanted people to understand the new nail philosophy-the health of the natural nail matters,the structure and appearance matter, the longevity and retention matter.
And the entire experience matters.
We were among the first salons in our area to introduce structured manicures, different gel strengthening systems, and gel tip extensions as part of a modern nail service.
At that time, Russian manicure was still virtually unknown to the American mainstream nail industry. The same was true for many of the gel systems and techniques that had already been widely used in Russia and Europe for years.
Dry pedicure was another example.
There were even times when someone would walk into the salon by accident, sit down in the pedicure chair, and then realize that this was not the type of pedicure they were expecting. Sometimes they would leave before we even started the service.
We quickly realized that we were not simply providing a different service.
We were educating the market.
We had to explain to clients what we were doing, why we were doing it differently, and why these techniques could provide a different result from what they had experienced before.
And then there was the equipment and supply problem.
In Europe, there is a huge market for professional nail and pedicure products, materials, furniture, and equipment. In the United States at that time, the selection available locally was much more limited.
Finding the right products often meant searching for hours, ordering from other countries, paying expensive shipping fees, and constantly figuring out how to create a setup that was not only beautiful, but also comfortable, efficient, and ergonomic.
Every part of the process required problem-solving.
There was no easy version of this journey.
But step by step, we built it.
And when I look at our salon today and compare it to what we had in the beginning, I am honestly amazed by how far we have come.
What started with a small budget, borrowed money, handmade solutions, an immigrant woman with an accent and a strong belief in her craft has grown into a real business, a professional team, and a brand with its own philosophy and standards.
And now I feel ready for the next chapter.
I have decided to take everything I have learned and share it with other nail professionals.
That is why I opened my own nail education school.
We started online, and we have already launched our first online course dedicated to Russian manicure. Our pedicure course is currently in development, and the demand has been incredibly strong.
For me, education feels like a natural next step.
I have already trained my entire team personally. I know what it means to teach these techniques from the very beginning. I know how difficult it can be to explain professional terminology and technical concepts in another language. I know how challenging it is to introduce techniques that people have never seen before.
But I also know that it is possible.
Today, I am no longer the woman trying to convince someone to give her new business a chance.
I am the person who has built the business, developed the systems, trained the team, worked through the challenges, and proven that the vision was worth believing in.
And now I want to help other nail professionals do the same.
Because Russian manicure was once something almost nobody in the American market knew about.
Now, it is becoming a standard that more and more professionals want to understand.
And I am proud that our journey is part of that story.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the hardest parts of building the business was not just the financial or professional challenges, but the personal sacrifices that came with it.
Starting a business from scratch required an enormous amount of time and energy, and there were many periods when I had to choose the business over spending time with my family. I especially felt guilty about the time I was missing with my child. Those moments were difficult because I knew I could never get that time back.
There were long days, constant problems to solve, and very little separation between work and personal life. When you are building something from nothing, it can feel like the business needs you every minute of the day.
I was incredibly fortunate to have my husband’s support throughout the process. He believed in me and in what I was trying to build, even when things were difficult. He helped me along the way and gave me the support I needed to keep going.
Looking back, the sacrifices were real, and I don’t want to romanticize that part of entrepreneurship. Building a business can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also cost you time, energy, and moments with the people you love. For me, having my family’s support made it possible to keep moving forward.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Improva Beauty is a nail salon and education brand built around one simple idea: professional nail care should be about the health, structure, longevity, and overall quality of the natural nails.
Our salon specializes in Russian manicure, structured manicures, gel strengthening, gel tip extensions, and modern dry pedicure techniques. We focus on detailed preparation, proper nail structure, high-quality products, and long-lasting results. Our goal is to create nails that are not only beautiful immediately after the appointment, but continue to look and wear beautifully weeks later.
What sets us apart is that education has always been at the center of what we do. We believe that nails are just as important part of the beauty industry as any other beauty service. To provide a high-quality service, you need to continuously improve your skills, understand the techniques and products you work with, and most importantly, to have personalized approach to understand and meet each client’s individual needs.
We also believe strongly in training. I personally trained every technician on our team, developing our standards and techniques from the ground up. That experience eventually led us to create Improva Beauty Academy, where we now share our knowledge with other nail professionals.
We are especially proud of the fact that our brand grew from a very small, self-funded business into a professional salon with its own standards, trained team, and educational platform. We did not start with a large investment, an established reputation, or a ready-made team. We built everything step by step, and that experience shaped the way we approach both our services and our education.
Today, our online Russian Manicure course is the first step in our education platform, with a professional pedicure course currently in development due to strong demand.
What we want people to know about Improva Beauty is that we are not simply a salon that offers a particular type of manicure. We are passionate about raising the standard of nail care and sharing the knowledge behind the techniques. We want clients to understand why their nails look and feel different after a quality service, and we want nail professionals to understand not only how to perform a technique, but why it works.
Our brand has grown from a passion for Russian manicure into a broader mission: to bring a higher standard of technique, education, and nail care to the American market.
What makes you happy?
What makes me happiest is seeing something I once imagined become real.
I love creating things from scratch — whether it is building a business, developing a new technique, training a technician, creating an educational course, or simply seeing a client leave the salon feeling confident and beautiful.
I also find a lot of happiness in teaching. There is something incredibly rewarding about watching someone go from “I don’t know how to do this” to confidently performing a technique they once thought was impossible. Knowing that my experience can help someone grow professionally and create a better future for themselves is very meaningful to me.
And honestly, I think I am happiest when I can look around and realize how far we have come. There were so many moments when I had no idea how we were going to solve the next problem, and somehow we always figured it out.
That feeling — building something meaningful, helping other people grow, and constantly challenging myself to reach the next level — is what makes me happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.improvabeauty.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/improvabeauty?igsh=MTMwYWRpazZuOTkyZA==
- Other: https://improva-nails-academy.thinkific.com/collections?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&utm_id=97760_v0_s00_e0_tv3&fbclid=PAb21jcATxMoRwZG9mAmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzU2NzA2NzM0MzM1MjQyNwABpx9NVt0KMbEOoY8yBvoxdgHQCt6T7r5LEVU2AdJLaYCtifBOcRZhdKxt24sQ_aem_VD0eeEcyyoKLt08LqoSSvg
