Throughout the month of March, the CAN BE Innovation Center is proud to celebrate Women’s History Month by highlighting its female clients. In this short Q&A, we sat down with one of our virtual clients, Kimberly Ray from Kimberly Nailed It LLC, to reflect on her journey and what it means to be a female entrepreneur.
Para quienes quizá no conozcan tu historia, cuéntanos quién eres, a qué te dedicas y por qué te convertiste en emprendedor.
My name is Kimberly Ray and I’m the proud owner and technician behind Kimberly Nailed It LLC, a brand new up-and-coming nail salon in the Hazleton area. My journey to becoming an entrepreneur may be recent, but I’ve always toyed with the idea of creating something all on my own. For anyone to take a chance and put themselves out there in this way is no small feat– it’s challenging, but also extremely rewarding and life-changing. Ultimately, the decision to open my business was driven by the support of my co-workers, family, and mentor who have all believed in me from the very beginning. Through their support and helping me realize who I am and what I’m capable of, I never felt more sure of a decision.
¿De qué manera crees que el hecho de ser una mujer emprendedora ha influido en tu forma de enfocar los negocios?
I think that being a woman quite literally changes everything about how you have to be as a business owner. It’s 2024, and society has made such progress in gender equality, but there’s still so much more work to be done. As a woman, you’re told to stay small and not take up space but as a business owner, you have to do the opposite to let your voice be heard. If you don’t, people won’t take you or your business seriously.
¿Qué consejo darías a las mujeres que quieren emprender y acaban de empezar?
My advice is simple – just do it! Take the chance on yourself, and trust your intuition in the process. It took a lot of pushing myself to open my own business. It’s a scary thing to think about, and I’ve had my fair share of moments of doubt. But the thing I kept telling myself throughout the process was to “just do it”. Do the next task, talk to the next person, cross one more thing off of the list, and keep going. And right before my eyes, my long “to do” list became smaller and smaller, and my vision was closer and closer to becoming a reality.
Can you recommend another local female business leader you shop with, look up to, or would like to promote?
Ashley Evert, the owner and stylist of Halogen Hair Co.
Para obtener más información sobre el Centro de Innovación CAN BE o sobre cómo crear una empresa en el área metropolitana de Hazleton, visite canbe.biz o póngase en contacto con Nico Makuta eno en el nmakuta@hazletoncando.com.
