Jamika Phillips finds her perfect shade

For Jamika Phillips, getting your nails done should feel like more than another appointment squeezed onto an already crowded calendar.

She wanted a place where the person doing your nails knows your name, remembers what you drink, what colors you like, and maybe even what was happening in your life the last time you sat in their chair.

“I kind of wanted to be the ‘Cheers’ of nail salons,” Phillips said. “I wanted clients to be able to have a community where they could come and know their nail techs, know that they were getting quality care with their nails, and know that we would give them education.”

That vision became Shades The Nail Bar, the Sienna-area salon Phillips opened in January 2022 after leaving a career that had nothing to do with the beauty industry.

A dream decades in the making

Phillips spent more than 20 years in corporate America, working in software engineering and global process management. Her background is in computer science, but the idea of owning a nail salon wouldn’t go away.

“I have notes back from probably 2000 where I would think about the names of the salons that I wanted,” Phillips said. “I still have these pages, and I look back at them and thank God for them every day.”

While still working full time, Phillips enrolled in manicurist school, working her corporate job during the day and attending classes at night and on Saturdays until she earned her license.

“I would work from 9 to 5. I would go to school from 5 to 9 Monday through Friday, on Saturdays from like 8 to 2,” she recalled.

After moving to Houston with her husband, Phillips prepared to open a salon in the city. She had signed a letter of intent and was about a week away from signing a lease when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I thank God I did not sign the lease,” Phillips said.

The setback redirected her closer to home. While driving through Sienna, where her family lives, Phillips spotted an available space, pulled over, and called the number. The space was available. Shades The Nail Bar was on its way.

Creating a different kind of nail salon

Phillips knew she was entering a crowded industry, but she also saw an opportunity as a Black woman entering a business where few salon owners looked like her.

“There were a lot of people that said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’” she said. “There’s a lot of competition. There are nail salons every two miles from each other. Typically, not a lot of Black people own nail salons.”

Instead of discouraging her, Phillips said the skepticism became “ammunition” to keep going.

“Black women spend tons of money in the nail care industry,” Phillips said. “So it was something that I said, we got to do this.”

Even the name Shades was intentional.

“I wanted shades to represent not just the nail polish colors, but I wanted it to represent different shades of nail technicians as well as clientele,” she said.

Today, her staff includes Black, Hispanic, and Asian nail technicians, reflecting the diverse community the business serves. 

The salon is also acrylic-free, offering alternatives including builder gel, polygel, and Gel-X. Phillips researches products and often tries them herself before introducing them to clients.

“I’m always looking at new ways to make Shades different.”

Those differences extend beyond nail services. Shades offers complimentary beverages, cleans clients’ rings during appointments, and emphasizes sanitation and nail health.

@shadesthenailbar 50 looks GOOD on you, Lolita! ????✨???????? We had the pleasure of being part of Lolita’s 50th birthday celebration, and hearing her share her experience at Shades made it even sweeter. ❤️ There’s something special about celebrating a milestone with a little self-care, beautiful nails, and GOOD energy. Thank you, Lolita, for choosing Shades to be part of such a special birthday. Here’s to 50 and FABULOUS! ????✨ Celebrating something special? Come celebrate with us. Book now at ShadesTheNailBar.com ???? 9101 Sienna Crossing Dr., Suite 160 Missouri City, TX 77459 #ShadesTheNailBar #50thBirthday #BirthdayNails #MissouriCityNails #SiennaTX #HoustonNails #BirthdayCelebration ♬ original sound – Shades The Nail Bar

But Phillips said its biggest distinction is the relationships.

“We’ve seen them have babies. We’ve seen them lose their babies. We’ve seen them lose their parents. We’ve seen marriages, divorces,” Phillips said. “I mean, we are there for them.”

Staff members send cards and cookies during important moments and often know a regular client’s preferred drink before the client asks.

“We really do try to build and bond a relationship with our clientele so that they know that, hey, we are here for them,” Phillips said.

Shades also supports local schools, churches, and Fort Bend-area charitable efforts.

Corporate lessons meet entrepreneurship

Phillips may have traded software engineering for nail polish, but she didn’t leave her corporate experience behind. She said the leadership, teamwork, and organizational skills she developed during more than two decades in corporate America became the foundation for running Shades.

“I can’t say that I was an entrepreneur by trade,” she said. “A lot of those things — the leadership, the teamwork, the organizational skills — all those things were built over my corporate career.”

Entrepreneurship brought its own lessons, from finding vendors who understood her vision to keeping detailed financial records, building the right team, and maintaining strong customer service.

Phillips credits her husband and children with supporting her through missed family dinners and soccer games. She also credits mentor LeeVera Smith, a business adviser with the Small Business Development Center, with helping her develop the business plan that became Shades’ foundation.

“Jamika is one of those people who wants to learn everything to bring her customers the best experience,” Smith said. “I’m supposed to be her mentor, but I learn so much from her.”

Phillips’ girlfriends also pitched in, proofreading her website, organizing supplies, offering feedback, and talking her through the inevitable difficult days.

Because Phillips knows better than most that dreams don’t always arrive on schedule. Sometimes they sit quietly in notebooks for 20 years before you finally decide it’s time to bet on yourself.