Entrepreneur, nail artist, and influencer April Ryan is living proof that a combination of talent and determination can overcome what may at first appear as insurmountable barriers.
Ryan was born in a working-class family in the Russian village of Nadym, and brought up in Salsk, a small town with a population of around 60,000. She had big ambitions of making it in the beauty industry, but the odds were against her. Ryan’s town did not even have a salon.
Today, she owns a seven-figure business in the US. The Red Iguana sells more than 300 beauty products, including Ryan’s own invention: silicone hands for practicing nail art.
From the ground up
Ryan knows exactly what it takes to triumph over adversity. She was one of the poorest kids in her class. And while her parents worked hard, their modest salaries were barely enough to provide for her and her two brothers.
“I only had one pair of winter shoes and they were ripped. My mum had to make my clothes because we had no money to buy anything new. We grew our own vegetables because we couldn’t afford to buy them at the market,” she recalls.
While it seemed that Ryan had zero prospects of ever becoming a beautician, she persevered. Unable to afford make-up to hone her skills, she opted for a cheaper option – nail polish. And even though her impressive designs were popular with her friends, the small town offered no opportunities for a young girl with skills.
Not one to give up on her dream, Ryan continued perfecting her nail art techniques. When she was 18, an independent beautician visited her city to offer vocational training and job placement to the best student in the class. This was just the opportunity Ryan had been waiting for.
She won the position at a salon where she worked for the next six months. In 2011, she moved to a bigger city and opened her very own nail salon, which she called Red Iguana after a pet she once had. By the age of 23, she was running a chain of three popular nail salons.
All was not as it seemed, however. Despite the rapid success, Ryan was not happy in her new situation. “In Russia, running a business comes with a lot of fear. There is a lot of jealousy and corruption. I was always worried that someone would smash my windows or set my car on fire,” she says. “In 2014, I decided to give up my business in Russia to try my luck in the US.”
Making it in America
Despite her lack of English, Ryan’s exceptional nail artistry landed her a job at a nail salon in Beverly Hills where she worked for a slew of celebrities. Ryan believes that her skills were in such high demand because unlike in the US, in Russia nail care is a highly competitive industry. The technique she brought from overseas showed manicures with tiny nail bits, a method that was new and never used before. Her technique is currently used in many other salons worldwide.
“It’s not as hard to find customers in America as it is in Russia. There are fewer people wanting their nails done in Russia, so the competition is huge. If you want to succeed, you need to be the best,” says the entrepreneur. “In America, anybody can go to a beauty school so the quality of nail care is not as high.”
While Ryan was grateful for her position as a nail technician, she was ready for the next step in her journey. She started using her free time to make nail art tutorial videos for Instagram, which exploded in popularity within a matter of months.
“Companies started asking me to endorse their products do professional expos as an educator. There was a time when I was making up to five videos per day,” she says. “I was making all the videos using my own hands, often placing them under a UV lamp. After a couple of months, this started affecting my skin. There were fake hands available, but most of them weren’t realistic enough, so I decided to create my own.”
The silicone dream
In 2017 she released her invention: Silicone Practice hands. For many beginners, this was a blessing. Now they could train on silicone hands before starting to work on real people. Ryan did not have to look far to find a model for her silicone hands. “I really love my hands. I have skinny, long fingers that are ideal for demonstrating nail techniques,” she says. “It took me approximately six months to develop a prototype. And once people saw my fake hands-on social media, they started asking if I was selling them.”
The silicone hands were an instant hit, bringing $3 million in sales in 2020. Ryan expects this figure to reach $5 million by 2022. “We are currently selling around 2000 hands per month in five countries,” Ryan says, adding that her product comes in six skin tones.
Ryan prides herself on prioritizing quality over quantity and believes Red Iguana’s stellar reputation has been crucial to her success. “My silicone hands are extremely detailed. They take a lot of skill and time to produce. Right now, we don’t even have enough people to meet the demand,” she says. “We have a lot of companies that try to copy us. I guess it’s fine since their products are of lower quality. I take it as a compliment.”
Ryan’s e-store also sells hundreds of high-quality nail products. She developed them working closely with laboratories so the products are healthy and don’t cause allergies or chemical burns. These include gel polishes, builder gels, and marble inks. She is also currently working on designing quality nail products for home use. “We are expecting to add another 40 products to our collection within the next 12 months.”
From Russia with love
Ryan has come a long way from her impoverished childhood in a small Russian town. And she attributes her success to ambition and hard work. “It is my difficult childhood that inspired me. I knew that I didn’t want to live like that. That I was destined for something bigger,” she says.
She also has some poignant advice for budding entrepreneurs. “Transform your dreams into reality. Start right now. Educate yourself about how you can reach your goals. Don’t stop. Once you achieve what you want, look for the next step. It’s all easier than it looks.”
