Nakeita, a nail technician by trade with 17 years of experience, dreamed of exploring new entrepreneurial ventures in her field. She is highly skilled in her craft, but like many entrepreneurs, found that securing capital to expand her business required a different set of skills. She soon discovered that the key to unlocking a bank loan was a solid personal credit score. With a score of 520, it was an area where she was struggling and didn’t know how to get started.
After seeing an Instagram post about Operation HOPE’s free credit assistance, she decided to sign up. Nakeita was connected with Financial Wellbeing and Small Business Coach Maya Porter, who guided her through an eight-week program that began with teaching her how to manage her credit report. For the next year, the two met monthly to tackle each item step by step. With Maya’s guidance, Nakeita learned to communicate with creditors to negotiate pay-offs and dispute inaccuracies that were dragging down her score. Through immense hard work and financial sacrifice, she successfully raised her score to 750!
Reaching that personal milestone was the key to growing her businesses. Nakeita opened a Truist business bank account and was able to secure over $15,000 in personal credit, more than $70,000 in capital for her existing salon, and startup funds for her new venture: The Redd Print Nail Academy. “Maya’s mentorship taught me how to leverage my business strategically,” said Nakeita.
The impact of Maya’s coaching went far beyond the numbers on a credit report. Nakeita now calls Maya her “billionaire coach” because of the strategic, growth-oriented mindset she instilled. Maya’s guidance also opened doors to national panels and prestigious opportunities, such as being selected for Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD Black Parade Route, which provided a $25,000 grant to grow Nakeita’s brand. “Maya’s impact doesn’t stop at business; she inspires transformation from the inside out,” Nakeita shared. “She’s been more than a coach; she’s been a guiding light.”
Today, Nakeita is paying that knowledge forward as the founder of The Redd Print Nail Academy. As she trains the next generation of aspiring technicians, she makes personal finance a core part of the curriculum. “I realized a big part of the career that we’re going in is also having control of your personal credit,” she explained. By referring her own students to Operation HOPE, she ensures they start their professional lives with the same tools that changed hers.
Nakeita is scaling as a proud Black businesswoman and is currently enrolled in the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Program, which is powered through NYU Stern School of Business. As she expands her academy beyond Kentucky into Indiana and pursues the personal goal of buying a home, she remains grateful for the coach who believed in her. “Your coaching has not only built my businesses,” she said about Maya, “but it has also built me.”
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