“…I realized after trying to conform, trying to fit in, and going with the crowd, that I have never been comfortable with myself until I found out WHO I was.”—Brittney Jackson
he greatest and most important adventure of our lives is discovering who we really are. So many of us walk around either not really knowing or listening to that little voice that gives us the wrong ideas about ourselves. Therefore, we carry on in our daily lives without truly asking the most important question there is…Who am I really? This is the quest that X’Treme nail diva, Brittney Jackson has been on. After a trip to California, this twenty-six-year-old native of St. Louis, MO, decided to risk it all as she, her new husband and young son relocated to San Diego, CA to follow her dream of becoming that ‘in-demand’ nail tech and truly being herself. There is no doubt that she is well on her way! Life always has its twists and turns. As a child, we exist with the wide
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eyes of discovery absorbing everything around us. We are comfortable with life, and we enjoy the joys of being a child. Things begin to change as we enter our teens, we are no longer that cute little child, we are expected to think and act differently, more mature. How do we act more mature when we have no idea as to what mature is? We find ourselves looking to our surroundings, the adults in our lives, and our friends in the attempt of finding ourselves. We try to fit into the who’s, what’s and where’s we think we are supposed to be. Those were the challenges that this long-nailed diva faced as one of our youngest X’Treme Nailz’s up and coming nail techs. “You know, it was a process to become the person that I am. I was that girl who was afraid of what people thought. I was very insecure within myself, and I cared waaaaay too much. I was swayed, you know,
following the crowd. Doing what the crowd was doing just to ‘fit in’. I was like that until my junior year of high school, when I met my best friend, and let me tell you, she was a fireball! It was her that broke me out of my ‘shy’ shell. I couldn’t talk, you know, use my voice to speak up for myself and she helped me with that. She showed me how to flirt, talk to boys and of course, just be myself. Then one day while out with my grandmother at Walmart, I saw a woman all tatted up. She had more tattoos on her face that I have on mine! Her face was almost completely covered! I remember looking at her like a stalker or something because of how hard I was staring (laughing). I’ve always thought that beauty had its uniqueness, but to be someone that stands out and knows that she stands out is what’s beautiful to me. To stand out and not look like the rest, whether
