Melody Wilson

SOCIAL ADVOCATE, SURVIVOR AND SCHOLAR

elody Wilson, known to most as Mel, created the Long Nail Beauties Association, working with Mr. Jonathan Fields more than a decade ago. A uniting catalyst for the social networking of women discovering others that indulged in the extreme nail genre. The forum was to create a platform for other ordinary working Mothers, sisters, and professionals within the community. It evolved into a forum where the men who appreciated and admired these women were often the ones to induct ladies into the community.

As for her journey, Melody has been growing her nails to extreme lengths since she was 19 years old. Drawing inspiration from her Mother, Lee Redmond, Florence “Flo Jo” Griffith Joyner, and 90s vocalist of SWV Koko. Her positive experiences focus on her individualistic nature. For Melody, it allows her to express her uniqueness through the length, the colors, and the designs. The negative aspect is trying to find the time to do them because she is always busy.

Her feelings about the X’treme Nailz Movement? She is glad to see women are embracing the concept of extreme length nails without the varying stereotypes. Although we still have some ways to go. Those who continue to grow their nails to very extreme lengths still deal with the bullying stereotypes, reactions, and comments.

Being familiar with her sentiments myself, we talked about the personal impact she has felt and witnessed as a participant/creator of an international forum like the Long Nail Beauties Association.

It irritates her that people hate or discriminate against something they have so little knowledge of, or do not care for, or cannot do/or relate to. Women capable of growing extreme-length nails, while maintaining a flourishing livelihood should be highly commended. They exhibit the ability to do what many are not capable of doing, regardless of their lifestyle.

More than a decade later, how does Melody Wilson feel about X’treme Nailz International establishing this platform for the X’treme Nailz Community? She thinks this is awesome and an accomplishment. Seeing how the community has evolved and embraced by the entertainment industries has caused acceptance in our everyday social lives. It is amazing! She exclaimed. We intended to build a sisterhood among the sisters, along with a community of supporters. Mr. Fields and X’treme Nailz International is a HUGE respected voice in the community that I think can bring about the sisterhood. A beacon of support that we all seek and genuinely deserve. She went on to express. There are many sisters with extreme nails in the world, doing extraordinary things, not hindered by the growth of their nails, in any fashion. X’treme Nailz International is highlighting these special women of the LNB community

Notably, the Entertainment Industry has embraced the new wave of X’treme Nailz styles. Curious about her response as an innovator and one of the initial creators of the forum. Melody explains that Entertainment embraced the “style” of extreme nails once entertainers started implementing it into their artistic creations, particularly in videos. She finds it quite strange, having lived so many years hearing

criticism about the length of her nails, and now seeing it embraced, almost to the fullest extent. She loves it, though. Like most of us familiar with their genres, the comedian Lunelle and “of course” Cardi B. is named.

As for Mel’s’ nails, she prefers black, earth tone colors, blue, and pink. The longest this dynamic force has grown her nails throughout their nearly 3-decade lengthy existence is measured between 5-7 inches. Currently content with keeping her nails at about the 3-inch range, cutting them once a year. Having no signature color(s) to mention, keeping them squared and thin shaped is her favorite style. She does her nails herself and does not trust anyone else to do them.

As far as coordinating her nails with clothing. This busy professional said no. Most times, “I’m not able to do my nails as often as I like, I choose a color(s) that tends to go with everything”, eluding to the black, earth tones, blue, and pink mention earlier.

When Melody Wilson took on the adventure of creating the LBN Association, she was continually evolving

Like her nails, her life is endlessly evolving, and she is currently on a new spiritual journey to understanding her purpose as a light and star seed in this world.

while providing positive support for other individuals and aspects of the extreme nail community.

Outside of being a nail fashionista, a Life Coach, an advocate against sexual violation, and Public Speaker. She holds a BS in Psychology and a master’s in professional counseling. She has been in the profession for about six years and has helped people all over the world.

Her nails have never been a hindrance in the almost 30 years she has been growing them while performing an extensive list of jobs, the majority of which being administrative and predominately involving typing. Once, working as a Key Entry Operator for the USPS. She was the fastest key entry operator, with a 4% error rate. At the time, her nails were about 3-4 inches long.

Melody also has been the lead singer for several different bands. For years traveling with various bands, she has performed up and down the east coast from Massachusetts to Georgia. Currently, working on her Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis on Cognition and Instruction, she has two books. “The Birth, The Representation, The Celebration of Me”, and “Mel’s Jumpstart to Recovery: A Psychoeducational Workbook” on the recovery of sexual violation, currently available on Amazon. When asked about the positive or negative attention people give to her nails while on stage and business meetings, Mel responded by saying, yes, they always have drawn attention. She assumes both positive and negative, but most notable, Mel would be the last to give an actual assessment, ending the subject by stating. Neither of which affected me.

She has been married, raised six children, three daughters, a son and stepson, and one granddaughter. All with extreme-length nails. Which means she had to do hair, cook, and do household chores. One of her favorite sports that she plays is tennis. Like her nails, her life is endlessly evolving, and she is currently on a new spiritual journey to understanding her purpose as a light and star seed in this world.

Melody concluded our time together with this message for those inspired by her innovative forum, the Long Nail Beauties. Yes, my nails will continue this journey with me as well. Again, that is what I love about extreme-length nails and the extreme-length nail community. No matter who you are or who you choose to be. Choose to let no one dictate how you express yourself. I pray that more of our sisters will follow that path.

KARINA FRIAS BRILLBIRD LUXURY NAIL DESIGN MOSTOLES, MADRID SPAIN HTTP://KARINAFRIAS.COM