'I stayed silent for almost two years' — interview with hearing-impaired manicurist

Anastasia, a manicurist from Rostov, has had poor hearing since childhood, but she hasn«t lost her zest for life. She»s been filing and painting nails for only three months — she just finished her training. Recently, Daria, the founder of the salon where Anastasia works, recorded reels (short videos) with her to find models for practice. But things didn«t go as planned: instead of just free models, real paying clients started coming to the young woman with a challenging fate. Today, Nastya receives bouquets and notes with words of support, and famous comedian Guram Amaryan has already booked a manicure appointment with her.

161.RU spoke with manicurist Anastasia to find out how she found her calling and how difficult it is for her to socialize due to her hearing problem.

Daria is the owner of the Daria Nilova studio, located at 13 Shaumyana Street in a historic building. She knew Anastasia«s brother from university. Both studied at RINH (Rostov State University of Economics), but didn»t interact much. Anastasia«s brother was subscribed to Daria on VKontakte and saw that she had started teaching manicure courses. He wrote to her about his sister Anastasia and warned that she had special needs. A couple of months later, the three of them met. After finishing college, Anastasia barely left the house — she played computer games and didn»t talk to anyone. Her brother«s request wasn»t so much about his sister earning money, but about her learning to fit into a team and interact with people. After all, parents aren«t eternal either.

This is a simple and honest conversation with two young women — one who, despite hearing problems, is finding her place in life, and another who extended a helping hand and gave the push to start a new chapter.

Anastasia was very anxious during the interview and couldn«t always express her thoughts beautifully, but the main thing is that she sincerely shared her experiences.

Studied to be a hairdresser, but came to manicure

— Nastya, how did you come to work as a manicurist?

— I«m new to this. My brother is a friend of Dasha»s. We came, he talked to her. Dasha agreed to teach me how to do manicures.

— And where did you study?

— I went to school, finished eleven grades. Then I moved to Rostov (she moved from the Luhansk People«s Republic. — Ed.). I studied at a college, but I didn»t like it there much — my mom chose it. I wanted to work with computers. But I can«t, because I have a hearing aid. So I went to hairdressing college. But there they just soaked nails in a bowl (an outdated approach to manicures. — Ed.).

For Anastasia, this is her first job. She started doing manicures because she wanted to earn money. She likes the work, though she«s a bit embarrassed that she has to communicate with a lot of people every day. The master can see four to five clients a day, especially if it»s a manicure without coating. The adaptation to the new place, according to Anastasia, went well and calmly.

In college, the girl trained as a hairdresser. She graduated with only one C — in English, because the teachers weren«t ready to help her.

— I know you haven«t been working here long.

— I studied for three months and recently started working here (about a week and a half ago, added owner Daria. — Ed.).

Dreamed of a car, but bought a hearing aid

— Tell us about your family. How did they support you?

— I have a mom, dad, older brother, and sister. We lived in a small village called Petrovka — near Luhansk. In Rostov, after college, I looked for work for two years but couldn«t find anything. All that time I sat at home, doing nothing at all. When I was in college, I lived alone. Then my mom moved in with me.

I have no friends, only family. When I had a birthday, I wanted a new phone (she recalls). My dad asked: «What do you want?» and I answered: «Nothing, nothing at all.» Dad said: «Do you want a phone?» and I refused. But my dad bought it for me anyway.

And my mom constantly fed me because she worries about me. My brother Denis always invited me to go for walks.

— When did your hearing problems start?

— When I was seven or eight. When I was little, I heard well. Then I got very sick. The doctors gave me injections, and suddenly I stopped hearing altogether. I stayed silent for almost two years because my parents didn«t have money [for a hearing aid]. My dad dreamed of a car, but he bought me a hearing aid instead.

— Tell us about your fans. I know that after the reels, many people started giving you flowers, and more clients came. Do you like it?

— I really liked it, it«s so nice. I kept crying because I was happy. Sometimes older men write — nothing bad, everything»s fine. Well, for example, they said I«m beautiful, I»m cool, I«m amazing. I»m like: «Thank you, I read it, I saw it.»

— How do you spend your free time?

— I like it when my mom teaches me to read. And reading together with mom is fun. And I also like to play [computer games]. When I was in school, I loved playing volleyball. I«d play volleyball now too, but I don»t know where to find a court and company.

In childhood, Anastasia had friends, but their paths diverged. We brought up the difficulties for a reason — in her hometown, the girl couldn«t find a company she liked. People said behind her back that she was boring and hard to talk to. She was often sad because she heard from peers that she was »bad.« But in Rostov, she managed to build relationships with colleagues and the salon owner.

«Suspended manicure»

161.RU spoke with Anastasia«s mentor, beauty studio owner Daria Nilova. She talked about how the salon»s work changed after the reels with Nastya went viral on social media.

When the videos with Anastasia went viral, the salon introduced a «suspended manicure» service, modeled after «suspended coffee.» A young man wrote to Daria Nilova, wanting to pay for the service for his girlfriend and mom, but in the end he sent 10,000 rubles ($110) and asked to give it to the masters or those in need. Then there were more benefactors. Now, on average, two people a day come in for a «suspended manicure.»

«Suspended coffee» is a tradition of anonymous charity that originated in Naples. You pay for a cup of coffee for yourself and «suspend» another one (or several) in the air — paying for it for others. The same thing can now be done with a manicure.

The other day, a visually impaired girl with a cane came to the salon. She didn«t expect her manicure to be paid for in the same »suspended« way. The client shared with Daria that she is a member of the All-Russian Society of the Blind (VOS). That»s when the studio owner got the idea to contact the head of that society in Rostov and organize an event for them — a whole day with free services for people with visual impairments. That day will take place on July 29.

— Yesterday a girl came to us; she wasn«t disabled, but she said she had problems in her family — financial difficulties, nothing to pay for college. I said: »Come.« That is, we invite not only disabled people. When I was renting this space, I realized there»s no ramp here. And now I want to buy and install one so that wheelchair users can get in. I«ll be running around to administrations to get approval, since this is a historic building, — explains Daria Nilova.

«People can be cruel»

According to Daria Nilova, the idea for the first reel with Anastasia came from the need to find models for manicure practice. The master has no friends, and Daria Nilova«s friends had already come. So the owner started looking for models on social media. Time after training passed, skills weren»t being practiced — no one came.

In the first video, subscribers were told that the salon was ready to accept people with disabilities, hearing and visual impairments for free. That would be easier for Anastasia, and clients would be more loyal to her, since she«s a beginner master and might make mistakes. That way, the girl would build a base of clients similar to herself.

— People can be cruel. Because some come in from the street and say: «Make it quick for me.» We offered and said: «Look, there»s this master.« In response, we heard: »Girls, sorry, no, can I have a normal master?« And the word »normal« certainly offends. We couldn»t book anyone with Nastya, — says the studio founder.

After the viral video, everything changed. The audience fell in love with Anastasia, and people started booking paid services. What«s more, they sent her bouquets with words of support, left large tips, gave her certificates, and even concert tickets.

— She has so many flowers, I«ve never been given that many in my life. Look, half of them have already wilted (she points to vases with slightly withered flowers). They sent her a massage certificate, they send chocolate-covered strawberries. Pims sent us 10 large drinks, I was totally blown away. Guram Amaryan wrote to us. He booked a manicure with her and gave us 10 tickets to his concert. And the whole team is going — it»ll be like a corporate party, — adds Daria Nilova.

«She starts acting like a child»

The quality of Anastasia«s work has noticeably improved, Daria notes. In the beginning, training was hard; the process didn»t take three days plus a month of practice, but three months.

Now, according to the studio founder, Anastasia finds it easier to communicate in the team of about ten people — they laugh together, relax, and watch short videos.

But Daria faced a problem: the manicurist had gotten used to working with models for free. And realizing this, she doesn«t put in due effort, might do something wrong and then refuse to continue.

— She starts acting like a child. We had a conversation with her about this — if you want to work with people for money, you«ll have to learn to be an adult, — notes the studio owner.

Despite the difficulties, Anastasia remains a kind and open person: she still feels awkward taking tips and immediately rushes to give them to Daria or the administrator.

— She comes up and says: «Dasha, take it.» I say: «Never refuse, take it, it»s your job,« — Daria laughs.