Taryn Bennett ’23 launches a luxury nail business and polishes her analytics skills
Some people set an alarm to buy concert tickets as soon as they go on sale; others to secure a spot for a popular college course. Then there are clients of Taryn Bennett ’23, whose reminders are set to book manicure appointments that typically fill up within minutes of posting. Her company, Nails by Taryn LLC, formally launched in 2022.
“I never thought my business would get to this point; I have Instagram photos with more than 50,000 likes,” Bennett says. In any given month, she delivers luxury nail service experiences to about 50 customers while managing her Bentley coursework.
Bennett’s designs on acrylic and natural fingernails are done freehand — with art ranging from gold glitter French manicures and comic art to chocolate bars and even a mini ultrasound image. Bennett says, “I love it when clients challenge me with new ideas.”
It was in 2020 when Bennett first started doing nail art out of her dorm room to earn money to pay for college. On some evenings and weekends in her first year of business, she did nails from home in Brockton, about 45 minutes from Bentley, and later at a small salon in town. Juggling the back-and-forth to and from campus became a challenge, but things changed when she got a chance to rent space closer to campus at a shop in Randolph. It also proved convenient for her Bentley clientele to access.
Bennett’s business grew organically, mostly by word-of-mouth but also with social reshares. She credits much of her success to her unique and detailed hand-painted designs. “If I have to, I’ll go over a line five times to create the right line because I want it to be perfect,” says Bennett, who got her nail license in June of 2021. “I want every set of nails to be as if it were on my own hands.”
