Matheus David
Inside a softly lit room in Tsandi, the glow of a ring light falls gently on a young woman seated behind her worktable.
Her posture is focused, her hands steady, her tools neatly arranged around her, bottles of polish, brushes, and practice charts pinned to the wall. Wearing her mask and work apron, Helvi Nuusiku Iitula moves with the quiet confidence of someone who has mastered both her craft and her purpose.
At the age of 24, Iitula runs Helvi_Nails, Lashes & Foot Spa, a small beauty business serving clients in Tsandi and Ongwediva. The picture of her at work tells its own story: a student who refused to wait for the right time to begin, and instead carved a path while balancing textbooks, lectures and never-ending client messages.
An education graduate, Iitula began her business after noticing a gap around her. “I saw a need,” she says. “And being a student helped; I was surrounded by people who wanted these services daily. It made it easy to see opportunities,” she added.
What began as a simple hobby, a little curiosity and a willingness to learn, slowly grew into something bigger. Her clients valued her careful approach, her neat finishes, and the comfort of knowing they didn’t need to travel far for quality work. Even while working on the client’s toes neatly spaced with toe separators and bright red powlish drying, she continues perfecting another technique with full concentration. She is used to multitasking, learning, improving, and never stopping.
Iitula planned her time, set priorities and made room for rest. “A typical day started with schoolwork or lectures,” she says. “After that, I handled appointments, responded to clients, or managed my social pages. It was a lot, but staying organised made it manageable.” Her journey wasn’t always smooth. Many didn’t take her seriously because of her age. At times, she lacked the resources and products clients preferred. But instead of giving up, she pushed herself further, watching tutorials, learning from other technicians, and practising on friends or training hands until her skills improved. “Mistakes happened,” she says. “But each one taught me something. Each correction made me stronger and more confident,” she said. For her community, her business is more than beauty. It offers convenience, inspiration and a reminder that dreams can start anywhere, even in a student room with a ring light and a small shelf of nail polish bottles.
What motivates her is simple: happy clients, messages of appreciation, and people telling her she inspires them. “It reminds me that what I’m building matters,” she says. “It helps me put bread on my table, and it gives me purpose,” she said.
Now that she has completed her studies, Iitula is ready to pour more attention into her business while still pursuing job interviews. She dreams of expanding, innovating and building a brand that reaches beyond her immediate surroundings.
“I want to grow, gain more experience, and push myself out of my comfort zone,” she says. “This journey has shown me that growth never ends. I’m excited to see where it leads,” she explains.
As she sits in her small workspace, focused, patient, and determined, it’s clear this is only the beginning of the brand she is shaping, one brushstroke at a time.