Meet Nra Kudelka | Shop owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nra Kudelka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nra, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve been a wardrobe stylist for 24 years and lived in Los Angeles for over 30 years. After graduating from UCLA and starting as a wardrobe assistant, I came across nail art while out shopping in the streets and stores of Los Angeles in the early 2000s and have been a fan ever since. Nail art is another means in which you can express yourself and your style, and really an extension of fashion. It seemed organic, fun, vibrant, and real just like the women I saw doing and wearing the art. I was hooked.

Being a nail art enthusiast for over 20 years, I have gone to numerous salons and seen the rise of nail art from a niche clientele to a main stream form of self expression. The nail industry, especially nail art industry, has exploded. I feel like I waited and bided my time until I finally felt the moment came to create the nail spot I have been envisioning for so long. Interior design space that makes you want to stay for a bit and keep coming back. Can you kick it? Yes you can! Cool music, art, fashion, pop culture and nails all living under one roof, with the people in the space wanting to create a community and enjoy the time spent in the shop. It’s a space where you want to stop by, hang out, and get your nails did…

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been a wardrobe stylist for over 20 years now and it has been a lot of hard work, long hours, and riding the wave that is freelance. I went from assisting stylists for free while working at a production company, to quitting the production company and assisting for little to no money, to working my way up to being an assistant who worked with some of the top stylists at the time, to then gambling it all and trying to start styling on my own with a styling partner, navigating the dissolution of that partnership, to styling exclusively on my own for the last 15 years. It’s been a lot of ups and down, unknowns, and unpredictable times and events, but I think by holding true to my moral compass and believing that it is important to be loyal, have a good work ethic, be flexible and able to pivot, and just try to be a good person through it all has allowed me to have the longevity in styling that I have had. I am hoping that those same qualities will translate to the same steady success in this new venture as a small business owner. I would love people to know that the shop they are supporting by coming in to get their nails done is a shop where so much thought and care has gone into making it a special space. I take the fact that people are choosing to come in and get a service with us seriously and really want them to enjoy their time in the space and want to come hang out again and again. We are your friendly neighborhood nail spot.

I think having that background of being a stylist separates me from other nail shops and nail shop owners as I have a different outlooks as to how I want the shop to look, what the mission behind the shop is, and where I think the shop can go. I wanted to create not just an aesthetically pleasing and cool place for clients to come in and get their nails done, but also one where the nail techs and people in the neighborhood would also enjoy and want to be a part of. I want it to be a spot in the community, a place for people to gather and enjoy themselves and each other. Being in LA for over 30 years I have seen how neighborhoods like Fairfax and La Brea are where all the cool kids go to and hang out and are little hubs in the city… I wanted to add my little spot and create some place that cool women, cool people, who are interested in music, fashion, art, design, can come by and hang out as well. Clique is a bit of a love letter to LA from me…

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I think the simple things are the most fun when you are with the right people. I love the beach and so does my bestie so I would honestly just want to hop in the car, drive up PCH, stop at Malibu seafood, and head over to Point Dume/Zuma, and just chill… no fuss, no muss. There is a little boutique hotel there, Hotel June, so maybe just stay there overnight. The next day I would say it would be fun to just start hitting up the different neighborhoods in LA… since we would be by the beach I would say to go to Venice, take in Abbott Kinney, have lunch at the Santa Monica Proper Hotel with it’s great design by Kelly Werstler. After lunch we could move over to Westwood and see our old stomping grounds at UCLA and Westwood and then have dinner in the Sawtelle West LA area for some good Japanese food. The next day we could move over to the Beverly Hills, Century City, WeHo areas, get in some shopping, if it’s Sunday I think Rocco’s has the Drag Queen brunch or something they do over there?… and while we are over in West Hollywood of course we would stop by Clique and get a mani/pedi! Maybe the next day we could keep moving east and go to LACMA and the Academy Museum by day and go to Korea Town for some BBQ and karaoke by night. Another fun area to visit would be DTLA with Grand Central Market and The Broad and the Arts District with The Row… maybe they might have their rooftop cinema nights we could take in. Virgil Village is cool and up and coming, I want to try eating at Budonoki, and Silverlake always has a good vibe, maybe stop by for their farmer’s market. Lastly it would be fun to end the trip with either a Dodger’s Game or a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Both iconic LA and two of my favorite things to do and be a part of here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people to shout out. First and foremost are my kids, Lucy and Cash. They make me a better person and help me strive for more. They have been so loving and understanding with me working long hours and being so distracted with the shop and getting it up and going. A huge shout out to my family: my dad, brother, cousins, aunt and uncle. Takes a village. They have been extremely supportive in so many ways while I navigate this new chapter in my life. On top of becoming a new small business owner, I also have found myself recently divorced and a single mom as of two years ago and they have been so supportive in so many ways and I truly couldn’t be here doing any of this without them. Same to my friends and co-workers. They have all rallied and supported me and encouraged me so much. The last few years have been some of the roughest I have faced, with so many uncertainties and challenges, and I truly couldn’t have weathered it without them.

As far as a business that has helped me is the design firm of Wall For Apricots. They are founded by two amazing women Katy Burgess and Brady Cunningham who are friends of over 10 years. They especially aim on taking strong women clients who are striving to make a difference and their voices heard on. Their help, along with their design associate Zya Houston’s vision and support during the design process was crucial to the look of Clique and it would not be the shop it is without them. So huge shout out to them.

This endeavor isn’t just a vanity project for me, as much as the whole idea and look may seem fun and extra, this really is a means in which I hope to help support myself and my kids, especially with our new normal. Being a single mom at this point in my life definitely wasn’t anything I planned or expected, and with the entertainment industry the way it has been, I felt like I needed to try and expand and give myself other means to generate income other than just doing wardrobe. I felt like I needed to take some action and manifest my own destiny. It’s a crazy, scary moment right now, with so much riding on the shop, but I’m hoping that through hard work, dedication, support of my family and friends, and a strong vision for the business things will fall into place and we can have some much needed stability and success!

Website: https://cliquethenailspot.com

Instagram: @cliquethenailspot.com

Yelp: Clique

Other: tik tok: @cliquethenailspot.com

Image Credits
Loreta Washington