Multitasking: Accomplishments include HR degree, owning nail salon, role in reality TV
Tessa Louw Tullues from Pretoria East talks about showing up on Showmax when she didn’t feel like it and what keeps her filing nails and building her empire.
The 37-year-old owner of Smoosh The Salon in Pretoria said if she could be on a reality TV show such as the Mommy Club: Van Die Hoofstad (Pretoria) again, she would do it a hundred times over.
“Who doesn’t want to drink wine on a Monday at 12pm with a few girls,” said the mother of two boys.
Louw Tullues said one of the biggest challenges of appearing on a reality show was wearing makeup every day. But she realised it was also okay to be too busy for a full glam look.
Louw Tullues has learned that you don’t have to be TV-ready every day. “But if you are going through something and you are not feeling yourself, dress up and show up, because one moment could change your whole day or life,” she said.
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Louw Tullues, who married her high school sweetheart Eddie 16 years ago, started her first business at the age of 22, Young Nails, then Smoosh, which branched out into Mia’s Secret.
She was born in Kempton Park and grew up there until her family moved to Pretoria in her standard 6 school year. She went to Waterkloof Hoërskool.
“It was an adjustment coming from a small school and then enrolling in a big school like Waterkloof. It was like the heavens opened up to me because I wasn’t used to it.”
After completing matric, Louw Tullues studied in Cape Town and obtained a degree in human resources, but quickly realised that it wasn’t what she wanted to do. She decided to help her mother out in her nail salon while she figured things out.
“That’s where my love for nails started. I completed a nail course before my HR degree and used to make extra spending money as a student doing my friends’ nails,” she said.
Louw Tullues also imports and distributes Mia’s Secret nails and has trained manicurists in the US, including Tom Bachik, who does Jennifer Lopez’s and Selena Gomez’s nails.
“I have been setting trends in the nail industry internationally, that’s why I don’t compete with the Joneses. Not every woman has money for a psychologist, but they can make themselves feel better. So if you end up in my chair, I will make sure you walk away happier.”
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Louw Tullues said doing nails also allows her to meet many new people who become clients and, later, good friends.
“My favourite nail style is a Russian almond, because not everybody can do it. It takes me up to four hours compared with a normal set of nails that takes up to 45 minutes.”
Despite branching out with nail training courses and product lines, Louw Tullues said she would never stop doing nails herself.
“It keeps me grounded. I earn less when I sit behind my station, but I wouldn’t change it for anything, because my girlfriends visit me and I get paid for it,” she said.
Louw Tullues has two guilty pleasures: a girl’s night out and eating out with friends or family. Her favourite meal is a classic Sunday lunch – oxtail, rice, potatoes and veggies.
“I don’t drink coffee or tea, but love a glass of Chardonnay.”
While Louw Tullues said she enjoyed the camera, lights and action of reality TV, she was focusing on herself, her children and her business. When she isn’t in the salon or front of the cameras, she is at the rugby field cheering for her son or helping with school work.
She’s not a morning person and has to drag herself out of bed at 5am to prepare the lunch boxes and get ready for the day, which includes anything from nail clients to product meetings or TV shoots.
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During the show’s shoot, Louw Tullues still had to fit in her usual clients so she scheduled the appointments early in the morning or after work to accommodate filming.
Louw Tullues said she is softer than she appeared on TV screens.
“I don’t hold grudges or have enemies, except when it comes to my husband and kids.
“There was a lot of childish nonsense going on in the show.
“In real life, you don’t cause a scene with someone because of gossip about someone.
“Everybody is allowed to have an opinion,” she said.
Louw Tullues decided to do the show during a very dark phase in her life, but said she would do it 100 times over again. “It was to inspire other women to do the same.”
The biggest lesson she learned from it is to trust herself.
