Healing With a Devoted Heart

Rye’tious Nails was founded on the porch of a SouthWest Philly row home where a young girl with a nail kit and a big heart began her journey into purposeful, transformative foot care.

In 2009, 8-year-old Rye received her first nail kit as a Christmas gift. By spring 2010, she was spending her after-school hours polishing her nails on her grandmother’s porch. In true Philly fashion, the neighborhood was alive adults, kids, stray cats, and barking dogs all passing by as little Rye turned nail care into an art.

It didn’t take long for people to notice. Friends began asking her to do their nails. Then neighbors. Before she knew it, Rye was running a porch-side nail service at just 8 years old.

Then came Ms. Ann, an 86-year-old woman from the neighborhood, who inquired via her grandmother about Rye to get a pedicure. Sarai was nervous… she hadn’t even gotten a foot basin yet,but she accepted the challenge. With courage and care, she brought her nail kit into Ms. Ann’s antique living room, sat on the floor, and performed her very first waterless pedicure: removing old polish, shaping and buffing nails, applying Ms. Ann’s favorite purple polish, and finishing with a gentle foot massage using Jergen’s lotion.

She charged $10. Ms. Ann gave her a $5 tip.

At that moment, Sarai didn’t just feel like the richest kid on the block..she realized that this was more than a hustle. It was a true calling and ministry that created a space of servitude for generations to collide.

From that day forward, Mrs.Quinice pursued education and certification to become a Medical Nail Technician to elevate foot health, restore dignity, and make sure others, especially elders like Ms. Ann, received the care they deserved.
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Today, Mrs. Sarai Quinice is the 1st, black, and youngest-leading Medical Nail Technician in the state of Pennsylvania.

But the vision goes beyond the studio walls. Rye brings her waterless medical pedicures into nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and assisted living communities meeting clients where they are and honoring their stories along the way.

Because Rye knows:

One day, when she’s 86, she hopes someone will treat her feet with the same love, care, and purpose that she gave to Ms. Ann and others.