Long Nguyen

Hello, I'm Long Nguyen, though many people in the nail industry know me as Tom Nguyen or Mr. SHi.

I was born and raised in Vietnam and moved to the United States just before turning 21. Like many immigrants, I arrived with big dreams, limited resources, and a determination to create a better future. At the time, I had no idea that the nail industry would become the foundation of my life's work.

My career began in a small salon where I learned the business from the ground up. The name "Tom" actually came about for a very simple reason. There was already another nail technician named Long working in the salon, which created confusion when clients booked appointments. The staff and clients began calling me Tom, and the name stayed with me.

Over the years, Tom Nguyen became my professional identity as a nail artist, a name I still use today.

Much later, another name emerged naturally. As SHi® Professionals grew and I became increasingly involved in education, students, nail professionals, and people within the industry began calling me Mr. SHi. I came to embrace it because it represents another part of my journey, the educator, creator, and founder behind SHi® Professionals.

From Survival to Craft

What started as a way to make a living gradually became a passion.

I became fascinated by the artistry, precision, and technical side of the profession. I wasn't satisfied with simply knowing how to perform a service. I wanted to understand why certain techniques worked better than others, why certain problems kept happening, and how better tools, education, and workflow could help professionals achieve more consistent results.

That curiosity followed me throughout my career.

The longer I worked behind the nail table, the more I realized that working harder wasn't always the answer. Sometimes a small change in technique, product control, organization, or workflow could make a significant difference.

Why I Created SHi® Professionals

Over the years, I saw talented nail technicians working incredibly hard while facing many of the same challenges I had experienced myself.

That realization inspired me to create SHi® Professionals, a professional nail education and tools brand built from real salon experience.

Our approach is education first. We don't simply want to tell professionals what product to use. We want them to understand how to use it, why a technique works, and how that knowledge can help them make better decisions behind the nail table.

The same philosophy guides our product development. We look at real problems nail professionals encounter and ask a simple question:

Always Learning. Always Sharing. Always Teaching.

Today, I have had the privilege of training more than 1,000 nail professionals and connecting with over 200,000 members of the nail community worldwide.

Those numbers mean a great deal to me, but what matters more is what happens to the individual professional.

When someone understands something that once frustrated them, improves a technique they struggled with, becomes more confident in their work, or discovers a smarter way of approaching their craft, that is what makes the journey meaningful.

After more than 25 years in this industry, I still consider myself a student. I am still learning. I am still experimenting. And I am still asking the same question that has followed me throughout my career: How can we do this better?

Whether through a product, a MasterClass, an educational video, or a simple conversation, my goal remains the same: share what I've learned and help the next generation of nail professionals build stronger skills, greater confidence, and sustainable careers.