On May 26, PBS will feature Nailed It: a documentary uncovering the history behind the Vietnamese nail salon in America, and highlighting the work and voices of Vietnamese entrepreneurs. The Asian Women Giving Circle is proud to have funded director and producer Adele Pham for the creation of this amazing project.
“Nailed It” spans the US from Los Angeles to the Bronx to meet the diverse people and relationships behind this booming and enigmatic trade. The documentary first premiered on PBS in May 2019, and is the highest streamed film of the America Reframed series.
I knew that something was missing in mass media about this thing, this nail thing, and I always wondered why so many Vietnamese people were in the nail industry, to the point where my father, who is a Vietnamese refugee who came in 1975 — wanted me to get into the nail industry as I was graduating high school.
It was just something that I was diametrically opposed to because of my own internal classism… And that’s something that I’ve been reanalyzing since I was 18. I just knew there was a whole other side to this industry, [and] being Vietnamese, that the greater general public did not understand.
Adele Pham — creator, director, and producer of “Nailed It”
We’ll be tuning in to “Nailed It” on PBS next Wednesday, May 26, 9/8 central. Check out the trailer in the meantime, and you can also stream of Nailed It online if you miss the PBS date, or just have to watch it again!