Photo by Jon Anderson
Tu Lee is the owner of Vestavia Nails & spa and VIP Nails in Spa in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
Tu Le is the owner of Vestavia Nails & Spa at 2531 Rocky Ridge Road, Suite 123, in The Shops at Oak Park in Rocky Ridge and VIP Nails & Spa at 617 Montgomery Highway in downtown Vestavia Hills.
Q: How long have you been in this business?
A: Almost 18 years. 2007 until now.
Q: What made you decide you wanted to get into this?
A: I was working as a nail technician. I was going to school as an MBA [master’s in business administration] student also, but my husband said it was his dream to own a salon, so I said OK. So we pooled our money together. We were just dating then, and we got a salon. It was small, and when the [Champion Ballroom] dance studio moved out [of The Shops at Oak Park], we moved here. It’s 3,500 square feet. We were very excited. We opened, and one year later it was the pandemic, so it was perfect timing for the distancing. We felt safe.
Q: Why do you like being in this business?
A: I like people. I like what I do. I make people feel pretty. I feel like a therapist while I’m working on people. When I have my hair done, I feel pretty. I feel good about myself. It’s the same feeling for nails. We do facials, and we do waxing, and we do a lot. Now we just started a new head spa, which is trending all over the internet, but not many people in town are doing it. We’re just excited. We have the ability and the facility to do it. I love people.
Q: What’s something most people might not know about you?
A: I’m kind of an open book. People know about me. Not that I’m famous, but I’ve been here so long and run the business. I live in the community. My son goes to Pizitz [Middle School]. We have a house in Vestavia. I used to volunteer for my son’s school. I try to be in the community and be a part of it — soccer mom. He plays for the Vestavia Hills Soccer Club. Hopefully next year, if he tries out well, he will play for the high school, but right now he’s just in eighth grade.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work? Do you have hobbies?
A: We sing karaoke. I like to go and watch my son play soccer. It’s exciting. Not much [else]. I’m a workaholic.
Q: What’s your best karaoke song?
A: We do Vietnamese, so it’s hard to say. I met my husband at a karaoke bar. If it means anything, we both can sing OK. We like to sing, and I think that’s what struck him at first.
Q: Y’all always do Vietnamese karaoke?
A: We do some American, but we don’t know American songs like that. We turn it on and dance with it, but we don’t know how to sing it well like Americans do.
Q: Where do you go for karaoke?
A: We have all the system at the salon. We have a portable one. We have one that we hook up to the big screen in there. That’s like our outlet. That’s how we spend our money. It’s a way to release the tension, the stress. We work constantly, and we’re under stress. It’s fun, but there’s still stress. When you deal with people, if it slow, we’re stressed because there’s no money. If it’s busy, we’re stressed, too, because we want to get to the right people at the right time — be efficient. We don’t want to lose a client. We want to make all the money. You want to do it well — perfectionist kind of deal.
Q: Why do you choose to live in Vestavia Hills?
A: I did not. I was in Selma. There was an ad in a magazine, and we picked up a magazine to buy the salon. I talked to her for like an hour. We came here, and we decided to work for her for a week to decide. She had two salons, so we worked for her to see what we liked. After a week, my husband was like, ‘Not the one in Five Points West. Let’s do the one in Vestavia.’ So we did this one, and we grew the shop slowly. We grew it, and we loved it, and people love us. We’re very thankful for the support. … I’ve always liked Birmingham because of the Galleria. It was like 20 years ago, and the Galleria was like the place.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?
A: I’ve been to Europe. I go to Vietnam a lot because that’s where my parents are. I’m the only one in America. I don’t have anybody here but my own husband and son. I still like Vietnam, but I really enjoy Europe, even though I’ve only made one trip. I feel like, two hours later, you’re in a different country. People dress differently. People eat differently. That’s exciting. You can’t get that in America. It was different. It was fun.
Q: How did you end up here in America in the first place?
A: A Lutheran missionary couple was going to Vietnam to teach. They decided to pick me and another girl. They picked two girls to come to their house in Colorado, and they did the paperwork, and we came over here our senior year as exchange students. They said if you get scholarships, you can go to school. If not, you go back home. We spent nine months to study hard. Took the SAT. Took the ACT and then applied. We got full scholarship to Concordia [College in] Selma. That’s a Lutheran college. So we went to Selma, and we did four years. But in order to stay in America, you keep going, so you go for MBA. We were business majors at AUM [Auburn University at Montgomery].
Q: You were doing that when you met your husband?
A: I was in college when I met my husband. He was not doing nails then. He was working at a restaurant, and then he decided to follow me and do nails. That’s his dream. That was never my dream, but it turned out to be pretty good.
