Drawing inspiration: meet VCC alum and nail art creator Santana Walker

Santana Walker is a multi-hyphenate right down to her nails.  

She’s a B.C. Aboriginal Business Award winner, entrepreneur, esthetics innovator, nail artist, and trailblazer. A member of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) First Nation, Santana graduated from VCC’s Esthetics & Spa Therapy program, where she gained the foundational skills that have led to her career success and her evolution as a nail artist.  

When she was first looking to start her career in esthetics, Santana chose VCC because of the opportunities to develop theoretical knowledge and practical skills and apply them in a real-life workplace setting. 

“Having public clients come into the VCC Salon & Spa for services prepared me for working in spa environments,” recalls Santana. “My instructor was amazing; the products we used were amazing. It was a really great experience overall. I loved my time at VCC.” 

Santana’s specialty is formline, a traditional Pacific Northwest Coast nail art design that draws on her ancestral roots and years of esthetics experience. As someone who draws, it was natural for her to progress from standard nail art to including formline in her practice. 

In October 2024, Santana was approached by the Smithsonian to participate in a collaborative museum project. Nail art creators like Santana were invited to design nail sets inspired by the Smithsonian’s diverse artifacts, exhibits, and collections. Through a series of videos, the Smithsonian aimed to attract new audiences to its museums and to inspire new ways of seeing and understanding art. For Santana, the project was a deeply poignant experience that gave her the chance to see beautiful, inspiring artwork – including formline design – from Squamish Nation peoples and other Indigenous communities. 

Nail art is a powerful form of self-expression, a groundbreaking way to communicate and connect. It’s how Santana was able to draw inspiration from the museum tour and transform her experience into art. 

Santana remembers her first design of a nail set where she was given full agency: “It was a viral moment that exploded and showed me that I really had something that no one else was doing.” That sense of identity inspires Santana to lead by example. She participates in wellness days with Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) elders in Bella Bella, BC and elders of the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Wauthuth) First Nation. When she hosts VCC practicum students at her Revive Wa áynexwi7 Day Spa, Santana encourages them to “practice the art from their territories and be authentic to themselves and where they are from.” 

Because at the end of the day, Santana believes that what she does is more than just nails and more than just art; it’s “a way to revitalize Indigenous art and language.”