The beauty of it all: New program at UH Maui College offers esthetician, nail tech programs at request of high school students

Walk into Laulima Building’s classroom 213 at the University of Hawai’i Maui College and you might think you were in the wrong place. Instead of microscopes and beakers in the lab, there are cuticle pushers, waxing pots and people sitting in comfy chairs soaking their feet.

The mini salon and spa is part of a noncredit course offered by the community college and recommended by high school students in Hana Lima, a scholarship program and career exploration initiative designed to support students of all ages who are pursuing vocational and technical education.

Students were asked during summer exploration sessions what professions they would like to learn at the community college, and beauty was among the top choices. The Hana Lima program also has led to the school adopting courses in auto detailing, automotive, culinary arts, agriculture, creative media and construction with the goal of students earning industry credentials.

As a result, the community college now is offering its first Beauty Operator Program, instructed by Reese Yap, an experienced beauty expert on Maui. The program includes hands-on courses that teach students to become licensed nail technicians and estheticians (skin care specialists).

The esthetician course started June 16 and runs until Feb. 18, 2026. The nail technician course goes June 18 until Oct. 23. An eye lash extension course also is offered, running July 14 to 18.

The inaugural class of the Beauty Operator Program has 13 women, ranging in age from 19 to 61.

“This has been a passion project of mine for the past three years,” said Yap, who earned her instructor’s license in 2021, has been a licensed esthetician since 2016 and a licensed nail technician since 2009.

“This is another example of our commitment to creating real-world experiences for students to learn skills needed in the community,” Lui Hokoana, chancellor of UH Maui College, said in a news release. “Students will also gain the confidence they need to succeed in the beauty industry.”

Yap has spent 16 years building a successful career, progressing from an apprentice to a licensed educator, business owner and mentor.

“I’m now ready to share the wisdom I’ve gained with the next generation,” Yap said. “I saw a need in our community — a desire for affordable, hands-on beauty education rooted in real opportunity.”

Yap said college is all about providing students with a career path, and the beauty program has gone from “career exploration into an actual career.”

In the first class, eight students are in both the esthetician and nails programs, while five are taking just the the skin care specialist course. Tuition is $6,000 for the esthetician program and $4,000 for the nail technology program.

Costs for similar programs on Maui can run more than $10,000 for esthetics and $6,800 for nail technology. Costs in Honolulu for esthetician courses can cost nearly $10,000.

Six of the eight who are doing both programs are receiving full scholarships through the Hana Lima Career Exploration program, based on financial need and performance in the field.

“It’s a hard industry. It’s about beauty, right?” Yap said. “So if you don’t look a certain way, you don’t act a certain way, those can be downfalls. But at the same time, you have to be able to build yourself up from the inside out.”

Yap said she is “maxed out” at 13 students due to the size of the current classroom, but is hopeful that the college can allocate more space to expand the program in the future.

The second session of new students will begin in the spring with the precise time still to be determined. It already is full, with a wait list, according to Yap.

The Hawaiʻi Board of Barbering and Cosmetology requires students complete 600 hours to get an esthetician license and 350 hours to become a certified nail technician. 

Yap said people have misconceptions about the beauty industry, questioning why so many hours are required to become eligible to take the state licensing tests.

“The students have to learn anatomy. They have to learn physiology, histology. They have to learn infection control,” Yap said. “They need to learn skin diseases, nail diseases, skin illnesses. Even when going into lash extensions, it’s the same process with the eyes. You have to learn all of that.”

First aid also is a big part of the learning process.

“In order for us to get our license and to pass the state exam, we have to know about all of these various different things,” Yap said. “It’s not that different from nursing.”

The clinic room holds six esthetic stations, equipped with microdermabrasion machines for facial treatments and all the other necessary tools and products needed for each student to perform treatments “successfully and confidently,” Yap said.  

Each esthetic student receives an image product skin care care kit worth $275, textbooks and digital access to the curriculum.

The clinic room also includes three pedicure and six nail stations. Students receive kits worth $350 that include gel polish, LED nail lamps, electric nail file, and systems to perform acrylic and gel nail enhancements. They also receive textbooks and access to digital curriculum.

“Designing the clinic was intended to give the students a real life perspective and experience of working in an actual salon and spa,” Yap said.

There is a separate classroom for theory instruction, business planning and small group work.

The camaraderie between the students has grown quickly in the first month of the program and it is part of the overall plan. By learning and practicing on each other, they also leave the classroom looking good.

“We’re our own billboards,” Yap said. “If we don’t have nice nails are you going to come to me and get your nails done? The ladies learn that quickly by working together.”

Upon completion of the required hours, the students will receive a diploma, apply to the state to take examinations to become licensed “so that they can work in the field, open their own businesses or just have a sustainable income with doing something that they love to do,” Yap said.

Having the program on Maui helps keep some local students on their home island.

In April, Gigi Ivarsson, a 29-year-old who graduated from Seabury Hall in 2014, moved back to Maui from England, where she spent much of the last decade. She learned about the Beauty Operator Program from a friend a few days after coming home.

“The second I found out about it, I signed up because I’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” Ivarsson said. “It’s huge because I was otherwise looking at going off island to Washington or some other state for potentially a much longer, more expensive program.”

Ivarsson attended Oxford Brookes University in England, where she studied anthropology and international relations. Now, she is studying to be an esthetician with Yap as well as taking an online master’s degree program in clinical nutrition. 

Concentrating her hours only on the esthetician program with Yap, Ivarsson has cut back her master’s degree work and plans to finish her esthetician program required hours in November. It all goes together in a big plan for Ivarsson.

“I want to do a whole body wellness and holistic wellness plan, like from the inside out,” Ivarsson said. “I want to deal with the inside and the outside.”

Jaelyn Corpuz, 19, graduated from Maui High School in 2024 and was part of a Hana Lima summer exploration program with Yap in 2023. She entered UH Maui College to study business administration but wanted to be in the beauty program if it became available.

“I was in the midst of trying to find a job, because I was just in college at that time,” Corpuz said. “But then this opportunity came up.”

After finishing the program, Corpuz plans to also finish her business administration associates degree.

“And then I’m going to probably try to jumpstart my own business in the beauty industry,” she said. 

She said had this program on Maui not started, she was planning to fly to Oʻahu and apply at the beauty schools there.

Corpuz received a Hana Lima scholarship for the esthetician and nails program, after writing a 1,000-word essay “about why we should be here, what was our journey … and what made us interested. And I feel that it’s a weight off my shoulders. The (scholarship) money is just a big help.”

Caelia Sachiko Pierner, a 20-year-old who graduated from King Kekaulike High School in 2022, is on a half scholarship from Goodwill Hawaii Workforce Innovation program that helps individuals with employment barriers access education, training and employment opportunities. Pierner is paying $5,000 in tuition to study in both programs.

Pierner said her long-term goal is to own her own beauty salon on Maui, but she wants to get “some real world experience first.”

Olivia Nguyen, 33, has been a licensed massage therapist on Maui for 12 years. She is doing the esthetician course as she continues to work full-time at Body Therapeutics Maui.

“This program is really wonderful because you can put in as many hours or as little hours as you’d like,” Nguyen said. “We can do a minimum of 20 hours and a maximum of 40.”

Nguyen, who also is working on a liberal arts degree from UH Maui College, said she will complete her part of the beauty program by September and then add her new abilities to her massage therapy business.

“In the little spa that we work in, the massage services that we offer, sometimes we do combination treatments that include facials,” she said. “So I’d like to get to know how to be able to perform those treatments as well as self-care.” 

“I’ve always wanted to do specifically esthetics and nails, but it’s never offered as a package deal here,” Pierner said.

Pierner is happy to be part of the first class: “We have such a great group of girls. And it just feels like we’re a part of this huge legacy.”