(dramatic music)
- I'm one of the Long Nail Goddesses.
It's a community of ladies with long nails.
Long nails have been a part of my life
practically all my life.
The First Lady is the pastor's wife.
(loud chattering)
Traditionally, first ladies have big hats,
short nails; and I'm a first lady
with long nails and fascinators.
Tradition doesn't define me, so why would
I cut my nails for church?
If I can't come in being who I am,
what good am I going to do for anybody
sitting on any one of these rows?
Everybody is somebody, at
First Zion Hill Baptist Church.
Long Nail Goddesses feel just
as welcome as anybody else.
(upbeat violin music)
(dramatic music)
- Tell her we're leaving to church.
- We on our way.
- Maria has been doing my nails for about five years.
Every week I go for four to five hours
to get my nails done.
- Hi baby, how are you?
- When she opens the floor, she opens
her doors for all of us to come together.
That's our community.
- I've been doing nails almost 23 years.
Since I was young, I already knew, I was different.
It definitely helped me to identify with my girls.
I came out in the '80s as transgender,
and it was very difficult for me.
Being ostracized by society;
I know what it is to be rejected.
Knowing how that feels, I created
a safe haven for the girls, and I needed that myself.
We are a family.
(nails clicking together)
- People ask me questions like,
"How do you do anything?"
Like I clean my baseboards;
I clean my oven;
I put contacts in!
They grew, I didn't glue them on.
They grew, so that's how I know how to use them.
When we're out in the world,
people say nasty things, some whisper.
It's so rude.
It hurts, but I could talk to Maria.
I can vent.
She doesn't realize the power that she has,
with being able to build a person's spirit with nails.
And when I leave out of there, it's like
OK, my nails look beautiful; I feel beautiful;
and I'm revived, I'm charged, let's go.
- It's just like heaven, you know?
You laugh, you joke, we talk to one another
about this and that; and I love just being here.
- People speak different languages,
but we all speak this one language.
And we all live this right here.
- I love these girls.
They're the sisters that I don't have, I have six brothers.
And these are the women in my life.
- Our community at the salon,
that's where I go get my mojo back so to speak.
So, that's what we do when we gather.
We help each other.
Seeing my Long Nail Goddess sisters
sit in my pew at church is the most amazing experience.
That also lets me know that beyond our salon walls,
we support each other.
The Long Nail Goddesses, it's a community of love.