the shuttle with its pink-and-black color scheme and its
inviting couches and pillows. Her actual workspace, a marbled
black manicure table, sits at one end of the bus. Dudley
intended the salon to be a peaceful place where customers
can drop their worries and sit and relax while they do
something for themselves.
She also made sure her new mobile workspace would stand
out when moving down the road. The exterior is painted white
with her phone number, Facebook and Instagram information
emblazoned boldly, along with multicolored embellishments,
including blue and bubblegum-hued nail polish bottles.
“It pops out,” she says. “You can see it coming.”
When Dudley began researching how to take her salon on
the road, she came across a woman online in Pennsylvania
who had moved her nail business into a mini school bus.
Dudley liked the idea, but she wasn’t able to get a lot of advice
on how to proceed with her own conversion. She learned
as she went during the actual process of gutting the shuttle
and making it into a place where she could work safely and
comfortably while welcoming the public.
“It took a minute to figure it out,” she says.
She wasn’t completely alone, though. She had constant
support from her husband, Akeem Dudley, who is also an
entrepreneur. He owns the Cartersville Bargain Bin.
“He’s been my biggest supporter,” Markecia Dudley says.
“We help each other.”
For Dudley, the decision to make her business mobile
has been a welcome and freeing change. Being on the road
frequently to meet clients is a little different than being
stationed in a workplace, but the new setting seems to suit
her.
“I honestly love it,” she says. “It’s different. I like to go, go,
go and meet new people and things.”
Rome Life | MAY 2021 23
/www.lespalmasmexicanrest.com