Santa Cruz SBDC

Judy’s Pedicare

“Working with the group of students from Get Virtual was amazing because they were so professional and I was very impressed with how they handled everything.”

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Judy’s PediCare is a certified, safe salon for the chronically ill, geriatric, and all individuals seeking safe pedicures and special pampering. Judy Webb is a licensed cosmetologist, with advanced and medical nail technician certifications who provides medical procedure-grade pedicures for her clients.
With a body injury that limited her work options, Judy started exploring job opportunities and began to take courses to specialize services, which allowed her to switch to high-risk and medically refer patients in 2018. It was after she heard about a medical nails technicians program, that she met her shop’s previous owner, who offered it to her. Despite her lack of business background, she jumped on the opportunity and, as she grew and sent letters to the Palo Alto Foundation, she started getting new patients from them, therefore increasing traffic.


Unlike most salons, Judy’s Pedicare is a certified safe salon, meaning that she sterilizes all of her implements even though it is not a state requirement, hence why her shop stands out more than the average salon. Her services go beyond cosmetic purposes, and rather promote overall health, as Judy has even detected cancer in her patients by implementing what is called the “3 Rs”: recognize, recommend and refer.


COVID-19 has only reinforced the need for safe spaces, and Judy’s salon offered a private, sterilized clinic to care for her patients. The pandemic essentially prompted an exponential increase in recognition and traffic, leading to the need for an expansion plan, as Judy was faced with a full schedule. In need of mentorship, Judy attended some of our many webinars, where she became familiar with the logistics of starting a business in Santa Cruz and navigated the steps to creating a strong business plan.


The main focus with Judy was to set up a functioning and easy-to-navigate website to establish an online presence and create credibility. Luckily, UCSC’s Get Virtual internship program offered students the opportunity to engage with their local communities, while serving as mentors to business owners looking to redesign their websites. Judy’s need for implementing SEO and increasing social media presence was addressed by the GV team through the design of marketing flyers and web development. Their team also worked on increasing Judy’s Pedicare ranking and set up a Facebook and Instagram account to broaden her business’ exposure.


These combined efforts proved fruitful as Judy is booked for the rest of 2022 and hopes to expand her business to include more employees, training courses, and possibly a franchise.