When Vietnamese refugees arrived in the US after the fall of South Vietnam, Ms. Hedren (Melanie Griffith's mother) visited a camp outside Sacramento. The women of the camp expressed interest in her manicured nails, so she suggested that learning how to do nails would be an excellent career for them - relatively little English is required, so lack of fluency was a minimal barrier. She had her personal manicurist flown up to the camp to teach an initial class of 20 women, and after they had been trained, she helped them get licenses and jobs.

And that's why so many nail salons in the US are Vietnamese-owned and -staffed.