Twenty-eight essie nail professionals set sail onboard a cruise ship for the EssieEducational Summit. The group is known as the essie national education team, hand-picked by Gino Trunzo, essie's Director of Education. They attended various classes during the summit that focused on aspects of the nail industry in order to complete the fundamental learnings for training professionals. Trunzo focused on meeting several objectives through the classes over the course of the summit to boost the education team's skills, both technical and professional such as:

• Building relationships with fellow professionals

• Best practices for health needs in order to maintain a healthy and safe nail salon environment

• Business practices and sales strategies

But overall, Trunzo wanted to promote what he believes is most important: a sense of teamwork and camaraderie. 

"My ultimate goal is to create a sense of mission for the essie education team to make sure everyone understands the team’s goals and what each individual member’s role is in achieving them," Trunzo says. "All essie team members must know what they’re trying to achieve collectively and what their individual role is in contributing to that success."

"Building a successful team takes discipline, patience, and hard work," he adds. "Having a true understanding of what really makes a team and what it takes for a team to be successful is critical if you want to be successful. Wearing the same uniform or participating in team-building exercises won’t make a team. It takes much more than that, and to figure out exactly how to turn the group you manage into a real team that works together, understands the team’s mission, and knows what each team member can do to help the team achieve success. It’s not an easy task, but it certainly is a rewarding one."