http://www.nala-lashassociation.com...
Nala -Just an Extortion Business
I have it on good authority that Levi Shephard and her organization http://www.nala-lashassociation.com/, National Association of Lash Artists, NALA, and www.nalamembers.com is an extortion business. She earns a living through the extortion of lash artists.
Because there is no official government accreditation for lash artistry, Shephard charges lash artists to appear on her site in order to defraud the general public that they are officially accredited by an official governing body.
Each lash artist or training company must pay Shephard to be listed among their competitors (terrible marketing strategy) and are given permission to use a digital “badge” as long as their dues are paid.
It would appear that lash artists and training companies who are unfamiliar with the intelligence of the general public are accepting of this, and allow themselves to continue to be listed despite the negative impression this organization gives them.
Shephard includes bizarre non-english “comment stuffing” beneath each “accredited” company or lash artist as an attempt to make it look like people are interested in these companies as a result of being on this site.
Certainly, if you visit the site, you’ll notice the attempt at using phrases that sound official and government-like.
Beyond the lack of ethics, I have to say it is fascinating that a worthless digital badge and being listed amongst your competitors is something that anyone would pay for. Just put an ad on Google.
I think an investigation of the organization is warranted – just a few quick searches led me to a number of unhappy past-members who felt misled and embarassed for being involved in this.
From receiving awards for plagiarized curriculums to claims of Shephard “approving” a curriculum and providing an accreditation badge for a blank document, and a number of other companies claiming Shephard is not respecting their copyright claims.
It also appears she is encouraging her members to post the Nala badge on their own site, so that others can see it and choose to take her “Educator” program which immediately creates competition for the members she claims to be “protecting.”
A past member from Kamloops showed some very compelling evidence that the site does indeed extort lash artists by threatening to post negative complaints to the public unless they pay an additional fee. Whether or not these negative complaints are real or not is very suspect.
Sadly, if people still fall for the lure of her false awards ceremony, even though the public knows it is a farce, there’s nothing that can be done to protect those people other than ask them what a digital badge is really worth.
Just a quick view through her directory, it’s obvious these are far from the best companies out there, just the ones that got scammed.
