During a 1975 trip to Hope Village (a Vietnamese refugee camp), she met with a group of women who had recently fled the takeover of South Vietnam by the armed forces of Communist leader
Ho Chí Minh. In an effort to introduce them to the US workforce, she soon discovered that the women were fascinated by her manicure. Hedren then arranged for her manicurist Dusty Coots Butera, with the help of a local cosmetology school, to teach the group of 20 women the art of the perfect manicure. Once the women were licensed, Hedren would personally scout nail technician openings in salons and secure jobs for her students. Some of the original 20 women, after graduating, taught the nail trade to other immigrants. This would lead to an explosion in Vietnamese working as nail technicians.
