JOPLIN, Mo. — If you’re tired of trying to break through the glass ceiling – why not start your own business? Prospective business owners received advice, Monday in Joplin, from a woman who did just that.

It was a goal of Natty Redd to eventually start her own beauty business, which is called Happy Hour Wax and Facial Bar. But she says she couldn’t have accomplished that without the help of Katie Fields with the Small Business Development Center on the campus of MSSU. So when Fields asked her to be the guest speaker at a Women In Business event, she says it’s the least she could do.

Natty Redd, Owner, Operator, Happy Hour Wax & Facial Bar, said, “She has helped me so much, I would not be where I am today without her, I feel very blessed that I found her, a friend of mine who is also a small business owner, she told me about them and so I was like, wow that’s awesome that there is something like that here to help women in small businesses.”

This is the second year in a row the annual event was held virtually due to the pandemic. It focused on building your own brand. Events like this can help women not only learn what to do, but what not to do when it comes to starting your own business. And Fields says she couldn’t think of anyone more appropriate to share real world experience than someone who’s been there and done that.

Katie Fields, SBDC Business Consultant, said, “I think it’s huge to talk to someone who has started and is a seasoned business owner now for them to highlight what has worked for them and what hasn’t, and to hear from they’re actual someone in business that they’re still learning today by trial and error.”

“I started school late in life, I was 30 and so, I just knew this was it, this is what I wanted so bad, you have to really want it and there are so many people out there that are going to be willing to help you, you just have to ask for it,” said Redd.