Barriers

Melanie Armstrong grew up in African American culture. In that tradition, she says, generation after generation of women have braided their hair.

After a few years of working in psychology, she dreamed of opening and running her own business to carry on the hair braiding tradition. But her dream started to become a nightmare when she encountered barriers put up by the government.

The State of Mississippi required her to get licensing in irrelevant skills to start the business, which would mean going to school for a year and a half plus paying the State a fee of $10,000. She fought against this barrier, then started her business plus a school to teach the skill.

She says, "I think we need to take a serious look at the regulatory walls that are barring entrepreneurs from making an honest living."