04 | Booked-Out in Huron: Irie’s Story of Culture, Community & Growing a Beauty Business

Nov 28

If you have ever scrolled Huron Facebook groups looking for a good nail tech, wished you did not have to drive to Sioux Falls for beauty services, or wondered how young women business owners are shaping the Huron beauty industry, this episode of the Huron Spotlight Podcast needs to be in your queue.

In this conversation, we sit down with Irie, a Huron SD cosmetologist who has built a growing, word of mouth beauty business in under a year by focusing on one simple goal. She wants every client who sits in her chair to walk out feeling confident and beautiful.

If you have searched for Huron SD nails, a local nail tech in Huron SD, or a cosmetologist who actually listens and cares about your natural nails, this is your peek behind the scenes of what it looks like to build that kind of business from the ground up.

Irie shares what it was like to graduate high school in 2021, try a more traditional college path, realize it was not for her, and then take the leap into cosmetology at Lake Area. She talks candidly about finding her place in Huron, honoring her Asian family’s expectations to stay close and support her parents, and still carving out a path as a young woman business owner in South Dakota. We also get into the real life side of starting a beauty business in a town like Huron, where the official population is around 14,000 but the surrounding rural communities make the reach much bigger. Irie describes those early months when she was brand new, did not know many people, and honestly thought there might only be a few hundred potential clients. We talk about how she used social media, Instagram tags, and client referrals instead of paid ads to slowly fill her books.

If you are curious how services like builder gel, hard gel, and GelX nails actually work, why they last longer, and why they are different from traditional acrylics, Irie breaks it down in regular person language. She also shares the part most people do not see. Taxes that are kicking her butt, trying to find work life balance when your brain never really shuts off, and the emotional relief of not having to walk into a job where a difficult coworker can ruin your day. Along the way, we zoom out and talk about culture, multigenerational living, and why so many immigrant families in Huron feel like they have cracked a code that many of us in more isolated western style households are still trying to figure out.

If you care about Huron small business stories, are curious about the Huron beauty services scene, or simply want to support a young woman who is quietly raising the bar for what is possible in our local beauty industry, this episode will give you a mix of heart, humor, and very real talk.

Tune in to the full conversation on the Huron Spotlight Podcast to hear Irie’s story, learn more about her services, and get a feel for why keeping talent like hers in Huron SD matters so much for our community.

Key Moments from this Conversation with Irie

How Irie went from trying an online physical therapy assistant program to finding her place in cosmetology at Lake Area, and why a lash artist’s story nudged her to just try it and see.
What it was like to graduate high school in 2021, consider moving to Sioux Falls, and then decide to stay in Huron because of her parents, Asian culture, and the value of being close to family.
The reality of starting a beauty business in Huron, thinking there were only “400 people in town,” and slowly building a steady client base through social media, family, and word of mouth instead of paid advertising.
A simple breakdown of builder gel, hard gel, and GelX nails, why Irie prefers them over acrylics, how they help nails last four to five weeks without chipping, and why clients who are hard on their nails love the results.
Why many clients used to travel out of town for nails and other beauty services, and how having a skilled Huron cosmetologist who can do nail art, structured gel, lashes, brows, and more keeps that spending local.
The honest differences between working for a boss and running your own chair, including the relief of not dealing with toxic coworkers, the stress of taxes and 24/7 mental load, and what Irie is still figuring out about balance.
A look at Irie’s upcoming two month trip to Thailand and Burma to see family for the first time since she was seven, and how she plans to use that time to learn brow microblading and lip blushing techniques she hopes to bring back to Huron.

Tune in to the full episode of the Huron Spotlight Podcast to hear Irie’s full story, her plans for expanding services, and the bigger conversation about culture, community, and why Huron is a better place when we support young women business owners.