For this week’s Woman Wednesday, AY About You sits down with Christy Ouei of Mule Kick.
Ouei spent her early life in the Delta town of Lake Village. In 1996, she graduated with a degree in Agriculture Business at Southern Arkansas University. Ouei owned and operated a small service-station-turned-convenience-store in Taylor for 20 years, but tragedy struck when the store burned down shortly before Christmas 2017. After trying to rebuild for almost a year, Ouei looked elsewhere to locate a business.
“We found a great property in Magnolia and built Mule Kick,” she says. “In 2021, we have signed a contract with Murphy Arts District to take over their restaurant and all food and beverage for the District.”
She shares that her hobbies are business ventures and that she has five total businesses as of this year.
“I really enjoy work. But I do like to travel with my fiancé and business partner, Burt Adams,” Ouei says. “We have two dogs: Gus, a sheepdog mix we rescued, and Mr. Wrinkles, our English bulldog puppy. I have an amazing 18-year-old, Beau Emerson, who will be attending Texas Tech this fall.”
We asked Ouei what it means to her to be a woman.
“Nothing? Everything? I am Christy; I am headstrong and hard-headed. I am creative, smart and have a habit of being passive-aggressive — even though I’m working on that one. I’m Beau’s Mom, Burt’s girlfriend and a great boss, if I do say so myself. I don’t introduce myself as, ‘Hi, I’m Christy and I’m a woman.’ Even though I very definitely identify as female, that’s not what defines me. I am human: hear me roar.”
We asked Ouei what challenges she has faced as a woman in her field.
“Challenges I have faced because I’m a woman: none,” she says. “If I answered that there were challenges because I’m female, it would be because I let them be challenges because I’m female. I think the only challenges are challenges because they would be challenges to a male or a female.”
Ouei offers a word of advice to young women and girls who might read this article.
“Don’t listen to reasons why you can’t,” she says. “Don’t even give credit to reasons you shouldn’t. Decide what you are going to do. Do your research, and if it still seems like a good idea, do it. By the way, that’s good advice for guys, too.”
