From Dirt Track to Job Shop: How a 23-Year-Old Sprint Car Racer Built a Woman-Owned Fab Business

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In this episode, I sit down with Emme Hughes, the 23-year-old owner of EH Metalworks in Enid, Oklahoma. She runs a woman-owned custom job shop that does laser cutting, plasma cutting, tube bending, and fabrication in aluminum and stainless. What struck me is that she has been around metal fabrication her entire life. Her Paw Paw taught her to TIG weld when she was six years old, and by 18 she was running her own plasma table and hiring her first employees.

Emme’s story starts in her Paw Paw’s shop. He spent more than 50 years in fabrication, ran an ASME code shop, and did work for refineries and grain companies across Oklahoma. She grew up welding beside him, racing sprint cars on the dirt track behind the shop, and soaking up everything he knew. When she got out of high school, she taught herself to run the plasma table, posted her work on Facebook, and watched the orders take off fast enough that she had to start hiring people at 19.

Now she’s working to grow out of the small business boot camp phase, where you take whatever comes in the door, and into steady, repeatable manufacturing. That’s why she chased her Oklahoma DOT certification and is finishing a federal woman-owned certification. Her thinking is sharp for any shop owner to hear: chase the work people need, not just the work people want. The custom signs and railings make great social posts, but the mandatory, unglamorous jobs are what pay the bills.

We also get into the harder parts of building a business young, from learning to lead men twice her age at 18 to setting boundaries between friendship and work. And we talk about the bittersweet thread running through all of it, the mentor who made it possible. Emme lost her Paw Paw about a year ago, and he was coaching her from the shop right up to the end.

If you’re running a job shop, or thinking about starting one, there’s a lot here to take away: how to build durable demand, how to grow into leadership, and why Emme’s real goal isn’t size for its own sake. As she puts it, she wants to build something big, not for her, but for the people she can employ.

What’s Covered in this Episode

• (0:57) Introducing Emme Hughes of EH Metalworks in Enid, Oklahoma
• (2:36) Emme on running a woman-owned custom job shop: laser, plasma, mandrel tube bending, aluminum and stainless
• (5:48) Chasing needs over wants, and why she pursued Oklahoma DOT certification for steady work
• (6:50) Building the business on the unglamorous, mandatory jobs, not just the custom pieces
• (7:32) How she got here: her Paw Paw’s 50-year fabrication career and ASME code shop
• (8:52) Learning to TIG weld at six (and the trust that made it possible)
• (13:12) Take your shop to the next level with ProShop ERP and invest in yourself first
• (14:48) Diving into her work on micro sprint cars and the dirt track
• (19:18) Her first hires at 18 and 19 when the Facebook orders blew up
• (21:19) Learning to lead and the hard line between friendship and business
• (25:32) Her Paw Paw’s integral role in her life and business
• (28:56) Burned by recruiters who don’t get manufacturing? Meet Hire MFG Leaders
• (29:25) Turning the corner: a USDA grant, mentor Jodi Harris, and her first laser
• (31:03) How big does she want to go? Not for her, but for the people
• (33:23) A head-scratcher job: resizing gas-plant rings and water-jetting silicone gaskets
• (35:58) The print governs all: do the job and skip the second-guessing
• (36:48) Invest in your leadership at Elevate during IMTS 2026, powered by AMT and Women in Manufacturing
• (37:40) Meeting her fiance and sparking a local powder coating business
• (40:12) Why it all comes back to people and relationships

Resources Mentioned

• ProShop ERP
• Hire MFG Leaders
• IMTS 2026 Elevate Conference

Connect with Emme Hughes

• EH Metalworks
• Connect with Emme on LinkedIn