Coming to Tulsa at the age of thirteen, she worked at the Brady Hotel for $20.00 a month. Mabel Little opened a beauty shop in 1917 and later opened a larger shop in 1921. Four days after opening it was burned to the ground during the Tulsa holocaust. Resilient and determined, she rebuilt the business. In her later years, she became one of Tulsa's most outspoken and civil rights activists. She lived to be 103 years olden was in constant service to her community.