BUSINESS FEATURE

I HEART LOCAL was the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce’s alternative this year to the annual Girls’ Night Out “Eat, Shop, Play” event. Participants in the June 15-July 4 event received a T-shirt, coupon book and $10 meal voucher. I Heart Local

Hailey, Hartley and Amy Walker

Mary Henderson, Susanna Dunaway and Melissa Lester

Keylee King, Danielle, Sabrina and Vera Boyles

The Splash Dash 5K & One Mile Kids Run took place July 18 in downtown Brookhaven. The race was the third of five in the 2020 Ole Brook Run Series. Participants received T-shirts and finisher medals. Awards were presented to winners.

Charlie Haire, Joanna, Crystal, James Michael Jabour Splash Dash 5K

Chad Reed, Tina Reed, Stephanie, and Chaston Bullock

Splash Dash 5K

David Draut, Kristi Draut, and Kayla Jones

Hayden, Randy, Ben, and Emma Veazey

Jeff Freeman, Ana Freeman, Stephanie Freeman, Ainsleigh Freeman, Lindy Martin, Abigail Freeman and Taylor Hutchinson

Splash Dash 5K

Caleb Dunaway, Susanna Dunaway, and Josh Pugh

Will McCullough, Stacie McCullough, and Melissa Cupit

Taylor, Beth, Kinley, Liliana, and Kevin Hutchinson

Southern Domestic Diva

Female entrepreneur creates cleaning business

From left: Gwen Boutwell, Renee Hearn, founder Allie Williamson and Dwana Rousse. Boutwell, Hearn and Rousse manage the Monticello branch.

Story & Photos By Gracie Byrne

A small town girl from Monticello has built her cleaning business with nothing but grit, grace and Pine-Sol.

Allie Williamson, a native of south Mississippi, spent her youth in Lawrence County learning how to clean from her mother and her grandmother. As an only child, she spent a lot of time with her grandmother, and that’s where the cleaning obsession started.

“She would give me a bowl of warm Pine-Sol water to wipe the walls with,” Williamson said.

Her business, Southern Domestic Diva, uses a diluted mixture of Pine-Sol lemon solution.

“I loved it, that’s what really started the cleaning obsession,” Williamson said. “It all came from my grandmother Hattie. She always had me cleaning.”

As a kid, she spent time doing chores just like anyone else. The difference between Williamson and other kids was she enjoyed the work.

“I would have rather been cleaning,” Williamson said.

Her mother worked as a teacher in Lawrence County, and if Williamson were in a class with a substitute teacher, she would go home with her mom to clean the house.

“I was fascinated with it at a young age, seeing what could come off the walls or anything else I cleaned,” Williamson said.

Williamson graduated from Lawrence County High School in 2004 and attended the University of Southern Mississippi. She graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality.

After completing her education, Williamson found a job in hospitality and outside sales.