Danette + Lillian: Two Inspiring Business Owners

American House Livonia is home to two inspiring residents who embody the entrepreneurial spirit of National Black Business Month. Danette and Lillian were kind enough to share their stories.

Danette was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, to Caribbean parents.

“They had a very strong work ethic. I started working as a kid with my grandfather. He owned Mr. Softy Ice Cream trucks. I didn’t know it at the time but I was getting my MBA as a child,” she said with a big, joyful laugh. “I learned how to count change back, about inventory, how to haggle and how to buy. All the things they don’t teach you in school. I was just nine or ten years old.”

Danette’s cousins also owned a bunch of Dairy Queens in Detroit back in the 1980s and she used to work with them, too. She didn’t know it at the time, but this work prepared her for everything that was going to come her way in life.

Danette attended St. Martin de Porres High School in Detroit and Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She got married and had kids but, unfortunately, Danette got divorced. The good that came out of that is she chose to go back to school to finish her degree. She attended Pacific Union College, a Seventh-day Adventist liberal arts college in Napa County, California.

“I got a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree,” she said, “and became a nurse at UC Davis Medical Center.”

Danette didn’t mention it, but UC Davis is considered one of the nation’s best hospitals.

“I was a pulmonary, critical care nurse, and lungs were my specialty. I worked in critical care transport on the rigs out on the street,” she said. “I was paid well to go all around California and Nevada. We used to pick up patients and drop them off at different hospitals. It was a great job. I loved it.”

Danette eventually started partnering with other nurses with an infusion company in Southern California. They eventually actually asked her if she wanted to run her own business, and she jumped at the opportunity.

“My company was called Infusions Nursing Network and I was able to pay my nurses a hundred dollars an hour,” Danette said. “Within the first quarter of my business startup, my company generated a million dollars in sales. Crazy, right? I had a great run and will always be grateful for it.”

Danette has been at American House now for three years.

“I love it here. We have outings, shows, live music, and there’s always something fun to do.”

Lillian grew up in the farm area of Memphis, Tennessee. She had to walk five miles every day to grade school.

“My father would walk with me down the dirt road and once we hit pavement, I walked the rest of the way on my own after picking and chopping cotton in the morning. After high school, I got a job in a hospital. I worked in the kitchen making $25 dollars every two weeks.”

After Lillian married, her husband went on to serve in the U.S. armed forces.

“I stayed home on the farm and took care of my baby sister because I was 20 years older than her. In 1953, I left the south and moved to Detroit. I did a lot of odd jobs, like sandwich boards, drugstores and washing dishes.”

Lillian didn’t have a real job until 1967 when she got into the manicure business. She worked in a shop for six years and everything was going beautifully. But she had two children and was pregnant at the time. Some of her clients wanted to stay with her and asked if they could come to her home.

“In the early 1970s, I moved into a new home with a finished basement and that’s where I set up my business, Lily’s Manicure Studio,” she said. “I ran that company for the next 47 years and retired at the age of 84. I’m now 95 years old.”

Lillian said she’s never been interviewed in her life and was grateful to be able to share her story. She has been at American House for six months and loves everything about it.

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