It was at this moment that Anthony’s dream of starting a business re-emerged from the back of her mind.
And this time it refused to be ignored.
Anthony took a job at CVS and picked up every shift she possibly could. She worked and saved until she had enough money to move her family into a small apartment in Brockton. She still could not afford furniture, so she bought an air mattress for her siblings to sleep on and she slept on the floor.
“The first night in the apartment I couldn’t sleep,” Anthony recalled. “I knew I didn’t want to live paycheck to paycheck.
“In the Haitian culture you’re a wife, you support your husband, you’re behind a man…You stand in the shadows. But I didn’t want to wait for a man. And I didn’t want to stand in the shadows.”
So she made a checklist of every expense necessary to start her own business and began putting $50 aside from every paycheck to go towards buying the next item on her list.
“This week I was saving for the business license. Then this week for office supplies and this week for utilities,” said Anthony, who also earned her GED along the way. “I invested everything I have.”
On Monday, Anthony’s dream will finally become reality.
After two years of build up, Anthony will officially open her business’s doors as Owner of LA Cleaning Services. She has three experienced employees in this full-service residential and commercial cleaning service -- using exclusively hypoallergenic cleaning supplies -- and already has contracts lined up to start on day one.
In her Main St. office, where she encourages clients to stop in and meet her in person, Anthony has surrounded herself with Haitian artwork depicting “strong women” as a constant motivator and a reminder that she is setting an example for her siblings and other young people around the community.
“I truly love Brockton,” said Anthony with a smile. “Brockton made me who I am. I just want to really change what’s coming up -- the next generation. I just want to help them to see you don’t have to be an underdog all the time. And I especially want my siblings to know you don’t have to be quiet. You don’t have to accept your current situation.
“I know with hard work nothing can be taken away from you.”
LA Cleaning Services
www.LAcleaningservicesBrockton.com
