By Stephen Cowles

Special to the News-Herald

Suffolk’s Deanna Williams found a place to fulfill her ambition in Franklin, where she has opened Deanna’s Hair Room.

“It was awesome,” Williams said of her recent grand opening, where family and friends joined to help her celebrate.

Having a salon is a new beginning for Williams.

“Eight years ago, I was already working in a shop in Suffolk — Changing Faces — but during that time my husband, Anthony David Williams Sr., had a stroke, and I had to stop and take care of him,” she said.

With his recovery progressing, Williams made preparations to go back into the business, but with a big difference.

“I decided to branch out on my own and open my hair salon,” she said. “Suffolk already has a lot of shops.”

Her experience in the business goes back to when she was growing up in Suffolk.

“I’ve been doing hair for over 20 years,” said Williams, who graduated from the Suffolk Beauty Academy in the mid-1980s. “Just coming up, I always loved doing hair. I would press and curl other little girls’ hair in the neighborhood.”

For a while, Williams also worked out of her home.

For the time being, she’s working solo at the shop, but she hopes to eventually add at least three employees.

“I will be doing relaxers, cut and curls, haircuts and designer cuts, shampoos, deep conditioning and extensions,” said Williams.

Williams calls her new shop “a dream come true.”

“I want to be an example to other young people,” she said. “It’s never too late to follow your dream. There is nothing impossible with God, but you must believe.”

Deanna’s Hair Room is located at 200 W. Jackson St. in Franklin.