Page 83 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2023

CYNTHIA SUTTON
Executive Director
OCEAN SPRINGS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE-
MAIN STREET-TOURISM BUREAU
1000 Washington Ave., Ocean Springs |228.875.4424
www.oceanspringschamber.com www.peterandersonfestival.com
My greatest successes have been: I am blessed to work with my team alongside hundreds of small businesses and many talented artists in a joint effort to constantly improve our community. This team works hard to bring awards and national recognition to this small town. When we succeed, we succeed together.
What’s something interesting about you that not many people know? I have a twin sister, Ceclia Dobbs Walton, with a similar career in our sister city of Biloxi. Together we accomplish a lot for our communities and together are able to support One Coast efforts.
Who or what inspired you to pursue your current career? My love for connecting with others and communicating started when I was young by writing short stories. After winning a contest one year, I was inspired to keep writing. As I got older, my dad motivated me to pursue a career in communications, and to learn all I can along the way. His encouragement led me to where I am today, connecting our Ocean Springs community on all levels.
DEBBIE BATIA
Inspired by her parents, both interior designers, Debbie Batia entered the family business after her father’s sudden death in 1975. She had been working in a bank but found she loved the business she grew up in and never looked back.
“Each new client or project is a challenge I love to take on,” she says. “I try to design each project with planning for that particular client’s needs, budget and vision. I never do the same design or furniture choices twice.”
The smiles and happiness she gets to be a part of make her job more like an adventure every day, not like work.
She says her two grown children and four beautiful grandchildren are her greatest personal successes. In business, her greatest success is the resilience she showed through recovery from Katrina. “Starting the business over on my own, staying in business through the worst of times over the last 18 years, working through my own personal tragedies and triumphantly still working and owning my own successful business gives me great satisfaction to show the world that I stood on my own two feet and got through bad times,” she added.
A favorite thing to do is dining at Mary Mahoney’s restaurant where her familyhasbeengoingsinceshewasalittlegirlinthe1960s.
D. BATIA INTERIORS LLC
1001 Howard Ave., Biloxi 228.385.2657 | www.dbatiainteriors.com
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net September 2023 | 83