Page 211 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2024

for everything from lamp shades to lightweight clothing. And paper mache products are coming on strong.”
The company stays true to its handmade roots with a style Susan describes as casual but sophisticated.
In addition to being head style watcher, Susan takes her role as mentor to her female employees seriously. “Many of our female employees come to us right out of school and are very timid and shy. We give them tools and responsibility and I watch them turn into confident businesswomen with savvy travel skills!”
Helping others comes naturally to Susan and her husband. “Every time we visited a place where we do business, we would see the terrible poverty so many live in. We wanted to do something.”
The Susan and Doug’s Kids Foundation has developed and supported charities that better the lives of hundreds of children. In Haiti, Sister Clara’s Medical Clinic provides medical services to an entire community. In Honduras, The Atuto Project feeds and cares for children in a tiny village, many without parents. And the Tom Sawyer House in Columbia originally began by giving one family
of ten a roof over their head and has expanded to include extended family members.
The Williamses are employing the moms and making sure all the children can go to school. “We woke up one day and thought, were we supposed to have kids? We never could fit it in. It is a poor excuse, but now we feel like we have hundreds of kids all over the world. We have found lots of love supporting these children. Doug and I are grateful every day.”
There have been some changes over
the years, including the name of the company. Today Country Originals is Kalalou, a Creole word for a soup made by a community of family and friends. Everyone contributes what they have and so it is never made the same way twice. Each batch is unique like the products offered by Susan and Doug.
Mississippi is their stomping ground and will always be home, but every six months Susan packs a bag and travels the globe, working on new products and keeping her finger on the pulse of the international home furnishing industry. The relationships this energetic entrepreneur has cultivated over the decades have become dear friendships and she enjoys these trips to see her friends. There are lots of children to look in on now too, and who knows what new opportunities she might find around the next corner.
Holly Harrison has been a licensed interior designer for over 35 years. Shannon Stage has spent nearly 20 years in the giftware industry. Together they own Sassy Bird Interiors in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net September 2024 | 211
Indonesian Partners.
Doug and Susan Williams Sitting in Chair.