Galatia grown, small town work ethic leads to success.

A former Galatia woman is making big waves with her company she started from scratch in North Carolina.

Dana Phelps Hudgens was the first in her family to attend college. Early in her career she overheard a woman at a dinner she say, "If you aren't overwhelmed, you aren't getting anywhere."

Those words stuck with Hudgens and she took off running. Hudgens attended Eastern Illinois University where she met two instructors that would change her life forever.

"When you're at college age and just out of high school it is hard to know where to start," Hudgens said.

Those instructors encouraged her to get involved in public relations, one of them assisted her in starting a student-run public relations organization for the university. The other got her start in a group called Public Relation Student Association and sent her on the path to success.

Hudgens has been a part of the PR industry for 20 years and six years ago she decided to take a leap of faith, sold her beloved VW Bug, and founded her own public relations agency called Clairemont Communications located in Raleigh, NC

"Most small businesses never make it past their fifth year," Hudgens said. "So this being our sixth year anniversary means we have really accomplished something.

Hudgens and her team put together a music video set to the song "Good to Be Alive" by Andy Grammar, in celebration of their sixth year of operation to thank their clients and staff. In the video each of the women sang a part of the song. Videos have been made in lip-sync fashion in the past, but Hudgens and her team decided they would let it all out themselves.

"The whole singing thing was a challenge and I thought 'I am going to turn the tables on myself' and do what I ask my clients to do everyday."

Hudgens says that what contributed to her success was a strong work ethic imposed on her by her parents and the people in her life.

"My mother still owns her own salon, at her age it is amazing to see," Hudgens said.

She has been working since she was 14 and hasn't stopped since. Hudgens says that all of the work shaped her and made her resilient.

"I was only able to do what I did because of how I was raised," Hudgens said.

You can check out the colorful video on their Facebook page, just search Clairmont Communications.