Philadelphia, PA – November 29, 2011 – Donna Allie, the president and founder of Team Clean, the Greater Philadelphia region's largest independent commercial janitorial service company, will address the Main Line Society of Professional Women in an “armchair conversation” with Lynn Doyle from The Comcast Network, on Wednesday, November 30th.
The event, a program from the Main Line Chamber of Commerce, will be conducted from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at The Radnor Hotel. Tickets are $50 for non-members and $35 for members. Additional information is available at the Main Line Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.mlcc.org, or by phone at 610-687-6232.
Allie began as a solo entrepreneur and founded Team Clean; now, it is Philadelphia’s #1-ranked Minority-Owned Business, with more than $17 million in sales. Doyle is the nine time Emmy award-winning host and executive producer of “It’s Your Call.” In addition to securing hard-to-get interviews with VIP’s, she is the president and founder of TV production company, LDTV, LLC.
Event Sponsors include: American Executive Centers; CBIZ Payroll; Drexel LeBow College of Business; Stephen J. DiOrio, CLU, ChFC, Agency, State Farm; TD Bank; and Threlfall Marketing Group. The featured non-profit organizations for Wednesday night include The Ceres Society of Philabundance, an initiative engaging women in the fight against hunger, and The Joy of Sox, which provides socks for the homeless in the Philadelphia and the surrounding areas with plans to expand regionally and nationally.
The Main Line Society of Professional Women provides professional women from diverse backgrounds a forum to engage in relationships that will empower them with knowledge and ideas to advance their career goals, while also encouraging them to make an impact in their community and on issues that affect the future of women in business.
Allie launched her company, Team Clean, in the mid-1980s as a solo entrepreneur, and the company she founded on a shoe-string has over 500 employees. Allie and Team Clean remain committed to hiring from the very communities in which their clients are based, giving men and women an opportunity to become gainfully employed. Allie’s company has been consistently recognized as a leader in employing older workers, formerly incarcerated individuals, immigrants, Welfare-to-Work program participants, and others new to the workforce in the City of Philadelphia.
Originally unable to find employment in her chosen field after college graduation, Allie was a single parent determined to find a way to support herself and her child. She had accompanied a friend on a job cleaning a home, and realized that there was an excellent income potential in cleaning houses. She answered newspaper advertisements for “cleaning ladies,” and began cleaning homes throughout Philadelphia’s suburban Main Line.
Team Clean grew when Allie began to respond to those newspaper ads by hiring women herself and sending them off in pairs to clean homes, establishing the burgeoning company’s “team” approach to cleaning. She took her first commercial contract in 1985 with the Upper Main Line YMCA. Today, Team Clean serves a variety of clients in government, education, industry, professional offices, sports and entertainment venues and events, including the landmark National Constitution Center, historic Cheyney University and the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Team Clean is certified as a women's business enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and as a minority enterprise by the National Minority Supplier Development Council.
Allie remains independent and hard-working, dedicated to building her business, improving the lives of her employees, and enhancing a growing, vibrant company headquartered in the City of Philadelphia. Her singular vision includes the goal of providing meaningful employment for over 3,000 men and women. That vision is powered by her passion for providing a re-entry to the workforce the less fortunate, and comes from her own unique and compelling experiences both as an individual and as a business owner. She has partnered with the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation to bring over 100 new employees to the workforce out of the welfare system. In addition, she has partnered with the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board and the City of Philadelphia to bring ex-offenders into the workforce, with exceptional results.
Throughout the history of her company, Allie has remained committed to community service. She is currently a board member of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation, and chairs the ex-offenders task force for the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board. She is also an active board member of a number of non-profit organizations, including the African-American Chamber of Commerce, the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, and the Universal Charter School.
On November 3, Allie was presented with the “Beyond the Glass Ceiling Award” by the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter at the 18th Annual Spectrum Awards, which honors local women for their contributions to the Philadelphia community. Earlier this year, Team Clean received the Urban League of Philadelphia Spirit of Innovation Award. In addition, Allie was recognized as one of Philadelphia’s Most Influential African American Leaders by the Philadelphia Tribune, the nation’s oldest African-American newspaper organization, for the second consecutive year.
In 2010, Allie was one of the recipients of the inaugural 2010 Brava Award for Women in Business as selected by Philadelphia Smart CEO magazine. In addition, Team Clean was selected by Inc. Magazine to their fourth annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. In October 2010, Team Clean was presented with the 2010 Minority Enterprise Development Week Award at the 26th Annual Minority Enterprise Development Week awards reception. The Cradle of Liberty Council, Boy Scouts of America honored Allie for her contributions to the local community with the 2009 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award. The award recognized her for the wide influence in the business and professional community and noted Allie as a “commendable role model for all young people.”
Among her other notable achievements, in 2009 Allie was honored as one of the inaugural Minority Business Leaders by the Philadelphia Business Journal. In 2008, she was named one of the Philadelphia region’s Women of Distinction by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Philadelphia Business Journal. In April 2007, she was honored by the Philadelphia Phillies with the inaugural Most Valuable Diverse Business Partner Award during ceremonies on Jackie Robinson Day at Citizens Bank Park. In 1994, the African American Chamber of Commerce honored Allie with their Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, and in 1995 she received the Business Acumen Award from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women. In 1996, Team Clean was selected as one of Philadelphia’s 100 Fastest Growing Small Businesses by the Wharton Small Business Development Center and the Philadelphia Business Journal, and in 1997 Allie was named one of Pennsylvania’s 50 Best Women in Business. Also in 1997, Allie and Team Clean received the Special Recognition Award for Excellence of Service from the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In 2001, she was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the "District Minority Small Business Person of the Year." The Business Center at New Covenant Campus honored Allie in 2006 with their Harriet Tubman Trailblazer Award. In addition, Allie has received the 62nd National Freedom Day Community Service Award, the City of Philadelphia’s Supply, Service and Equipment Award, and the Main Line Martin Luther King Jr. Association’s Business Leadership Award.
Media Contact for Team Clean:
Jim DeLorenzo, Jim DeLorenzo Public Relations, 215-564-1122, jim@jhdenterprises.com
