By Cinda Ackerman Klickna
“If you have items to clean, I’ll make it happen,” says Pamela Lewis-Frazier, owner of All in One Management & Services. The business started in 2002 as a pressure-washing company with two box trucks carrying equipment to clean cars, boats, trailers, houses and even bridges and signs. In September 2019, Lewis-Frazier opened her first brick-and-mortar location. The former Fast Track Laundry at Eighth Street and South Grand Avenue allows the company to also clean rugs, towels, curtains, patio cushions and more, in addition to still operating as a laundromat. “You name it; we clean it,” Lewis-Frazier promises.
When the COVID-19 restrictions began, Lewis-Frazier adapted. The pressure-washing business took a hit initially, but she said there is now a list of clients waiting for cleaning. The laundry business was another challenge, since the numbers of customers in the facility had to be reduced to 10 or less.
Lewis-Frazier wanted to keep her employees working and help people who needed clean clothes, so she decided to launch a new curbside service to wash laundry for $1 per load. People bring their laundry to the curbside to be weighed to determine the number of loads and return later to pick up their washed, dried and folded items.
Lewis-Frazier says, “Our laundry center is the only place some people have to get clean clothes. We were an essential business, so we had to think of a way to provide. This has been successful. By the end of June, we will have cleaned 100,000 loads of laundry, and I intend to maintain this service even after the stay-at-home order is lifted.”
Lewis-Frazier grew up in Springfield, graduating from Southeast High School in 1988. “I still wear my blue and gold proudly,” she says, and is happy her son is now attending Southeast. She learned early in life that working hard was expected, and her role models were her mother, father and grandfather, who she credits for “making me see you get up and go to work every day.”
After graduating from Southeast, she wanted to go into paralegal work and made up her mind to work at IBM, although she now says with a laugh, “That isn’t what happened.” Lewis-Frazier attended Robert Morris College, but the paralegal program had not yet started. Instead, she earned her degree in administrative secretarial science and ended up working at an environmental protection agency.
Later, Lewis-Frazier worked for a doctor who planned to find a new city to open his practice. To her surprise, he told her it would be Keokuk, Iowa. “So, in 1999 I went to Keokuk,” she explained, “and I loved it, living on Main Street in a bed-and-breakfast.” But when her boyfriend at the time, who lived in Georgia, popped the question, she moved to Atlanta to get married. She and Robert are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.
They originally opened All in One Management & Services in Atlanta in 2002. The following year, their son was born, and Lewis-Frazier wanted to be close to family so they moved to Springfield in 2004 and established the business here.
“I got back into the community and built partnerships. I have a gift of gab, and I love helping people. We have wonderful people in this city,” said Lewis-Frazier.
The business has included unique assignments over the years, such as cleaning more than 80 bridges throughout the state for the Illinois Department of Transportation. “That took us all over Illinois, working with engineers and figuring out how to get equipment up hills and through weeds,” she says.
Over the years, Lewis-Frazier has taken advantage of opportunities to learn and grow and found many ways to be involved in the community. She currently serves on the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Board, after initially participating in the program to foster understanding between law enforcement and the community in 2016. “I went through the nine-week program in Quantico, Virginia. It was an unbelievable experience,” she said. Later, she also took part in the Springfield Police Department’s Citizens Academy.
Lewis-Frazier has participated in Illinois Women in Leadership, currently serves on the board of directors for SIU School of Medicine and the Springfield Area Home Builders Association and has served on the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce board. In 2017, she was named the Chamber’s Ambassador of the Year.
If there is an event in town, chances are you will see Lewis-Frazier there, no doubt handing out her business card. “I love my journey,” she says, “and I love the interactions with people and the engagement with our community.”
Cinda Ackerman Klickna is proud to say that Pamela was one of her students at Southeast High School.
