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Brianna Andrews, Reporter, weekend anchor
Published:
Brianna Andrews, Reporter, weekend anchor
Jacksonville, FLA. – Kitty’s Carwash, located on Jacksonville’s Northside, is known as one of the few woman-owned carwashes in the city. According to the Women in Carwash Association, women make up just 20% of the industry’s leaders nationwide.
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Nakita “Kitty” Watley is the woman behind this thriving business.
“I was a mortgage underwriter at Bank of America,” Watley said. “I had been doing mortgages for about two years, and I could just feel a change coming on. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but I knew I wanted to do something different.”
That “something different” led to the creation of Kitty’s Carwash, a business built on Nakita’s passion for cleaning.
“I had a friend I used to clean for, just for free,” Watley recalled. “He told me I should get paid for it, and that’s when I realized I could turn it into something.”
Driven by ambition and faith, Watley left the corporate world behind to launch Kitty’s Custom Cleaning, a home cleaning service that would lay the foundation for Kitty’s Carwash. But the road to success wasn’t easy.
“I had to cut back on certain things—nails, small luxuries—but you make it work,” Watley said. “You have to set aside what’s most important. I moved back in with my mom, which allowed me to save a lot of money.”
She wasn’t alone in this journey. She brought her family along, and together they built a family-run business empire, expanding to 10 other ventures, including Kitty’s Carwash.
In 2017, her younger brother, Detrek Watley, who now serves as the General Manager, made the bold decision to leave his stable job and join his sister’s business.
“It was Christmas of 2017,” Detrek Watley recalled. “I quit on Christmas. I was nervous about it, but I always told people, if you’re not nervous about something, it means it’s not right.”
For the two youngest siblings, it was a chance to try something new.
“Kitty walked in one day and said she wanted to start a cleaning service,” Dionne Watley said. “I said, ‘Okay, how much do I get paid?’”
Tracy Watley added, “It seemed like happenstance, but when I look back at everything that led up to this point, I realize that nothing is a coincidence. It all works out.”
And it’s still working out.
The Watley family’s story is proof that with persistence, focus, and teamwork, dreams can come true.
Kitty’s Carwash is located at 10934 Lem Turner Rd.
Click here to learn more about Kitty’s services
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
This native of the Big Apple joined the News4Jax team in July 2021.
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