Hard work and making a difference in her community has been the story of Diane Pimpton’s life.
Pimpton, the plant manager of MAP of Easton Inc. in Clarksdale and owner of the convenience store and gas station Double Dy Express in Tutwiler, is a Webb native and 1989 West Tallahatchie High School graduate.
She is the daughter of Joe, who worked on a farm, and Alice, who was a cook for families and owns Alice’s Restaurant in Marks, which was previously in Lambert.
Pimpton attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, a two-year school in Miami, Okla., and graduated from Ole Miss in 1994 with a degree in business management.
She was a point and shooting guard on the women’s basketball team and the national 3-point women’s basketball champion in 1993.
She used her education and followed the work ethic her parents demonstrated to have a strong impact on those around her and holds down two jobs at the same time.
“We had to work for what we got. Back then, we didn’t have a whole lot, so, my parents, they did what they could to provide,” Pimpton said. “We didn’t live in the best house. We didn’t have bathrooms and all that. We had to work hard for what we could get.”
She has three younger sisters and one older brother.
“I set the goal to try to go to college and set an example for my sisters,” Pimpton said.
Pimpton’s daughter, Dyiesha, 14, is a freshman at West Tallahatchie High School.
Being a female has not created any obstacles for three generations of Pimptons.
“I try to set an example. If a man can do it, why can’t a woman do it, OK?” Pimpton said. “I know in a lot of businesses, like the business I’m in now, my position that I have here at MAP, it’s a challenge. When I came to MAP, I worked through a temp service. I came aboard, I worked for three months, they liked my work and they hired me full time.”
Pimpton has been the plant manager at MAP of Easton Inc. the past four years and was hired as office manager through a temp service when the company came to Clarksdale in 2000 when it was located on Highway 49. She was the interim office manager before getting the position on a full-time basis. There were less than 20 employees at the time. As office manager, her responsibilities included hiring, receiving, shipping, data entry and payroll.
Today, there are around 100 employees and could increase to 160, according to Pimpton and the facility moved to Highway 322 in 2005.
MAP molds fiberglass insulation into “acoustical products”, or anything that controls sound and heat. Their primary customers are the automotive industry and many MAP products are used under hoods and in dashes. Their client list includes such big names as Chevrolet, General Motors, Toyota, Honda and CK Trucking.
More manufacturers led to more customers down south as the main office is out of Pennsylvania.
“It really helps them to try to get something in different areas of the United States that’s closer so it won’t cost them a lot of money for shipping,” Pimpton said.
Pimpton, who resides in Panola County opened Double By Express in 2005.
“I just always wanted to own my own business, really,” Pimpton said. “I wanted to give back to the community.
“For my convenient store, there’s nothing in Tallahatchie right now. That will open up jobs for people that’s there. A lot of people in Tutwiler don’t have transportation. If they can have jobs right there at home, they can walk. Most of the people that worked in my business, they’ve actually lived in Tutwiler, so they were able to just come in.”
Pimpton said starting a business was a good way to get the community involved.
“Coming from the Delta, you never had a whole lot of things to do there,” she said. “You never had a lot of jobs. The only thing that was in the Delta was farming. That’s pretty much the only thing you have to do in the Delta is farm or maid and cook for the farmers.”
Pimpton worked her way to where she is through many temp services her first six years out of college and had jobs in several different areas.
She worked for Parker Hannifin, an automotive plant in Batesville, from 1994-97 where her responsibilities includes shipping, payroll, accounting and receiving.
“It was an opportunity. I started out in shipping,” Pimpton said. “I just wanted to try to move up in the company so there was a lot of different things you could get promoted.
“You get an opportunity to get in the door, you can try to move your way up.”
Pimpton was an apartment manager for Mayflower Imperial Homes in West Memphis, Ark., from 1997-98 where she hired tenants and managed the facility. She managed Pendleton Arms Apartments in Memphis in Memphis for the next six months, was a data entry person for Thomas & Betts, which is a designer and manufacturer of connectors and components for electrical and communication markets and then worked for Frame Pictures Enterprise Inc. out of Batesville before coming to MAP of Easton Inc.
Pimpton uses her position as MAP of Easton Inc. plant manager to make a difference in the lives of others as she has given opportunities to employees other companies may not hire, including felons.
“I have to sit down and talk to some,” Pimpton said. “They’re willing to do better. They want to make a change. With me wanting to give back and try to help the community, I’ve allowed some people to come in and do good and be successful and make a change in their life and their family’s life by giving them an opportunity to have a job.”
Some workers are just looking for an opportunity, while others have taken advantage of Pimpton’s generosity.
“You can’t help everybody,” she said. “I found that out. No matter what you do for some, you’re going to have those that try to go behind you and try to dig a hole for you after you helped them anyway. So you helped them and they try to go back and downgrade you or hope things fall for you, not wanting you to be successful hoping we don’t do well, trying to make things not look good when you gave them an opportunity to pick themselves up. At the same time, they try to knock you down. I’ve seen that a lot. I believe what’s for me is for me. I don’t try to hold grudges. I’m going to do for you. What you decide to do for me, that’s your deal with that.”
Most of Pimpton’s employees at Double Dy Express have been loyal, but she has experienced issues with theft.
“They may need it more than me,” she said. “As long as I’m able to provide for my business and pay the bills, I deal with it. It’s not that I like it and I accept it, but I know people go through situations.”
Pimpton also said working for MAP of Easton Inc. enabled her convenient store to succeed.
“It’s been helpful to me to save a little money, make a little money, help support my family and grow me a business outside this business,” she said.
Pimpton said late John D’Amico Sr., who founded MAP of Easton Inc. in 1972, and his son John late John D’Amico Jr., who runs the company now, have been loyal to her.
“The owners, they are very respectful,” she said. “They believed in me. They appreciated my work. They’ve been there for me. As long as I’ve been here, I could call them, I could talk to them. They just gave me the support that I needed to hang around and say, ‘Well, we’ve got opportunities for you and we know you’re able to do different things. We haven’t given you an assignment you couldn’t complete, so if you move up, we know you’re going to do good.’ They said there are opportunities there.”
Pimpton said there were issues with previous managers at the MAP of Easton Inc. plant in Clarksdale, but she remained with company and it has paid off. She added employees who resigned under previous management have spoken with her about returning to the company.
“I had seen a lot while I was here,” Pimpton said. “I’ve been humble. I just hung in there and was waiting for things to get better, hopefully, and it did.”
