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Mandy Summers, whose goal is to “take the ordinary and make it extraordinary,” was named Lexington’s 2012 Small Business Person of the Year Tuesday. Owner of M. Gallery Interiors, an art gallery and interiors store in the Old Mill, Summers was recognized at the Greater Lexington Chamber’s annual Small Business Celebration.

“Three and a half years ago I was running around Lexington trying to find a place to have a gallery and artists and banks to believe in me and my concept,” Summers told an applauding, sold-out crowd at the Lexington Municipal Complex. “I’ve never worked so hard or been so happy.”

In nominating Summers for the honor, Deborah Dunn described Summers’ energy and dedication, both to the Lexington community and to building a unique business. Summers persevered and thrived, despite the stock market tanking two weeks after she closed the loan on her business in 2008. “Mandy, her two children, family and close friends spent long hours and lots of labor gutting, painting and redecorating the space to create her urban industrial gallery,” Dunn noted in her nomination. “She eagerly recruited artists at first and now has a waiting list of artists hoping to have a spot at the gallery.”

In her quest to promote the Old Mill and attract Columbians to Lexington, Summers has presented “Meet the Artist” nights, opened her gallery for charitable events, organized an annual art crawl, and is forming a merchants guild.

Community service is part of the criteria for winning the Small Business Person of the Year award, and Summers’ history of volunteerism and generosity impressed the judges. She’s donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, The Children’s Trust of South Carolina, Special Olympics, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and several Lexington schools. She has decorated gratis for the American Cancer Society’s Dream Homes project and Make-a-Wish Foundation. As a member of the Lexington Beautification Foundation, Summers is helping design a downtown memorial.

A single mother of two, Summers has a degree in international business and political science from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York. She earned her certification in interior decorating from Midlands Technical College and worked for Chris Metz, a Lexington commercial and residential interior decorator, before opening M. Gallery. Metz was one of several people she thanked when accepting the award.

“An attorney friend of mine came in one day and said she was jealous of me,” Summers said. “And I thought, ‘she’s right.’ I have a happy job. I get to deal with all kinds of wonderful people.”