Model, carpenter blends passions

Milwaukee shop to teach woodworking, fashion, photography

MILWAUKEE – For Tonda Thompson, perhaps the biggest change in her redeveloped Milwaukee building is best appreciated after sundown.

That’s when the future home of her woodworking business, She Slangs Wood Co., is literally shining with new windows, lighting and other upgrades.

“This building used to be a dark place,” Thompson said.

“Now with the bright lights on the corner, when you drive by, it is a different world at night,” she said.

The former corner grocery will house She Slangs Wood on the first floor when renovations are completed in February. The business will feature space to make tables and other furniture, where Thompson also teaches young people carpentry.

There will be a store to sell those goods as well as lumber − which Thompson will create with a sawmill in the backyard using logs from trees donated by Forest Home Cemetery.

The upper floors will house her other business, Vogue Dreams LLC, which teaches young people self-esteem through the art of fashion, as well as photography and videography skills, and the office of the National Coalition for Healthy Black Families Inc. Thompson launched that nonprofit group in 2018, five years after the death of her infant son.

Thompson had hoped to complete her development, known as Valor Creative Collective LLC, in 2022. But work halted amid a dispute with the development’s general contractor.

Valor Creative sued the firm in November 2022. It was dismissed in December 2023 after a settlement was reached, according to Milwaukee County Circuit Court records.

Meanwhile, Thompson tried unsuccessfully to operate as her own general contractor before connecting with another one, GSI General Inc. She learned she would need to raise another $100,000 to complete the building’s first floor for She Slangs Wood.

Thompson spent nearly a year securing additional financing for the project, with Greater Milwaukee Foundation playing a key role. Other sources include loans, city grants and $35,000 from Thompson.

She’s raised $460,000, and is seeking another $60,000 to complete work on the upper floors for Vogue Dreams and the National Coalition for Healthy Black Families. Those floors will have space for other organizations to rent.

“GMF saved the day,” Thompson said. The foundatio is providing $150,000. She also said Ald. Milele Coggs, whose district includes the development’s neighborhood, has helped navigate issues with City Hall.

Thompson said the legal dispute taught her an important lesson: A developer must know all details of a project and maintain continual oversight.

“I learned not to put my dreams in someone else’s hands,” she said.