Maintenance Supervisor
“I graduated from YouTube university!”
Most people get told to pick one lane. Lonnell has never fit in just one.
He describes his career path as “wandering around with many gifts and talents, but feeling forced to choose just one thing I’m good at.” And the list of things he’s good at is long: chef, landscaper, appliance repairer, mechanic, and on the side, writer and actor.
For almost 15 years, cooking was his profession. Then came a day in his garage. Lonnell was replacing the front bumper on his car when a friend asked how he knew he could do that.
“I didn’t really, but I had a video, and some spray paint!”
Later that week, her dad, a pastor, called Lonnell into his office and offered him a job.
That job became his training ground. His introduction to maintenance was a commercial building, and there was no easing in. He was the landscaper, builder, renovator, painter, sound technician, and plenty more. Whatever came his way, he figured out. Since 2020, he has kept growing in engineering.
“I am drawn to complex situations, and my ability to figure it out has always been my anchor.”
Lonnell also knows the paper ceiling well. Degrees and certificates, he says, “hold me back from even being mentioned in the conversation. Or even worse, I won’t apply for the job at all because I have a predetermined answer in mind.”
That’s the quiet cost of the paper ceiling: it doesn’t just screen skilled workers out, it teaches them to screen themselves out first.
Lonnell kept building anyway. In 2023, he launched his own general contracting business, More Than Lon’s Repair Company. Today he’s a Maintenance Supervisor at Sheehan Landing, a property he describes as the first of its kind in Kentucky. It houses people who have faced homelessness, mental health challenges, and substance use.
“It has shown me my true purpose in life.”
Now he’s working toward a program of his own. He already has an SOP and is gathering the resources to bring it to life. Through it all, he credits the way his mind works.
“I turned my ADHD into my superpower. I may be pulled in different directions, but I’m able to use my problem solving abilities to get the job finished.”
For STARs who feel stuck, his advice is direct.
“It’s okay to feel like you’re not where you’re supposed to be. But it is up to you to do something about it.”
Lonnell’s many talents were never a problem to solve. They were his toolkit. Like millions of workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs), he built it one job, one video, and one fix at a time.
Alternative Routes:
- On-the-job experience
- Self-taught (online video learning)
- Entrepreneurship
Top 3 Skills:
- Problem solving
- Mechanical repair
- Culinary arts
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