Arkeem Sturgis is only 33 years old, but he speaks with the wisdom of someone who has lived many lives. Midway through a recent interview, as he was changing the diaper of his one-year-old daughter, he stopped this Fortune reporter’s question to offer a gentle correction:
“Breathe,” he said. “Slow down. You’re gonna get everything that you need to get done. You’re not in a rush.”
That instinct—to steady, to teach, to pull others up with him—has become Sturgis’ hallmark. A father of six and founder of a Jacksonville, Florida-based handyman and HVAC business, he’s spent the past five years rebuilding from homelessness to his first $100,000 year. And he’s done it, he says, through faith, mentorship, and the conviction that success in the trades can still offer the kind of freedom millennials and Gen Z Americans are chasing elsewhere. He’s also had to overcome what he sees as unnecessary cultural barriers to success for someone like him.
