On Sundays, Antwaun Wells trades his hard hat for a more dapper look during spoken-word performances at Gallerie 909 on “The Deuces.”
BY CHANEL WILLIAMS
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG – For Antwaun Wells, life is all about investing in the community and serving others.
“My personal take on your life is, if you’re not doing anything good for yourself or anybody else, then you are good for nothing,” Wells said. “I want to be known as someone who is good for something.”
In a typical week, the 39-year-old St. Petersburg native is good for a lot.
On weekdays, he’s up at 6 a.m. and off to his job as assistant superintendent for LEMA Construction, which is building a three-story Midtown Center for St. Petersburg College at 1300 22nd St. S. The 45,000-square-foot building, three blocks south of SPC’s current quarters, is scheduled for completion in the spring.
Since 2002, Wells has been project manager for Wells Builder LLC. He and his brother Kevin, the company’s owner, have done restoration projects in Midtown – including Gallerie 909 and Chief’s Creole Café – and building projects and restoration jobs elsewhere in the county.
Earlier this year, Wells joined Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County as supervisor of its new Mercy-Midtown Neighborhood Preservation Partnership. The partnership works with homeowners who live in the 22nd Street S corridor with home repairs, energy efficiency upgrades and landscaping.
On weekends and sometimes in the evenings, Wells can be found at the Esquire Barber Shop in Midtown, where he is a master barber.
And on Sundays, he helps run the Deuces Live Sunday Market, which he serves as treasurer, then goes down the block about 5 p.m. for spoken-word performances at Gallerie 909.
“The Deuces” is the nickname for 22nd Street S, which was the main street for St. Petersburg’s black community during the days of segregation and discrimination from the 1920s until the late 1960s.
When he’s not tied up in his everyday commitments, Wells mentors and tutors students. He said he got the idea from his own former mentor, retired teacher Jim Oliver, who took note of how Wells talks to youngsters and encourage them to do well in school while cutting their hair.
Two years ago, Wells said, he got certified to mentor students at schools in the local area. He started at Melrose Elementary in 2012 and expanded to John Hopkins Middle, and Lakewood and Gibbs high schools.
Wells is assistant superintendent for the construction company that is building a three-story Midtown Center for St. Petersburg College at 1300 22nd St. S.
After Wells spoke at Gibbs’ Great American Teach-In – an annual event that brings in professionals to talk about their jobs – the school’s mentor adviser, Aby Figueroa, asked him to come more regularly.
“The way he treats the kids and how they respond back to him is amazing,” Figueroa said. “He is a good example for them.”
Wells is mentoring two 15-year-old students at Gibbs – Wayne Atkins and Bill Baptiste. He meets with them for an hour each Monday to talk about building self-confidence and managing their time.
“I learned a lot from our session,” Bill said after a recent meeting with Wells. “Staying busy means you’re never bored.” Since he began his meetings with Wells, he said, he has joined the baseball team and ROTC at Gibbs and a church band.
“He is very nice and helpful. He has taught me how to use my time and say no to people,” said Wayne, who at Wells’ encouragement has become a volunteer at the Campbell Park Recreation Center.
Wells said he tries to seize any opportunity to motivate children to aim high in their lives. On a recent day at the St. Petersburg College construction site, he chatted with some of the students who were walking home from school. He engaged them in small talk and asked what they had learned in class.
“These kids sometimes just need someone to talk to as well as listen, and if I can I want to be that person,” Wells said.
Since his own preteen years, Wells said, he has been a self-motivated entrepreneur. He would go through his neighborhood and wash people’s cars. Since he didn’t have the supplies at home, his neighbors trusted him to drive their cars to the car wash down the street and back.
With persistence, his business began to flourish. But that wasn’t enough for the ambitious youngster. To help his dad save money on the rising price of a haircuts, Wells said, he began to practice cutting his little brother’s hair. It was only a matter of time before Wells had a line of friends and neighbors waiting outside on the porch to get haircuts.
While running his side business, Wells said, he was a member of the Gibbs High football and track teams.
Academics were always a top priority, he said, and learning came easily for him. He would have his homework done before school let out, and he was an honor roll student and helped tutor peers.
During summer vacations, Wells said, he would take free classes at Florida State University while visiting his aunt in Tallahassee. Back home, he took similar courses at Eckerd College.
After graduating from Gibbs, he studied electronic engineering at DeVry University in Atlanta, then returned home in 2007 determined to give back to the community that helped raise him.
“It’s time for my generation … to bring it back,” he said.
A determination to inspire runs deep in Wells’ family. His great-great-grandmother, Idella Barton Jones, founded the Church of God by Faith at 2850 Freemont Terrace S. His grandmother, Johnnie Lee Williams, eventually took over the church, which was renamed All Nations Church of God by Faith, and served for 35 years. This year Williams passed the baton to Wells’ mother, Rhunette Wells. The church is now at 3000 Fourth Ave. S.
On average, Wells said, he sleeps about four hours a night.
“Rest is something I haven’t mastered yet,” he said. “It’s something I have to work on.”