Model-turned-builder: Shillae Davis pushes her passion for beauty in construction
Shillae Davis lived in Los Angeles for seven years. Born and raised in Chicago, she headed out to California to enroll in college at California State University, Northridge.
It was then that her career took off: While she majored in accounting, she soon began to compile modeling, acting, and music video gigs.
“I was modeling so much that I was traveling a lot and I was falling asleep in class. So, I decided to put college on hold and just kind of live out the dream,” she said.
Soon Shillae was flying all over, with regular jobs in Atlanta and New York City where she did runway shows and, later, commercial print work. She was making such good money that at some point she wondered, Why go back to college?
So, she didn’t. She was already making the income she wanted. Instead, she moved to New York City; she’d already made friends here and liked its energy.
“I always say that the difference between L.A. and New York is they both have a lot of people that are not from there, but L.A. is like a whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of different places, and they’re trying to fit into one mold––L.A. makes you want to fit into their mold,” she said.
“New York is the opposite. It’s a whole bunch of people from a whole bunch of different places, and they embrace their individuality. So, me, I didn’t like L.A. because I kind of didn’t fit in: you know, I’m a Chicago girl, we keep it real, we’re kind of down to earth, that’s kind of like who we are. And L.A. is just very like, you know, fake. It was hard for me to adjust. I was a little quirky. I am a little quirky, you know?”
In New York, she got more modeling jobs and met her soon-to-be husband, Alonzo. When she wasn’t modeling, she started doing corporate temp work to make use of the spare time on her hands. And during that regular cycle of modeling and office work, Shillae and Alonzo purchased a Brooklyn brownstone. One summer, while renovating their backyard, Shillae says she found her passion. She and Alonzo had talked about purchasing and renovating properties, and she discovered that she really loved the hands-on aspect of that work. To support their goal of being property owners, Shillae signed up for a nine-month plumbing course at Apex Technical School.
Though she had planned to just take the class for the knowledge, Shillae loved the world of plumbing and made it her goal to become one. She called several plumbing companies to ask if they were hiring and sent in her resume, but no one called her back.
“One time I was walking down the street and I saw a Vigilante Plumbing truck, but I didn’t see anybody in the truck. I had to walk back that same way and I was like, ‘Okay, if I walk back and they’re there, I’m going to say something to them.’” The workers had come back to their truck, and she asked them about getting hired with the company. The men were somewhat taken aback that she wanted to work at Vigilante, particularly since she was pushing a baby carriage at the time. But they called into the office for her, and Shillae was able to get an interview.
“They didn’t hesitate in hiring me. It was actually quite an amazing first experience because they were very serious about me feeling comfortable there. All the men were very respectful, and they actually had a meeting with them. It was like, ‘Listen, if she has any complaints, you’re out of here.’ So, they were very serious about making sure I was comfortable, and I learned so much from them.
“They were actually a great company to work for. Like you go to school, but you don’t really get the experience until you’re out in the field and on the job. You get the basics and the fundamentals, but you don’t see anything until you see, especially in New York City. There’s just so much, it’s overwhelming. I realized how much I didn’t know when I was working for Vigilante.”
After two years at Vigilante, Shillae was furloughed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She thought she’d be out of work for a while, but that’s when her phone started ringing. Friends had told neighbors, and neighbors had told family members about her, and Shillae was able to set up her own company, Model Builder, LLC based on her work ethic and a growing reputation.
With Model Builder, Shillae and a small team of assistants focus on plumbing work and small construction projects. The business has kept her phone ringing: she averages two to three jobs a day.
“I always say, I don’t want to have to do marketing. I feel like my reputation is my marketing. So, I try to do a great job on every job that I do: I try to do it with care, I try to communicate. I try to do all the things that I would appreciate when people come and do services for me. If I can build a client based off of word of mouth because they appreciate my work, then I feel like I’m winning.”Model Builder can be reached by phone at 718-952-3582 or via email at Shillae@modelbuilderllc.co.
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