Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Keller.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was raised just outside of Atlanta, in Lilburn, near Stone Mountain Park. My family shaped my early views of the world. My dad, a doctor, took me on multiple mission trips as a child, giving me incredible exposure to a range of cultures. This early influence planted within me an insatiable desire to help those in the margins of society.
After graduating high school, I attended Samford University, in Alabama, and played football for the Bulldogs. It was during this time that I began to take business classes and first learned about the idea of “social entrepreneurship”– starting companies aimed at creating solutions to social and environmental issues.
I had a severe back injury during my junior year which ultimately ended my career. Yet this re-focused my energy on using my business knowledge to start a pressure-washing and staining company.
As the business grew, I began to incorporate this idea of social entrepreneurship into his company. Decent in Spanish, I began to intentionally hire many hard-working individuals from Mexico and Peru, granting them the opportunity to earn income and care for their families. I ended up leaving the company in better hands to take a corporate job in Texas after graduating.
I took a job with a large EPC contractor and structural engineering company. While working for this company, I developed a close relationship with the company owner and shared this idea of social entrepreneurship. Together, we worked to develop a leadership development program and a company foundation that could fund global missions projects such as natural disaster clean up and installing water filtration systems in third world countries.
The initiatives were an incredible success. But I felt a strong pull back to Atlanta— back to my family and fiancé (now wife). I began brainstorming a long-term project that would carry long-term benefits within the community. Growing up in the area I was familiar with Clarkston, “the Ellis Island of the South”. I recognized the vast need for skilled labor that seemed to be missing completely from the job market, but also the shocking unemployment rates among the refugee community. I immediately began developing a program with the help of my wife Mallory that would close the gap between the two needs. I moved back to Atlanta and founded a trades training and mentorship program called “The Lantern Project”, in 2014.
Around this time, I was connected to Chris Chancey, through our shared interests and connections within the Clarkston community. Chris had just gotten the ball rolling on a new business idea—Amplio Recruiting, a staffing agency connecting companies with the dependable “Refugee Workforce.” After a rough start, business began to slowly pick up and became too much for Chris alone so he approached me and we began figuring out a partnership. In January 2017, I left the construction company and also The Lantern Project (now called Tekton Training) in capable hands, and joined the Amplio team as President and partner.
Soon after I began to get more involved with a number of projects across Clarkston. One of those being a 1.5 acre abandoned warehouse property in downtown just across from Refuge Coffee. After doing some digging, I formed a partnership with the owner who is actually a Nepalese refugee himself. Knowing this property could be leveraged to create jobs, positive awareness of the refugee community, and even entrepreneurial opportunities we are now creating what the city has called “the Clarkston catalyst project”. This will include a 15,000 sqft coworking space that focuses on job creation and incubation of refugee startups, a new innovative brewery partnered with Monday Night Brewery, a restaurant partnered with Chef Jason Jimenez from Homespun and Kitchen 6. The restaurant will be a unique concept focused on mentoring refugee restauranteurs as well as giving them the opportunity to learn and grow their own restaurants. Lastly, we will have a large farmers/makers market again focused on helping to connect this amazing community to the rest of Atlanta. Our goal is not progress for the sake of progress, but rather progress, opportunity, and inclusion for a community that tends to be left out. The Coworking space is called Culture Worx. To us and so many others Clarkston is a shining example both socially and economically in how having a thriving diverse Culture Works. As well in how focusing on helping businesses build a strong internal Culture Works…hence Culture Worx.
I have spent the last decade learning and leveraging business to make an impact in the world, and everything we are working on here in Clarkston is in line with that.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Development isn’t easy. Especially one that has high start-up costs and seemingly lower than usual ROI. Being that this is still an area that hasn’t seen any sort of development like this in years, we are breaking ground in a new and sometimes frightening way. We literally haven’t even broken ground just yet so I’m sure we still have a long road ahead of us. But our team is gritty and ready to get this going!
Please tell us about Culture Worx & Amplio Recruiting.
Amplio Recruiting connects the reliable refugee workforce to great companies. We are a staffing company helping the displaced get connected to incredible opportunities. We focus primarily in hospitality, manufacturing, and construction staffing. To date, we have placed over 5000 refugees into great jobs across four states and seven cities.
Our new coworking space “Culture Worx” will have 40+ offices, five large conference rooms, a 1000 sqft training room, a large coworking space, and a 50+ person stadium seating area. We intend on having 150+ individual members and 20+ businesses calling Culture Worx home. Additionally, we are partnering with Refuge Coffee Co to have Refuge Cafe which will just be for those who are members or visitors of our members. Each member will have the opportunity to help incubate a small number of refugee startup businesses.
The restaurant and brewery right next door will have an anchor tenant (Kitchen 6/Homespun) as well as a select number of refugee owned restaurant startups. Our hope is much like our coworking space to incubate these businesses and see them grow and succeed beyond the incubator.
We have a large courtyard in the rear of the property where we will also be able to host events as well as a monthly makers/farmers market to connect Atlanta to the refugee community.
We are most proud of how intentional we are in providing jobs and opportunities for the refugee community beyond what is currently available.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is from the times spent with my family on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. I learned how to swim, sail, and fish there. My family has always been very close and after tragically losing my mother in college, memories like those on the lake are ones I hold most dear. I also learned how to dream BIG and explore from those days spent at the lake.
Pricing:
- Offices are $599/month and include 10 hours/month of conference space and 2 memberships
- Dedicated desks are $199/month 10 hours/month of conference space
- Basic coworking memberships are $99/month
- Conference rooms can be rented for $50/hour (6-10 people)
- Executive conference rooms are $100/hour (12-15 people)
- Training room is $900/day or $500/half day (up to 50 people)
Contact Info:
- Address: 1092 Vaughan Street Clarkston GA. 30021
- Website: cultureworxclarkston.com
- Phone: 6785221366
- Email: lucasterrykeller@gmail.com
- Instagram: Cultureworx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultureworxclarkston
Image Credit:
Rickman Architecture + Design WB Interiors: A NELSON Company
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