01 / Three movements · One life
Three generations of South Jersey craftsmanship behind me. Plasterers, bakers, drivers, builders. People who showed up, did the work, and didn't make a show of it. Everything I've built since carries their name and their standard.
// The Lineage
I'm the grandson of a master plasterer who built Dorset Market in Ventnor in 1949 and worked plaster on the Knife and Fork Inn and the Atlantic City Convention Center. George Schallus Jr. came home from Korea, picked up a trowel, and put his hands on buildings that are still standing. He retired at 86.
I'm the grandson of Rita Marie Schallus, a Ducktown pastry artist whose business motto was "sweetness is my business" and whose wedding cakes were known across the region. She was a founding member of St. Michael's Catholic Church and was married to my grandfather for nearly seventy years.
I'm the son of Rita Marie "Toots" Schallus-Einwechter, who drove a bus for the Atlantic County Special Services School District and gave forty years of her life to kids who needed extra care. She passed in 2015.
That's the line I came from. Plasterers, bakers, drivers, builders. People who showed up, did the work, and didn't make a show of it.
Everything I've built since carries their name and their standard.
// The Career Roots
Eight years working directly with General Motors Design Studio on wheel and emblem programs for the Corvette platform. In 2001, I built one of the earliest interactive automotive color selectors on the web — a configurator that let visitors cycle paint codes and trim packages in-browser, years before the OEMs made them standard.
Took the family name into the next generation. Started the operation that would eventually become a regional construction company across two states. NJ HIC License #13VH04076700.
Sharpened the craft on the digital side. Strategic placements at two recognized agencies — work that built the SEO, paid-media, and consumer-attention discipline I still apply today across every brand I touch.
Founded Amazing Ventnor, a regional tourism nonprofit. Built Ventnor Coffee from an abandoned mechanical garage into the neighborhood's anchor — a $100K+ environmental buildout completed in under six weeks. Organized the inaugural Ventnor City Porchfest in 2017, scaling 90 performers across 40 residential porches in a single afternoon. Named to Atlantic City Weekly's Top 40 Under 40 in July 2016.