Will Lucas Is On A Mission To Help The Community Achieve Entrepreneurial Success Beyond Their Wildest Dreams – AfroTech

Being a good entrepreneur requires an understanding of how to build a lasting community. Will Lucas understands this.

Becoming A Community Builder

His formal introduction to community building began when he founded TEDxToledo, an event he has organized since 2012, according to information from his alma mater, the University of Toledo, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in organization technology. The decision grew out of frustration with the constant conversations about what his midsize hometown lacked. Instead of accepting a “little brother syndrome” mindset, he wanted to shift the narrative by gathering people who were genuinely optimistic about the city’s future.

“A friend of mine was a TED speaker. I just happened to be talking to him on the phone. He was talking about TED, and I’m like, ‘That’s the kind of energy I need in my hometown,’” Lucas told AFROTECH™. “And then I found that you could apply for a license to host one of the TEDx conferences. That’s a great way to get people who are inspired about the future interested in building it single-mindedly in that they were optimistic and pushing for a better future. I got the idea that I could organize those people into the same place and have us all looking in the same direction from different perspectives.”

Lucas held this same sentiment when carrying out his venture TolHouse, a  private social club for creatives and professionals. Its inception can be traced back to his time in New York nearly a decade ago when he was working on a television episode for Revolt. He was later invited to Soho House by some entrepreneurs he had interviewed.

“I’ve only seen country clubs and golf clubs, and that’s all I ever knew existed,” recalled Lucas, who is also brand manager of AFROTECH™ and host of the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. “And so when I saw Soho House, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, people here with blue jeans on and they work in the music business and [are on] TV and they in movies and they’re artists and all the things.’ The spaces were beautiful, and it blew my mind.”

When he returned home, he pulled an image from Google, dropped it into Photoshop, stamped “Toledo House” on it, added it to his vision board, and made an internal promise to one day build his own social club.

It was while seeking a permanent location for Creadio — his full-service marketing technology agency — on LoopNet that the manifestation of his vision board came to life. At the time, he had been renting and leasing offices though his agency had grown significantly as clients sought to navigate their digital strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TolHouse

“I see the building that I’m in now, and I’m like, ‘That’s TolHouse,’” Lucas said. “I just knew it that this building that I saw in pictures on this commercial building website, I knew it was TolHouse. I wasn’t even trying to do TolHouse at the time … but the building found me. The timing was just right. Everything was right because of Creadio. I had the revenue to do it, to pay for most of these things myself.”

A bank president on the same board he served on advised him on how to purchase a building. In December 2020, he closed on the building that is situated at 1447 N. Summit St., Toledo, OH 43604.

TolHouse opened its doors the following year.

The business has shifted its features over the years, which is easy for Lucas, who isn’t married to a single concept. At the time of this writing, members and the public will find five lounges, three bars, a jazz club, a co-working space, two boardrooms and conference rooms, and various phone booths for private calls. There is also a members-only cigar lounge, a deck that overlooks the Maumee River, and a coffee shop named Earth Coffeehouse, which features a deck that also has a view of the water.

It’s a realized dream for Lucas, who says he always knew he would be an entrepreneur.

Progress Over The Years

TolHouse has attracted nearly 400 members, who average just over 40 years old. The community is almost evenly split between Black and white professionals, many of whom are entrepreneurs or building careers in health care, banking, engineering, and more, Lucas says.

When reflecting on the most rewarding part of TolHouse thus far, he said, “Seeing people frequent your business, join your membership club, etc., who you don’t even know … And not that I don’t want to know, but they believe or they bought into a vision, and it had nothing to do with me personally. No. 2, it’s seeing the connection. My vision was that when you walk in TolHouse, you would see people who you needed to meet and who needed to meet you in order for things to happen that couldn’t have happened if you never ran into each other.

“We’re not economically discriminatory either,” Lucas added. “So there have been people who could write 10 years’ worth of dues in a single check and not bat an eye who were not approved for membership. And there are people who couldn’t even pay the application fee who were approved for membership because they added to the community. … We want the right people in the room. That’s why one of our taglines, kind of lifted from Hamilton, is like ‘the room where it happens.’ Because I’ve seen things happen in this building that could not have happened if people weren’t a part of this community. They got to meet somebody who opened the door for them. They got to introduce somebody who created a lane for them.”

As for what’s on the horizon for TolHouse, a retail space is in the works to house merchandise for the club and support its members who are makers and designers. It is projected to open in Q1 2026. What’s more, there are plans to convert a lounge into a music room featuring artists from more genres, and a dedicated space for comedy shows or DJ sets that could feature R&B or electronic music. There will also be a separate members-only lounge with a view of the music lounge.

TolHouse Anniversary Celebration

Looking ahead, Lucas will have a chance to celebrate the fruits of his labor soon. He will be joined by the Toledo mayor and the local community to acknowledge the anniversary of TolHouse, which is set for Black Friday at 7 p.m.

He makes it clear that none of his efforts are possible without the community.

“When you’re in hospitality, food and beverage, if you make it past the first year, you got a medium success rate. But to make it to year four, 70% to 80% of businesses don’t make it,” Lucas said. “And if you make it to year five, which is what we’re shooting forward, you got a really high chance of continuing on. I’m only saying that to say most businesses don’t get this far. And while it is still hard to be able to celebrate with the community and people who believed, I want to give them back that because without them, like this ain’t this don’t exist. This could have stayed in my head or it could have come out of my head and then failed.

“But there were people who joined before we were even open for business because they believed in the vision. They believed in what I was trying to do,” he continued. “And so I’m saying, not to say like to make it this far, it says a lot, but we aren’t even close to what the vision is.”

That vision will encompass four buildings along the river and in the same neighborhood as TolHouse, all owned by Lucas. He intends to move the cigar lounge to one of those buildings, and another building will be home to Commons Pizza & Cinnamon Rolls, which performed well when it was situated inside TolHouse and is projected to open in early 2026. Creadio will also exist in the same building on a separate floor.

Additionally, there are also plans to launch a creator space that will be open to members and the public.

All in all, Lucas says his mission is to ensure the Black community can achieve entrepreneurial success beyond their wildest imagination.

“My mission is to help us. … Now, I didn’t say my mission is to be a billionaire because that ain’t how you become a billionaire. I can become a billionaire by helping enough of my people realize their dreams, and I’m gonna get everything I want. And I’m already getting everything I want because I’m sincerely and authentically interested in the people around me,” he expressed.