This February marks a milestone worth celebrating: Peace of Mind Construction Group turns five years old. Most businesses don’t make it this far, and for the owner, Venice Lluen, it’s a milestone she’s earned. Venice is 32 years old, born and raised in West Trenton. She launched Peace of Mind Construction Group in 2021, drawing on a background in real estate sales, property management, and investment. She’d been buying, renovating, and flipping properties, and kept running into the same problem. “I quickly noticed that as a woman in the industry, in a lot of cases, I was being taken advantage of,” she said. “I had never come across a Black woman contractor or seen many women in the industry at all. I found it very hard to find a contractor that I resonated with, that I felt comfortable with, or that was even partially honest with me. If I didn’t see it, then I could be it,” Venice recalls. “Someone has to be the change. Someone has to pave the way, and then hopefully make it easier for others that will come behind me.”
She got licensed, insured, and started Peace of Mind Construction Group, a name that became more than a business identity. While Venice publicly chased her dreams, she privately navigated a profound season of personal adversity and full-time motherhood, which only deepened her conviction to provide peace of mind for others as a guiding principle.
Venice’s relationship with Isles started at home. Many years back, her mother purchased their family home through an Isles first-time homebuyer assistance program. “I was younger then. I didn’t know much of what was going on,” she recalls, “But my mom explained this to me later, that Isles was the program that helped her achieve this goal.”
Years later, while working as a contractor for the Trenton Housing Authority, Venice was referred to Isles’ Center for Energy and Environmental Training (CEET) to earn her EPA Lead Renovator certification. She connected with Andre Thomas, CEET’s Director of Training and Support, and the partnership grew quickly. Venice upgraded her credentials and those of her workers, earning the abatement certification required for lead remediation work. Peace of Mind became a certified EPA lead remediation firm, taking on projects for Isles, United Way, the Mercer County Hispanic Association, Garden State Homes, and others. The company is also currently renovating Isles’ own space on Wood Street.
The partnership deepened when Venice became an employer through Isles’ Workforce Development program, which pays half the salary of apprentices for six months. To date, she has hired three apprentices, with a fourth on the way. Denise Higgins, who supports Workforce Development at Isles, has been integral to the process, connecting Venice with the right candidates and staying involved post-hire to ensure all is well.
For Venice, the work is deeply personal. Her soon-to-be four-year-old son, who already talks about “being a contractor like mommy,” is both her motivation and her reminder of what’s at stake.
“Every time Isles presents someone to me that is looking for a job, I always think of my son,” she said. “I think of how I would want someone to treat my child if he were to be out in the world looking for a job and trying to start his career. I believe people deserve to be given a chance if they’re willing and serious. Someone has to be there to give them that chance, and many employers will not, but experience has to start somewhere.”
Five years in, Venice has her sights set on purchasing an office and warehouse in Trenton, hiring more residents, and developing homes that will add housing stock to a city that needs it.
“I look at what I’m doing as bigger than me,” she says. “Lifting them up, lifts me too. That’s how we rise, by raising each other up.” Andre Thomas echoes that vision: “Together we provide employment opportunities for the underserved while remediating homes, making them lead-safe and healthier.”
From Venice’s mom realizing her dream of homeownership through an Isles initiative, to a training program that sharpened her credentials, to a contractor partnership making Trenton homes safer and putting residents to work, Venice’s story is a testament to what happens when Isles invests in people and those people invest right back.