WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
NISH EVANS President and CEO, Lennox and Grae magine this scenario: You have 90 days to secure $2.5 million. N.C. State in construction management in 2018. She also obtained Durham entrepreneur Nish Evans made it happen in 2019; her real estate license along the way. she raised the necessary capital and made her first She has raised a combined $8.5 million in capital to acquire 32,000 commercial real estate acquisition of 112 W. Main St., a nearly square feet of real estate in downtown Durham and an additional 100-year-old building in the heart of downtown. 82,500 square feet in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. As managing She purchased the West Main Street property from Elaine partner, her companies strike a balance between being intentional Curry and Dawn Paige of Empress Development LLC, who in providing opportunities for local businesses and her investment were the second generation of Black owners of the building. partners’ goals. Her current tenants include Empower Dance Studio, Nish became the third. Morningstar Law Group and Luna Rotisserie and Empanadas; the “I just think that speaks volumes in terms LGBTQ Center of Durham plans to move from Hunt Street to 310 E. of intentionality around Black business owners,” Nish says. Main St. early this summer. “I’m really out to be the best businesswoman Nish says she is already linked up with the next that I can be. … It’s just such a beautiful generation of management at Lennox and Grae – her story to know what those who were before two sons, Ellery Lennox, 9, and Zoelen Grae, 8, for me have done.” whom Lennox and Grae is named. Nish launched Lennox and Grae Inc., a “For now, they take it pretty seriously about taking “I’m really out commercial real estate investment firm, in over the company and being the future leadership,” to be the best 2018, and Lennox and Grae Construction Inc. Nish says. “But some days, they talk about being a businesswoman followed in 2020. Nish has acquired three properties Pokémon trainer. … It makes me laugh. that I can be. … It’s just such a in Durham, including 216 Rigsbee Ave. and 310 “I wanted to create in my mind what motherhood beautiful story E. Main St., a historical landmark where she plans looks like,” Nish says. … “My goal is: I hope you see to know what to open office space this year for herself and her Mom dream and build.” those who two employees. Her aspirations have a familial connection to were before me have done.” “I operate with a certain level of confidence, but the past as well. She learned in late 2021 that both it’s always rooted in gratitude,” Nish says. “Durham, her paternal and maternal great-grandfathers worked even though it feels like this growing or expanding in construction. urban culture, is still small enough where you can build these really “I really think I am bringing into fruition some of the dreams they close and intimate relationships.” had,” she says. “I get emotional when I think about it, but it’s one of Those connections helped Nish cultivate a team of supporters the most beautiful things.” who believe in her vision of pursuing construction and real estate, Nish also serves on the board of several organizations, including including Andrew Philipps, who worked at her former employer, CT Downtown Durham Inc., Central Park School for Children, Durham Wilson Construction Co., and acted as a business advisor who was YMCA and Made in Durham. When she meets other women in instrumental to her success. leadership positions, especially in construction, she advises them as “Everyone is like a sounding board,” she says. … “That continues to best as she can. help me stay empowered in terms of the direction of the company.” “I always encourage women, especially women, to remind Nish graduated in 2006 from N.C. State University with a themselves that they are smart enough to figure it out,” she says. degree in anthropology and then pursued finance at Square 1 Bank, “Durham has been my start. I know there are so many other which was acquired in 2019, before obtaining a certificate from opportunities that are out there.” – by Elizabeth Poindexter
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