One year ago, 20-year-old Ethan McDaniel didn’t know where his future would take him. A move to Orlando to attend the Motorcycle Mechanic Institute fell flat after COVID-19 forced the trade school to close their doors. Not knowing how long the lockdowns would last, McDaniel moved home. He was stressed out and stuck, with no vision in sight. 

“I went back to flipping pizzas at Lake Martin Pizza Company; and then, one day Justin Woodall, the owner, came in and showed me pictures of a lighting project that he’d completed at his house,” McDaniel said. “He’d gotten a lot of compliments on them, and we collectively came up with the idea of doing it as a business, but it was just an idea because I wasn’t ready yet.”