Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44mattersmagazine.com 21 Thomas spent the next 20 years rotating through a variety of positions: doorman, housekeeping manager, front office director, night auditor at venerable Manhattan hotels including the UN Plaza Hotel and the Algonquin. He met and married his wife, Leslie, a Brooklyn girl who became a lawyer. And in 1997, he and Leslie moved to South Orange. “We came out here from Brooklyn for a birthday party. We immediately fell in love with the town and decided that we were going to raise our family here,” Thomas says. They bought a house on Turrell Avenue that needed some TLC. Thomas, using the carpentry skills he had never lost, began renovating his front porch, drawing the attention of his new neighbors. “They hadn’t realized that I was a craftsman, and they began complaining to me about the shoddy work that had been done on their houses by other tradespeople. So I began advising them and then actually helping them fix the issues in their houses. This is basically how I got started in my second career.” There was one particular project that catalyzed the launch of Josso Carpentry: A neighbor was attempting to frame out new windows in his basement, and was having a hard time of it. Josso started lending a hand. The neighbor, impressed, said, “Why don’t I just pay you to finish the job for me?” At that point, Thomas made a decision. “I realized how much I enjoyed doing this work. It’s very satisfying to build beautiful things and to help other people create their dream homes. I had some good word-of- mouth already, and I had a great location with many potential customers fixing up their older houses. So in 2003, I left the hotel business and started my own company.” Hours: Mon.-Weds. 10–6pm • Thurs-Sat. 10–8pm • Closed Sunday 973.313.2722 • thetenthmusegallery.com • 170 Maplewood Avenue NEW SEASON • NEW COLLECTIONS • NEW EVENTS MAGGIE AXELROD-CALISTER