St. Paul small business owners give back at Mali Center

A hulking beige brick building near St. Paul’s North End houses a cluster of BIPOC and women-owned small businesses ranging from a clothing retailer and mental health professionals to an entertainment production company and a handful of personal trainers.

Despite the obvious differences in their businesses, the entrepreneurs at the Mali Centerwhich opened in June, all share three important details: They are deeply devoted to their community, they wear a lot of hats and they go way back with Tyrone Minor.

Minor, the founder and dreamer behind the Mali Center at 576 Front Ave., grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and attended St. Paul Central High School, Drake University and the University of Minnesota and now works as a physical education instructor in Osseo, Minn .

A gifted track and field athlete, Minor is also the owner of personal training business Chizel Inc. and health and fitness company the FIT Labboth of which are now part of the Mali Center.

“I am at that stage of my life where I am starting to think about the legacy that I leave,” said Minor, who recently celebrated his 54th birthday.

When a longtime landlord decided not to renew Minor’s lease for the FIT Lab in 2023 — “after seven years of never missing a rent payment,” Minor said — he knew it was time to make the leap.

“When you own commercial real estate, you can provide opportunities for entrepreneurs,” Minor said. And that’s exactly what he’s doing at the Mali Center by offering business owners access to private offices, gym equipment, a conference room and an ecosystem of community-driven entrepreneurs.

‘Dream bigger’

“We met in the third grade,” said Erick Goodlow about Tyrone Minor.

Goodlow is now the president of the Fairway Foundationa nonprofit organization that exposes Black youth to the sport of golf.

Golf teaches kids sportsmanship, integrity and ethics, Goodlow said, “because you have to call your own penalties.”

When Minor was renovating the 5,400-square-foot facility that would become the Mali Center, he asked Goodlow what the Fairway Foundation needed.

“A net,” said Goodlow, for the golfers to practice their swings. “He told me to ‘dream bigger.’ ”

A young girl swings a golf club in front of a virtual golf simulator — Havanna Smith, 9, of St. Paul, practices her swing on a golf simulator at the Mali Center. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The Fairway Foundation now has its very own golf simulator at the Mali Center. Much to the delight of the kids, the simulator will allow the golfers to continue practicing in the winter months.

Dr. Jermaine M Davisa motivational speaker, author and professor, was also approached by Minor to be part of the Mali Center.

“What would make you want to be a part of this?” he asked Davis.

Davis, who does a lot of traveling to give presentations and keynote speeches, said he wanted a place where he could teach and host workshops.

A man in a blue dress shirt smiles as he speaks — Motivational speaker Dr. Jermaine M. Davis talks at the Mali Center in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

At the Mali Center, they call it the “ingenuity room,” and it is designed like a large conference room with desks, couches and the necessary tech.

Aneesha Kelly, a mental health professional who runs her company Purpose Health and Wellness from the Mali Center as she works toward her clinical license, also has hopes for the ingenuity room.

Kelly, who used to run track with Minor, said she hopes to use the ingenuity room to host group therapy sessions like grief group counseling and a group for first responders of color.

Dr. Sheila Sweeney, a psychotherapist, author and speaker behind Peaces ‘n PuzSoulswho first met Minor through his fitness classes, said she had a number of reasons to move her practice to the Mali Center.

Sweeney, who has a private office, said she can close her door when she needs privacy and also can collaborate with entrepreneurs like Kelly, Davis and Dr. Kasim Abdur Razzaq. “I’m in community when I’m here,” Sweeney said.

Razzaq, who is a speaker, author and psychotherapist, said he is working to bring more Black men into the mental health field.

Of all the tenants, Razzaq might have the shortest history with Minor; the two met just a few years ago.

Come to find out, they both grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and Minor coached Razzaq’s sister in track. “It’s almost impossible that we didn’t meet earlier,” Razzaq said.

Now Razzaq’s office is next door to Sweeney’s, and he said the two “talk shop” and “bounce ideas off each other” at the Mali Center.

Other local entrepreneurs at the center who have ties to St. Paul include Chadwick “Niles” Phillips, who was once coached by Minor and is now the founder of entertainment production company The Avant Gardeand Robert “RL” Davis, a childhood friend of Minor’s who has his retail store RighteouSouls on the main floor of the Mali Center.

Develop yourself and your business

Meg Katzman of Eagan works out under the supervision of her trainer, Michelle Dalluge, right, of Aspire Fitness at FIT Lab in the Mali Center. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The primary tenant of the Mali Center is the FIT Lab, a state-of-the-art fitness facility, Minor said, which is rented out by some 10 different personal trainers to run their own businesses.

Anne Schwalbe said her fitness business, GentleStrengthmight not have been possible without the resources of FIT Lab.

Looking to get into the fitness space, Schwalbe said she was struggling to find the right fit as she also works full-time in the public health sector.

“I was looking for a place to go myself and felt like the perfect place didn’t exist,” she said.

Schwalbe, who is a mother in her 40s, decided to fill the niche herself and launched Gentle Strength with the support of FIT Lab.

“I really try to make it an inclusive space and reach people who would otherwise feel intimidated or out of place at the gym,” Schwalbe said.

“I set my own pricing, I bring my own clients, my own brand, do my own marketing,” she said. “As a small business owner, this isn’t something I could have done if I tried to open this on my own.”

Whitney Cantrell, owner of Workout With Whitney and Jamie Minor, owner of StrengthIN Consulting and the wife of Tyrone Minor, are just a couple of the other trainers who use the FIT Lab to offer classes.

Nine-year-old Sephira Dragseth, center, of St. Paul, takes part in a workout during fitness trainer Whitney Cantrell’s Workout with Whitney (WoWW) program. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The workout equipment is available for any members of the Mali Center, and its use is encouraged, Minor said, as one of his beliefs is, “You can’t develop your business if you aren’t working on yourself.”

Michelle Dalluge, a personal trainer and owner of Aspire Fitnesswas in a similar situation as Schwalbe and found support and resources through Minor and the FIT Lab.

Dalluge has roughly 15 clients that she works with in personal training sessions, but the Mali Center offers her more than just a training space.

In August, Dalluge was part of a group from the Mali Center that worked together to host a back-to-school Family Fun Night. The event gave out school supplies and free haircut vouchers and brought the community together, Minor said.

“Any business that is financially benefiting from a community should be giving back to that community,” he said.

Don’t call it a coworking space

Tyrone Minor talks about the Mali Center’s members. Minor, the founder and dreamer behind the business center at 576 Front Ave., grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and attended St. Paul Central High School. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

At first glance, the Mali Center may look like a traditional coworking space with desks, private offices, a kitchenette and entrepreneurs from different industries working under the same roof, but Minor emphasizes that is not the case.

Named for the Mali Empire in West Africa, the Mali Center empowers entrepreneurs to run their businesses how they like, Minor said, but the community he has assembled is more than a sounding board.

Members of the Mali Center function like an ecosystem, Minor said, by offering each other support, resources and connections.

Johnny Allen Jr., the executive director of youth mentorship nonprofit the JK Movementsaid the Mali Center has an open-door policy with the organization and the two often work together.

Although the mentorship program operates from the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center a couple of miles away, Allen said they still benefit from the resources and community that Minor has assembled by working with members like Razzaq and utilizing the gym space.

“Tyrone works from the kindness of his heart and wants to see all people succeed and flourish. … The Mali Center is an example of what an equal system can be if run by the right people who have the right vision,” Allen said.

“I believe we have created a model for how you can build generational health and wealth,” Minor said. “This is my dream come true.”