From the beginning, Mo Karnage was one to cause a ruckus.
“My mom said I was born screaming and kind of never stopped,” they say. “I have always been like this.”
Since then, Karnage has continued to make a noise through activism, including organizing and cooking meals with Food Not Bombs, going to battle with the Richmond Police Department over the Freedom of Information Act, helping to organize the Southern Barton Heights mobile food pantry for four years, organizing local Copwatch and Anarchist Black Cross groups, and being a founding member of the former Wingnut Anarchist Collective.
Today, they own Karnage Construction, a Class A general contractor that specializes in historic preservation jobs. Some 40% of Karnage Construction’s employees are women and 80% are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“The numbers of LGBTQ folks in construction are abysmally low, and I’m trying to do my best to change that through training people and giving them opportunities,” Karnage says. “I’ve got, hands down, the queerest construction company in the state, if not the country.”
They are also in the process of opening By Any Beans Necessary, a new queer and anarchist bookstore, coffee shop and restaurant in Highland Park.
Karnage previously served for two years on the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber Board and is in their third year with the Historic Richmond Junior Board; Karnage Construction was twice part of teams that won the Historic Richmond Golden Hammer Award, which honors excellence in neighborhood revitalization projects.
In addition to the coffee shop, Karnage is hoping to open a new Richmond branch of Caravati’s, which moved from Manchester to Ashland in 2021. The storied architectural salvage store was founded by Karnage’s great-grandfather.
“I’m hoping to partner with my cousin who runs Caravati’s,” Karnage says. “I’m a huge scavenger-type person, so I’ve been amassing my own collection of stuff.”
Correction: The print version of this story listed the wrong neighborhood for the coffeeshop, it is Highland Park. Style regrets the error.
