BELOIT, Wis. — America’s richest self-made woman is betting on Beloit, Wis.
Diane Hendricks, who Forbes has named America’s richest self-made woman for eight years in a row, is heading home to Wisconsin alongside her daughter Konya Hendricks Schuh in an all-new A&E show, “Betting on Beloit.”
The show has been in the works for a few years, real estate broker and a businesswoman Hendricks Schuh said. In 2019, Beloit was named one of the worst cities in the U.S. to live in. But the Hendricks women said that is not the case.
“I love Beloit. The people of Beloit, genuinely I just think, are extremely hardworking and just down to earth. I love Beloit’s diversity. I think that Beloit has so many amazing, welcoming factors,” Hendricks Schuh said.
Hendricks has spent years investing in Beloit. She built a new stadium — ABC Supply Stadium — and a new school — The Lincoln Academy — in the city, in addition to hotels and restaurants among other projects.
Hendricks owns and chairs Beloit-based ABC Supply, a wholesale distributor of roofing, siding and windows.
As a premise to the show, Hendricks tasked her daughter with helping revitalize the city they love by working on real estate and renovation projects, including five houses and an office in the Beloit College Park neighborhood. Those renovations took about a year to complete in total.
Hendricks Schuh said each home she worked on for “Betting on Beloit” is unique, offering viewers a new visual in every episode. Personally, her style aligns best with the houses featured in the first and last episodes.
Additionally, the show also tracks the development of Henry Dorrbaker’s, the city’s new entertainment complex.
“I also think that all cities go through some sort of evolution but that Beloit is really a city with nothing but this positive momentum right now,” Hendricks Schuh said. “I think it’s a really exciting time for Beloit and to be from Beloit.”
Hendricks Schuh also noted the city’s location. It’s in the middle of a triangle of major cities — Milwuakee, Madison and Chicago — but offers life away from the hustle and steep pricing of a major city.
Hendricks Schuh grew up in Janesville in a historic home her parents renovated, but said Beloit was always like a second home.
“Even from the time I was a child though, I feel like Beloit was my community, our community. It’s where my parents socialized. Those are the parks I played in as a child; I spent my summers in Beloit,” she explained.
So while she was eager to jump on the project, the stakes were high personally and professionally.
“I love working with my mom. We’re super close, honestly. … [My mom] is pretty relaxed, but she also holds me to a high bar,” Hendricks Schuh said. “I obviously want to make her proud with these projects and everything, but she’s great. Nothing but good things to say about working with my mom.”
Hendricks Schuh said their daily conversations easily transition from talking about her kids to talking about real estate.
That’s no surprise, given her family’s long history in the industry.
“Honestly, real estate was around my family always. Even when my parents were young people that’s how they invested their money and they owned residential rental properties and things and then as their businesses did better, they started buying commercial real estate so I mean that was just always a discussion at the dinner table,” she explained.
But it’s not just her mom she’s working with. The show is a family affair for Hendricks Schuh, whose team includes her husband Matt Schuh (a plumbing contractor and home builder) and her nephew Connor Fox (realtor), among many others.
“We all just work so great together and we have so much fun so I’m just really proud of us as a team, but I’m also just really proud of the impact [I think we’ve made] in this residential arena in Beloit,” she said.
“We’re evoking positive change in the Beloit College Park Neighborhood and offering some new products to Beloit that didn’t exist before. I think that the neighborhood just in the last year that we’ve done the handful of homes — I feel like it already has new life and I’m extremely proud of that,” she continued.
And of course, after keeping this major secret for so long, Hendricks Schuh said she can’t wait to share it with the world. After all, she’s a self-proclaimed “talker” and social media posting guru. Keeping a secret this big, she admitted, was a little tough.
“Our goal with the show and the whole reason that we’re doing it is to shed some positive light on Beloit and we just are anxious for the world to see what we think our town, our city has to offer. I view Beloit as kind of an underdog story. It’s been through quite the evolution and I think that there’s so many positive exciting things happening in Beloit now. We’ve got really great momentum and I’m excited to get that out into the world,” she said.
“Betting on Beloit” premieres on Saturday, July 12. Episodes will be available to stream on-demand and on A&E’s website the following day. The series is comprised of 12 episodes.
Aly Prouty - Digital Media Producer
Aly Prouty is a digital producer for Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin, Ohio and Kentucky. An award-winning, multimedia journalist, she holds an honors B.A. in journalism from Marquette University and an M.A. in journalism and media studies from The University of Alabama.
