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There are many titles one can use to describe TeDora Brown: business owner, mother, wife, author, and former educator. But the one with the most impact is builder. Because for Brown, being a builder means more than simply developing property—as the owner of Scotland Development, it’s a mission she’s lived out for all 45 years of her life.
Born in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, home to the city’s third-largest Black population, Brown was raised in a family that modeled resilience and enterprise. Her father worked in management at Montgomery Ward, later for H&R Block, and eventually started his own tax business. Her mother also worked—not for prestige, but to ensure her children never went without. By the time Brown was born, her grandmother already owned property. In a neighborhood where such a family model was rare, Brown expresses deep gratitude.
“Growing up, I thought we were rich,” she said. “We never wanted for anything—and that was different from some of the people I grew up around, even my cousins. If they didn’t have a father in the home, my father stepped in for them as well.”
Even as a child, her family believed she was destined to become a teacher.
“I was always the one who gathered the cousins and was teaching lessons around the house,” she said.”
That instinct later bloomed into a lifetime of ventures.
But before the success came setbacks. Brown, longing for a different kind of connection, found community in gang life—not due to a lack of security at home, but from an unspoken void she felt as a caregiver always tending to others. She’s unashamed of this chapter in her life. Her scars, she says, have become tools—offering insight, empathy, and a path to lead others more authentically.
At 17, she became a mother. She later married her daughter’s father and had two more children. That relationship, however, was marked by domestic violence. Brown eventually left for her safety and that of her children—all while building three daycare centers along the way.
As she tells it, she was a working mother who understood that other moms had to work, too. She wanted to care for her own children while supporting others. That was the birth of Little Sheppards Daycare, her first in-home daycare, in 2005.
“I was really excited,” she said. “Because I was once a teen mom, and I didn’t have a daycare to take my child to because of the area. So, I was excited because I brought that into my community.”
Step by step, that grew into multiple businesses: Little Sheppards Academy (2006), Little Sheppards Beginners (2008), and eventually Naperville Montessori School (2016).
At the heart of it all was a mission: to provide families with safe, loving, and academically enriching childcare.
Yet, even after leaving an abusive marriage and building a thriving career, Brown’s life would once again be shaken. In the years that followed, she experienced devastating loss—first her father in 2011, then her brother in 2012, then her grandfather and her son in 2014.
“Four generations of men in four years,” she shared. “I was close to all of them—like really, really close.”
“My father was my rock,” she continued. “He taught me what it meant to show up—for your family, for your purpose, for yourself. Losing him was like losing my compass.”
His absence left a hollow in the everyday rituals: morning check-ins, casual phone calls full of laughter, and the deep reassurance that someone always had her back.
“I felt like I wasn’t protected,” she later revealed. “That was the hardest part—realizing there was no voice, no guidance. I had to make all the decisions for me now. And I just kept thinking, what would my dad want me to do? He’d say, ‘Lace your bootstraps and do what you need to do.’ So I did.”
Then came the unimaginable.
“In a short amount of time, I buried both of them,” she said. “My son collapsed while playing basketball, suffering from an undiagnosed condition—myocarditis. In our last conversation, he was walking into the gym. Moments later, he collapsed. Then I had to pick out his casket. There’s no word for a mother who loses her child. If you lose a spouse, you’re a widow. If you lose your parents, you’re an orphan. But there’s no name for what I became.”
These weren’t just emotional losses—they were spiritual earthquakes that split open her foundation yet again. But as any builder knows: before you can raise something strong, the land sometimes must first be cleared.
Brick by Brick: Battling Public Scrutiny
In 2021, Brown found herself fighting a battle in the public eye when her name was connected to a federal fraud investigation involving the Paycheck Protection Program.
The headlines came fast and furious—and in an era where trial by media often moves faster than trial by jury, she was forced to wear a cloak of suspicion.
But here’s what didn’t make the headlines: Brown never pled guilty. The case against her was thrown out.
“They put me in the news, but when the truth came out, no one printed that part,” she said. “I had to walk through the shame that didn’t even belong to me.”
In the aftermath of the dropped charges, Brown reflected deeply.
“Sometimes your platform is found in your pain,” she said. “You realize what you’re made of when they try to take everything from you.”
The truth is simple: builders don’t just lay bricks. They survive storms, bulldoze lies, and begin again.
She Builds: A Philosophy and a Promise
What’s remarkable about Brown’s journey isn’t just her business success—it’s the heart behind it. Scotland Development isn’t just about property. It’s about people. Brown is committed to creating spaces for those who’ve historically lacked access to homeownership, investment opportunities, or even safe housing.
“There’s something sacred about putting people in a home. Not just a house—a home.”
In addition to her work in real estate, she pours into others through mentorship and education, speaking about entrepreneurship, survival, and what it means to be a woman who builds after being broken.
“There are so many women like me—who’ve been abused, overlooked, underestimated,” she said. “We don’t want pity—we want access.”
Building from the Rubble
The throughline in Brown’s life isn’t just strength—it’s intention. She didn’t arrive at this moment by accident. Her story is still unfolding, but it already echoes Bell Hooks’ words: “To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that reality.”
She’s done just that. She’s let go of shame, betrayal, and grief—and built something in their place. A mother. A business owner. A survivor. A developer. And above all, a builder.
And just like any builder who lays the last brick before stepping back to survey the shape of the structure, Brown is taking a breath before what’s next.
Because something is coming. Bigger. Stronger. Steel-framed by endurance and cemented in loss, legacy, and purpose.
"All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you,” wrote Octavia Butler. Brown’s work is a living blueprint of transformation—she's not just building structures, she's building a future.