Our Story

My name is Mike Wotawa and I was born and raised in the St Louis area. I grew up with my parents and one younger brother. Fishing was my favorite activity ever since I was a little boy. I was lucky enough to grow up at Lake Tishomingo down in Jefferson County where I could fish all day.

When I was 23, in 1999, I started painting for a small company and I loved it. I enjoyed the physical labor and I was good at painting. I was an employee of a small company back then and I worked there for almost five years, until 2004. After that I went to work for a prestigious painting company here in St Louis and I was there until 2012. For those 8 years at that company, I worked in some very expensive and eloquent homes. Needless to say, my workmanship and customer service had to be of the highest quality.

​It was during the winter of 2012 that I fell on hard financial times. In the spring, I knew that I had to do something different to improve my financial situation. So the thought popped in my head to start my own painting business. I immediately started offering the same quality services that I was familiar with already.

The first year was hard for my business. I found a few wonderful clients, but had only enough work to get by. By 2013 I had grown enough that I could hire someone. After 2013, Selah Painting took off. We now have several employees and a good business model in place.

I don’t do as much painting anymore. I mostly run the business. I take the same approach to running the business as I did at doing the painting. I will always work hard at it. I train and expect my guys to have the same qualities that I started this business with. 
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Thank you for taking the time to read my story!

Sincerely,
Mike Wotawa