Nationwide — It’s not every day you see people of color entering the consumer electronics and telecom space. It’s certainly not every day that it’s a Black woman.
Two years ago, Chaymeriyia Moncrief, an Alabama native, broke the news that she was launching a prepaid wireless carrier, Tesix Wireless Network. Shortly after the news broke, the wireless carrier quickly garnered the attention of various news outlets, and the announcement went viral.
Not long after the company launched, a Black Enterprise article reported the company’s surprising valuation of $5.9M. It turns out Chaymeriyia was offered $4.4M for her wireless carrier before she officially launched and received $1.5M in investments — she turned down the sell offer.
When asked why she would possibly turn down such an offer, she responded:
“Before anything, I look at the numbers, so I understand why I was offered $4.4M for a company I hadn’t launched yet. From the waitlist and pre-sales, they saw early on what Tesix could be — and so did I. There was no way I was selling off a company I hadn’t had a chance to experience yet,” she explains.
Since launching in late 2018, Chaymeriyia has been quietly building and developing her brand right in her hometown of Montgomery, AL. She talks about how this has been one of the hardest things she has ever done, but the hardship has been well worth it.
“This isn’t just an industry; you just wake up one day and say: I’m about to start a phone carrier.” This is a space that you have to ask yourself, am I prepared for this? Will I be fully committed to the risk, time, and amount of energy this will take? Not to mention the financial risk that comes with it all. It’s been a lot, but I haven’t wanted this for so long to get here and fold under the slightest pressure. I love it, I love my brand, and the love for it makes it all worth it,” she expresses.
But, she didn’t stop there; in 2020, during the pandemic’s peak, Chaymeriyia did the unthinkable; she launched her very own smartphone under her second venture, NSPRE® (Inspire). In a letter to her supporters, she talks about this being a 19-year long dream of hers, to have her own smartphone and electronics as her love for tech peaked at just seven years old.
“I use to take things apart at home, like the remote, the radio, and even the family computer. I would challenge myself to put all the pieces back together in hopes that it would work, and each time that it did, I would fall more and more in love with the process. I was in trouble A LOT for this, but honestly, I couldn’t help myself,” she remembers.
Over the course of 3 years, Chaymeriyia has been building both of her companies and is on her journey to make them household names. She recently opened her headquarters in Alabama and is continuing to develop her team.
All in all, Chaymeriyia is showing what’s possible. Being only 26-years old and an African American woman in her space shows that we can enter rooms that others may see as impossible.
You can keep up with both of these brands at NSPREElectronics.com and TesixWireless.com
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