Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophronia McKenzie.
Sophronia, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I migrated to South Florida from Jamaica on Saturday, October 5, 2013, with $100 and 5 panties to my name. I was on a mission to redefine my life at the age of 26 soon to be 27. I needed a new start.
When I arrived, I knew I needed a job and I needed to obtain sponsorship (work authorization) from a reputable firm so that I would be able to live in the US, permanently. I was very opposed to getting married for the wrong reasons and I didn’t have any relatives who would have been able to assist me with my transition. So, I had to be strategic.
A few months later, I got a job as a door-to-door sales agent, going to different communities in Broward County, knocking on people’s doors, selling AT&T U-verse services.
Wasn’t I brave?
Through this job, I managed to obtain legal sponsorship and for almost two years, I was the top selling agent and raked in almost $35k per year, strictly on commissions, which means, if I didn’t sell anything I would not make any money. I read somewhere once that the most successful entrepreneurs, like Mark Cuban, were once door-to-door sales agents.
On Saturday, July 25, 2015, I decided to take a leap of faith and quit the sales job and apply for a job that I believe would help me to get to the next level in my career. Even though I would still need sponsorship as I did not obtain my permanent residency yet. I rigorously applied for jobs that weekend. On Monday, July 27, 2015, I received a phone call from a recruiter; interviewed with a new firm that Wednesday and got hired on the spot. Look at God!
July 2021 marks 6 years since I assumed the role of an IT project manager at this new firm moving from $100, to $35k as a sales agent, to making $85k per year.
And now, I am a Senior IT project manager by day and creator and founder of my own startup software company by night.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not! My journey is tricky and challenging. Legally, I can only build and fund my startup, but I am not able to be registered as an employee or earn any income from the company until I obtain my permanent residency.
In addition, as a project manager, I had to develop the discipline to be organized and manage tasks from start to finish which is not necessarily the easiest thing. Being discipline is hard.
However, with this discipline, I was able to build my startup from scratch. I created milestones, broke them down to monthly goals and created tasks/strategies around them to build the company phase by phase.
With discipline, I was able to use my 9 to 5 to fund the company and recruit a small, yet passionate team that I am extremely grateful for. The team is so passionate about the company and believe in the brand and purpose that no amount of money could pay for their support.
The days when I am at my lowest and feel like I am losing focus or the drive, the support I get from my team, my friends and most importantly my family especially my brother and mother, refuels me.
I literally feel mentally stimulated after a conversation or a quick DM or text to say, “I am proud of you”.
Building a company from scratch is not the easiest thing to do; entrepreneurship “looks cool” when the reward is received, but the work behind the scenes requires tenacity and most importantly consistency.
I am super grateful for how my support system loves me. It really keeps me consistent.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Back in 2018, I was at happy hour with one of my best friends. We decided to try a new restaurant and I was super annoyed at the fact that I couldn’t see any pictures or videos of the menu items. I kept fussing at her that I cannot understand why in this digital era, restaurants do not use multimedia menus. She looked at me straight in the face and said, “Well you work with technology, so why don’t you build that type of menu yourself?” At that point, a light bulb went off in my head and I decided to start a new company and developed a photo menu app which I now call, visuEats.
visuEats enhances the passionate foodie’s dining experience by providing a mobile app that only shows photos or videos of restaurants’ menu items.
I am a foodie. If you’ve ever met me, you know I love my belly! I never leave home without my tummy, so I understand from the foodie’s point of view how mundane it is to look at a traditional menu.
Combined with my passion, working in the technology industry for 6 years designing and validating the functionality of my employer’s own software, makes me uniquely qualified to help solve this problem.
visuEats gets customers hungry when they look at each menu item, as humans are naturally attracted to beautiful things, and that includes food. So, we work with professional food photographers to bring out the best of each restaurants’ menu. visuEats easily navigates users through the menu selection process by catering to their individual needs. It is now available for download for free, on the App and Google Play Store.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
visuEats is still in the early stages but it is growing, and the brand awareness is building. The next milestone to achieve is to add more restaurants on the platform and have these restaurants use visuEats as the new menu tool, which would ultimately redefine the dining experience.
On Sunday, August 1, 2021, I launched visuEats first ever crowdfunding campaign on iFundWomen.com and raised over $1000 within the first week of the campaign. In addition, I have received multiple requests from angel investors to aggressively fund and build out the visuEats platform which is very exciting.
Our reach on Instagram went from 11k early 2021 to almost 500k in July 2021.
So, we are growing rapidly. I strongly believe visuEats will be the leading app for the restaurant industry. I just have to remain consistent.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@visuEats.com
- Website: https://ifundwomen.com/projects/visueats-eat-your-eyes
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visueats/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visuEats
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFggA0K4UISlwj-IGbxAW9w
