Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Onyekwelu.
Hi Cindy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
During my childhood, I use to attend food drives, flea markets, and local farmer’s markets in town with my mother.
She was a vendor at many markets in town. I would help her sell handmade holiday gifts and various seasonal decorations to locals that would walk by our booth. I enjoyed everything! My favorite part was talking to all vendors with my mother about their American dreams. I am the first in my family to be born in the United States and my dream is to help others dreams grow in any way possible. My mother depended on her market profits back in the day, in order to make ends meet. Unfortunately, we had to close up shop due to the slow flow of local traffic and primarily depending on word of mouth for our marketing efforts.
From that fruitful experience, I learned that several factors go into sustaining a business such as implementing multi-marketing tactics, monitoring budgets, continuously improving user experiences, and more. More importantly, I realized there is no market without a constant flow of local customers supporting small vendors. That experience planted a seed that now has blossomed in this exciting journey to help other local vendors and small businesses blossom even more in their towns and beyond.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. I was faced with a lot of adversity. I’m the first one out of my family to graduate from college and be born an American citizen. Graduating debt free from college, due to many scholarships I won in high school in essay competitions.
After graduating from Pitzer College in Computational Economics, I was able to break into the tech industry after finding my passion in app development! It took a lot of grit and perseverance to keep on going along my journey!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have worked as an android mobile developer for Nike Digital as an intern in the summer of 2017, Java Developer for General Motors in 2018, Full-Stack Software Engineer for Booz Allen Hamilton in 2019-2022, and now I’m a Senior Software Engineer for Appddiction Studios!
I specialize in front-end web development frameworks such as React and Typescript currently! I’m most proud of myself for making it through my study aboard at Singapore Management University (SMU) during the fall of my senior semester in college during the fall of 2017. The technical courses at SMU were very challenging for me and the culture shock came with the experience of living in a completely different country for about 6 months. I matured very quickly there!
Cindy is a first-generation Nigerian-American and has been working within the tech industry for the last 5 years. She has worked for many top companies and is very versatile with her craft! She has been recently accepted within the @Geekdom incubator for her up-and-coming startup called Local Community Vendors, she plans on building the web platform in typescript, in order to help small businesses within San Antonio and later nationwide gain more customers remotely! Many would describe her as a humble, creative, and energetic life-learner” she works from home 100% Remote and loves her 3 border collie puppies, including her Guinea pig, named Gus.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Yes, I have learned that being close to your loved ones is very important, and also self-care matters a lot as well! You can never help others if you don’t help yourself first and helping others is one of my favorite hobbies.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.localcommunityvendors.com/more-about-us
- Instagram: @LocalCommunityVendors
