Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jerome Howard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jerome, appreciate you joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?
I grew up in a small south Ga town called Alamo, GA. We’re about two hours away from, what we would call, a big city. Macon is about an hour and 45 mins north and Savannah is about the same distance South. Being that far from the city, it’s a lot of experiences that we would naturally miss out on due to the fact nothing really comes through our town. Because my parents were both educators, they really understood the value of my siblings and me going on vacations, going to colleges for summer camps and making sure we saw things outside of our immediate environment. Most people are familiar with the phrase “exposure leads to expansion” and that couldn’t be any truer. Because I had the opportunity to see things, it gave me a hunger and desire to want more than what I saw on a day to day to basis. I’m forever grateful for my parents making the sacrifices to give me, my siblings and friends those experiences.
Jerome, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Like most young kids, I knew that I had an interest in technology when I found myself taking my toys apart and trying to figure out what made it work. As computers began to come more popular, I was the person that everyone in my town and school would rely on to fix those that were not working as expected. In high school, I took a technology class that opened my eyes to everything that was possible. I soon realized that I had the ability to not only learn the technology easily but also explain it to those who were less familiar. My senior year, I learned of the dual degree program between Albany State University and Georgia Tech and knew it was the best of both worlds. I wanted to attend an HBCU, specifically ASU because it was my family school, and attend GT as it was one of the best engineering schools in the country.
At Albany State, I studied computer science and graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Electrical Engineering . At tech is when I discovered my love for security. I was always interested in coding but I hated debugging code or being tasked with writing code for homework assignments. If I wasn’t interested in the project or task, I immediately became uninterested. So I decided that when once I transfer to tech, I would focus on Electrical Engineering because I felt as if I would have more options to choose from career wise. I enrolled in a class called ECE 3076 – Computer Communications that taught the basics concepts of computer communications network protocols. That’s when I discovered and fell in love with security. I started to take a few more classes that thought us various hacking methods and then we would go back and learn how to protect networks from being infiltrated by those hacking methods. I was hooked!
I received an offer to complete an internship at an Oil & Gas company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in their security department and Upon graduating, I went to work in various roles (security and big data groups) of the technology division in Oklahoma and Houston, TX. Throughout my time in Corporate America, I started a music tech company called Phanzr, which was selected as a SxSW Spotlight company in 2014, that helped artist identify their target audience by giving them the analytics behind users downloading and listening to their music. With the help of two other engineers, I also co-founded a non-profit organization called S.W.I.F.T. (Students Working to Impact Future Technology) that focuses on helping students in rural and under-served communities connect and learn about technology by using everyday tools. After seven years with that company, I realized that if I wanted to stay technical and have ambitions of getting into the C-Suite, I needed to have more control of my career. I knew that Atlanta was on the rise for black tech startups, so I accepted a position as Developer Advisor for a major health care company in Atlanta and started to put more focus on my entrepreneurial journey. I worked for a few startups, opened and co-owned a lounge, Rose Gold Bar & Lounge in Riverdale, with my girlfriend; opened a funeral homes, Howard Mortuary, with my father in McRae, GA; and recently co-founded a Internet Service Provider (ISP) company called Culture Wireless. Even in 2022, between 9 to 12 million children in the U.S. and 1.3 billion worldwide lack access to quality and affordable Internet. Historically excluded communities are missing out on growth opportunities without internet access. Culture Wireless is committed to closing the digital divide.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
One of the biggest struggles in my journey was during my Phanzr startup. After presenting at SXSW, I had interest from several major labels and we began talks on how the platform worked what it meant for music as the digital age started to have a bigger impact. After a few months, talks began to die down for various reasons. I felt like a complete failure. I put so much work into this idea, saw it come to life, attracted the major players, then BOOM… silence. That’s a process that can really get the best of people.
I spent the next few years trying to understand where I went wrong. I saw two major music sharing companies add features that I was pushing with Phanzr and I swore they had jacked my idea. During that time I studied all the sites that were in the space, seeing who they partnered with and how they were going about attracting customers. Most startups are faces with common dilemma “which comes first: the chicken or the egg.” I felt as though I had fallen victim to it so I studied how companies were getting past that major hurdle. It felt like a loss at the time but now that I’m on the other side of it, I see how it was one of the greatest lessons for me.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The reason why I feel Culture Wireless has a great reputation in the market is because 1) we are from the communities that we are aiming to serve 2) we are exactly who we say we are and know where the holes in the industry are and 3) we have the background and skills to do and accomplish what we set out to do.
Our CEO, Al Adjahoe, has been in telcom for over 30 years and was one of the lead engineers for building the internet infrastructure at the Atlanta Airport. Our CMO, Bam Sparks, is a genius when it comes to marketing and co-founded on of the most famous tourist attractions in the US, The Trap Museum. My experience in corporate America has given me great insight on how to build teams, products and systems to ensure the company excels. Combining that with the experience of knowing our customers, neighborhoods and how to relate to our customers, it puts us in the best position to solve the problem.. minimizing the digital divide. We’ve identified the needs, the gaps that aren’t being served, we have the skills, the mindset and the ability to solve our own community problems and that’s exactly what we will do!
We know that solving the digital divide is more than just having internet. We have to look at this from a holistic approach in order to solve the divide. We have to create a pipeline for kids to enter into STEM fields at an early age. That means there needs to be community activities for the communities we’re in that will expose more of the youth to exciting STEM careers and paths. There is a need to provide job training for young adults in order for them to have careers in STEM fields. Not all tech careers require college or technical degrees; some just require experience. But in order for one to gain experience, the have to be aware that these jobs exist and have means to get hands on experience to be able to apply for the jobs. 75%+ of homes connect to the internet from a cell phone. This means there needs to be means for households to have multiple devices and be trained on how to use those devices. Having internet AND a laptop could change the entire trajectory of a family. Remote jobs that once weren’t an option now are all because of access. These are things you have to know and be truly devoted to solving. Because we’re committed and back it with our actions, we feel strongly that we will continue to pierce through the markets and earn our share.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goculturewireless.com
- Instagram: @thecoolexec
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvin-jerome-howard-71a4b220/