In September 2010, I attended the Boys and Girls Club fundraising tea as the event photographer. The keynote speaker was Jennifer Mayer, owner of Charlotte Street Computers in Asheville, North Carolina, and e-cycleme.com.
Charlotte Street Computers has been voted “Best Computer Repair” by the readers of the Mountain Xpress Magazine for eight years running, and has also been a six time recipient of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce “Sky High Growth Award.” With two locations, Charlotte Street Computers has a staff of twenty-five, including six Apple Authorized Technicians and seven experienced PC Technicians. In addition, Charlotte Street Computers is also a certified Apple Specialist and carries the full line of Apple products.
e-cycleme.com is a computer recycling center in downtown Asheville. e-cycleme recycles and refurbishes both computers and computer-related electronics. All net proceeds are used to provide computers to low income people in the community.
Mayer’s personal and professional story is remarkable. Raised in extreme poverty by a drug addicted mother who moved, on average, every eight weeks, Jennifer left home at age fourteen. At age eighteen, she was illiterate and lacked a basic education. A community leader and homemaker named Judy Elliston met Jennifer, opened her home to her, and encouraged her to get her GED. In six months, Jennifer learned to read and earned her GED. Jennifer promised Judy that she would do something big and help others. She has delivered on that promise and continues to do so in innovative ways. Now in her mid-twenties, Jennifer Mayer is a bright, articulate owner of two successful computer repair companies, as well as e-cycleme.
After hearing her speak, I interviewed Jennifer to learn more about her life. Below are excepts from our recent conversation.
“When I married Greg Mayer his company was small, and did not make enough money to support us both. I started working there for free, and asked how the business could make money and someone said through marketing. I wasn’t even sure what that meant. I figured out that the more customers came in the door, the more money came in the door… so I pursued that for a long time. My mentor Judy Elliston was by my side through my trying to grow this business.
“When Judy was diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs disease, I knew she only had 3 years left and I remembered that I had promised her someday I would do something really big to help people.
“I had a meeting with one of my coworkers and I told her how upset I was about not getting to do something and I looked over at an old laptop and said, ‘We can make money off of that.’ And she said, ‘Do it.’ And I said, ‘I can’t. We would need a warehouse and it would need to be about 6,000 square feet and it would need to have a loading dock and it would need to be conveniently located.’ The next day my landlord came to me and said, ‘You would be interested in this warehouse that I have.’ And I said, ‘No I wouldn’t; Charlotte Street Computers needs to be on Charlotte Street,.’ And he said, “It’s about 6,000 square feet.” And I said, “Does it have a loading dock?” And he said, “Yes.” And I said, “Is it conveniently located?” And he said, “Yeah, it is just a couple blocks from Charlotte Street Computers.”
“I came up with the name ‘e-cycleme.’ Recycle ME. Give me an opportunity; recognize me, the potential I have. Just like we recycle this old computer, give me a chance, Jennifer Mayer who did not know how to read at age 18. I am saying recognize what is around you and the opportunity you have to help others.
“We opened e-cycleme overnight and I scared all my employees by doing so. I threw everything I had into being able to recycle old computers and I wanted to be able to do it before Judy died. I did that really successfully. I asked people to write me letters to ask for the computers because I wanted really badly to read those letters to her. I was able to spend the last six months that she was alive bringing letters to her almost daily and reading them with her.
“I chose as an outlet for my philanthropy a community called Klondike, which is one of the housing developments in Asheville. It lacks community resources like Boys and Girls Club that most other low income neighborhoods have. I take the kids to cultural events. I sponsor events through the Asheville Community Theatre, and they in turn give me marketing opportunities, and it pays for itself. Then I am able to take the kids from Klondike to plays and all kinds of cultural events that they would not otherwise have the opportunity to go to. I trade some of the tickets for a bus and pick up the kids for free. I also do that with the Health Adventure so we can go there too. I do a lot of do-gooder stuff; Judy taught me that.”
