A Kim Story
Why I created Uvii
By Kimberly Gray
Hi, my name is Kimberly Gray, I am the founder & CEO of Uvii, a female-led, New York City-based mobile technology startup. Our mission is to make education more accessible, collaborative and affordable through mobile-first learning.
I remember reading an article on Robert F. Smith, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the number one black-owned private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. As a child, he used to watch his mother send $25 dollars to the United Negro College Fund every month. This really spoke to me.
They thought I was crazy. My parents, when I said I wanted to leave Howard University and move to New York City to attend F.I.T. (The Fashion Institute of Technology) to be a fashion stylist. My entire family attended Howard U. They said:
“You’re nuts.”
I said. We’ll see. Flash forward, by 21 I was the fashion editor for two Hip Hop magazines Stress Magazine and Woofin’, and working on feature films like “Exit Wounds”, Trippin’, and “Summer of Sam” in the wardrobe department.
So years later, when I decided to make another big leap, from fashion to tech, once again. People said:
“You’re crazy.”
What do you know about tech? You’re not a coder. A developer. How will you raise the capital? So I used that lack of knowledge to accelerate my learning curve to build Uvii.
Uvii is mobile-first education, a collaborative learning app for speaker seminars and skill training workshops enabled with video commenting tools for students and self-learners to access information faster and easier from their mobile device. As a plugin, Uvii licenses our patent-pending video survey tools to provide educational institutions course management and video learning assessment.
What does it all mean?
We can save a lot of time and money learning in the place where we spend most of our time…. on mobile devices.
The definition of an Uvii is a series of videos about the same topic.
Uvii talks back. Video commentary. Video surveys. Recorded and real-time. It’s an opportunity to share our ideas, skills, passions, and collaborate, respectfully, on a virtual learning platform and video repository for speaker seminars, workshops, and micro-courses.
REAL CONVERSATION. No hiding behind keyboards, hashtags, subliminal posts, comments, and emojis. That’s not real life. We should be able to communicate as just human beings globally. That should be the purpose of technology.
The problem is college is too expensive.
“70% of Americans cannot afford to go to college” (Institution for Higher Education Policy/ IHEP).
The average US private college tuition with fees is $34,740 (CollegeData). There is a desperate need for affordable education.
Uvii provides students and self- learners access to speaker seminars, skill training workshops, and curriculum from educational institutions faster, more efficiently and at a lower cost from their mobile device.
Uvii has two very scalable business models. Our business to consumer B2C model is a PaaS (Platform as a Service) mobile app for speaker seminars, skill training workshops, and micro courses.
The B2B Model is a SaaS (Software as a Service). A patent-pending video response plugin for video learning assessment and course management. Uvii is positioned to agnostically plugin into educational institutions existing LMS (Learning Management Systems) starting with Canvas by Instructure and Noodle Platform. As well as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) providers like Coursera, as well as K-12 school districts and university portals charging a $10 licensing fee per FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) student.
Preview mode.
“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.” -Booker T. Washington
I am related to Booker T. Washington on my mother’s side by marriage. This is a story about education, for my mom, my dad, my niece, my brother and me. This is a story about why I created Uvii. This is a story about my pathway to knowledge. This is a story about how we can all empower each other as a cadre of self-learners, as entrepreneurs, as business owners, and as educators to create a universal village. To help others understand how to create opportunities in their communities and worldwide.
I grew up in Fort Washington, Maryland in a five-bedroom house with a two car garage, a two-parent household; where both mother and father were college educated. I guess I was very “Whitley” from a Different World or “Hillary” from Fresh Prince of Bel Air “ish” growing up. I’ll be honest, as a kid, I didn't realize how fortunate I was. I was so oblivious to racial poverty and the wealth gap. I grew up in a bubble. It was so bad, that when I saw a white person driving a Lexus. I would laugh and think to myself …like “only Black people drive that type of car”, I know it sounds silly right? Well, its true, they say “ignorance is bliss”. Mind you, I'm from Prince Georges County, Maryland. Per capita, it is the richest black community in America. Half of the wealthiest African-American counties in the United States are in Maryland. I was very fortunate that both my parents were very hard working and from humble roots. Frugal. My mother Juanita Gray is from West Virginia, literally a Coal Miner’s Daughter. She grew up in public housing. My dad, Clyde Gray, grew up in Civil Rights era inner-city Baltimore, Md. That kinda says it all. Both were present at MLK’s March on Washington and both my parents were principles in DC Public Schools. They always made it a point to make my life balanced. It’s a shame that more kids don’t get to have these “ignorance is bliss” moments like I did as a child. They allow you to dream. I want for my son to have the same or more than I had growing up. That’s building wealth. It’s about creating opportunities and infrastructure to succeed and be self-sufficient in life. That is part of the reason, I created Uvii to help others get the opportunity to teach and tell stories.
Family is so important. They are our first teachers.
All aspects of success turn into value when individual efforts for greatness are shared, like a family. Knowledge is meant to be spread. Our true value is in the ability to express ourselves and to extrapolate information from lessons or conversations, that enable you to articulate your ideas strategically with tact in execution. I think a lot of us especially me as an entrepreneur need a place to really connect intelligently and speak our minds. The platform for us is Uvii. Because Uvii talks back.
Uvii gives you the video response tools to create your own platform within the platform. To share your particular brand of knowledge, skill set to empower others. It’s a faster learning cycle. One does not necessarily need to spend four years in college and frankly, it’s not for everyone. With all of the scandal in standardized testing and the admission process for colleges and universities, it just really illustrates how privilege is the true cursor of success, not knowledge. It’s really money. I have a colleague, she’s a white woman and we were having a conversation about this particular “varsity blues scandal” and she said, I don’t know why so many privileged white kids are so intent on going to Harvard because they’re going to get a good job regardless with their connections. This was a breakthrough moment, I was very impressed that she even admitted to saying something like this because, in fact, the people who probably really need those degrees from Harvard are the people who don’t have that network/connections of privilege that will provide them a job through entitlement. That said freeing up opportunities for everyone to bridge the wealth gap. … that’s a goal I can aspire to… Ya dig?
My family, they are my heroes!
My brother Steve, received a congressional grant to attend the US Military Academy at West Point. My niece Alexis, his daughter received a full academic scholarship to Georgetown University.
I don’t want to sound utopian, but through mobile-first education, we can level the playing field by providing solutions that will easily and effectively reach learners worldwide. To create new revenue streams with low customer acquisition costs- for speakers, educators, college institutions and extended value for E-Learning platforms MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), LMS (Learning Management Systems), university portals, and K-12 school districts. Education is the second largest industry sector in the country, only behind healthcare.
We are creating tools to ease students expenses and save money by accessing online courses from their mobile device and increase retention and student enrollment for educational institutions through mobile learning.
Uvii 2.0 is currently in prototype development. We are slating a Summer Q3-Fall Q4' 2019 activation of the mobile app for speaker seminars and skill training workshops from industry leaders in education, business, entertainment, and personal development.
Uvii takes the online webinar experience to mobile to create a new audience and revenue stream for speakers and educational institutions.
*patent-pending
The impact that Uvii will make on the education sector is game-changing and life-changing for those who are on the receiving end. I have an innate motivation and passion based on the quality of education I received from my parents to ensure others get a quality education in this new twenty-first century.
Uvii is focused on working with early-stage investors and innovation partners who recognize the opportunity in our seed round. Let’s be frank, I’m a double minority, black and female working in tech. “Black women have raised just .0006 percent of all tech venture funding since 2009.” (TechCrunch)
That’s a whole DECADE with barely any progress.
That’s just bad. Bad. All the PG County in the world can’t fix that! So, it’s vital for me and for people like me to tell our stories.
If you are interested in learning more about our team, becoming a supporter or innovation partner. Let’s connect! I’m available to share more on the Uvii story and business model. We are stronger together, I truly believe that.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to learning with you on Uvii!
Sincerely,
Kimberly Gray
Founder/CEO, Uvii
e. kimberly@uviiapp.com
