How Chyan used Jobox to break stereotypes and thrive as a locksmith

If someone could impersonate joy, it would be Chyan. She always has a radiant smile on her face, even when she talks about difficult things. Like that time when a customer offered her a drink at the end of a job. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have done it had I been a man.”

Chyan is a woman locksmith. Not just a woman locksmith; a black woman locksmith. Only?4%?of locksmiths in the US are black, and only?10%?of them are women. So if you compound the two percentages, that means black women locksmiths only represent 0.004% of all locksmiths in the US. That’s around 120 black women locksmiths. Needless to say, Chyan is a rarity, and she chose Jobox to launch her locksmith career last year.

“My boyfriend Antoine introduced me to locksmithing. He had been using Jobox himself, and figured it would be a good way for me to get jobs. Jobox has been amazing at supporting my new locksmith career in the past year. It sends me jobs, it prepares quotes and invoices for me, it makes it easy to find the customer’s location and communicate with them. Everything.”

Locksmithing has been a godsend for Chyan. Literally. “My faith is a big part of who I am, and I believe God brought me to locksmithing and knew it was right for me.” Before becoming a locksmith, Chyan worked at several 9-to-5 jobs where she sat at a desk in front of a computer all day. “It wasn’t me, I hated it. I needed to find something that let me move around, be active. One day, Antoine asked me to try to unlock a car. I was able to do it in under 10 minutes. Thinking it was beginner’s luck, he gave me another lock to open, and again I did it in under 10 minutes.” Chyan clearly had a gift for locksmithing, so she decided to give it a try. “Antoine bought me everything I needed to get off the ground and taught me everything he knew. When I was ready, I created my own account on Jobox and started getting my own jobs.”

Today, Chyan works as a full-time locksmith in Long Island, NY.?Jobox?helped her grow her business and get new customers on her own. She’s become much more confident over the last year, but the stigma of being a black woman in a mostly white male industry has been a struggle. “Sometimes, I’ll call a customer and they’ll say “Tell the locksmith that I need to have this particular key.” And I’ll say “Ok, madam, I’ll bring you the right key, don’t worry.” and they’ll be like “oh, you’re the locksmith? Ok.”. It’s funny to me. And it’s always cool when people realize you can do the job. I can tell they’re impressed with what I can do.``

Whether she realizes it or not, Chyan is setting an example for all young women and young black women across the US. But that’s not why she chose this path. “I’ve never thought of that, whether or not I would inspire young black women to become locksmith. I became a locksmith because I’m good at it, and it lets me move and be free. But if it also means I inspire other young black women to become locksmiths, that’s awesome.”

Chyan’s story is something we really cherish at Jobox. Our mission has always been to help pros grow their business and thrive, especially if other circumstances are preventing them from doing so. Helping minorities enter the home service industry and build a career in that industry is one of the best rewards we could ask for.

If you have a home service marketplace and want to support local pros like Chyan, reach out to us here to get a demo. Jobox can send your jobs to pros like Chyan, and provides an all-in-one app where pros can manage their business and interact with customers. Learn more on our website.

And if, like Chyan, you want to start your locksmithing or other skilled trade business, start by?downloading the app?or?visit this page?to learn more.