The Man Behind Our Mission

After completing his high school diploma and ending his media career, he decided to pursue higher education. During this time, Jay learned a secret skincare recipe from an interesting lady introduced by his beloved aunt. This sparked his entrepreneurial spirit. Wanting to develop this aspiration further, he decided to manufacture and sell the product. But how? With little to his name, investing what he had and procured the necessary material for production all by himself. After the arduous process of manufacturing, packaging, and labeling it at home all, Jay was now tasked with the mission of selling it. He started out with his small network of family and friends, going to beauty salons, moving door to door, and marketing Jay’s first-ever product, “Dura” – a fairness cream.

At the age of 18, he received an unbelievable opportunity. With the guidance and support of his parents, he fulfilled his dream of going to America. In January 2008, he arrived at Wichita State University in Kansas as an international student majoring in Business. The lack of excitement in Kansas took him to Los Angeles in no time without the knowledge of his parents. Unfortunately, the promises of a friend fell short, leaving him all alone in an alien territory at the age of 18 with only $200 in hand. So, for the night, he ended up at a motel, in one of the most notorious neighborhoods in Los Angeles – “Alvarado”. There he contemplated how long he could last, knowing that accommodation would cost him 50 dollars a night. Later, he found temporary shelter in a temple, which eventually became his sanctuary.

The Great Recession of 2008 is the reason why for the next 7 months Jay still remained unemployed. After 7 months, he was finally able to secure a job, but of course, nothing came easy. So, to get to his 8-hour job which started at midnight, he had to travel 3 hours one way, and most of the time by foot because buses wouldn’t travel on certain routes at night. Nighttime travel in South Central, California wasn’t the safest either. He was mugged a couple of times, and even held at gunpoint. Although such was life, he never gave up.

At his work as a sales associate, he met self-employed vendors who would come in and sell their products to the store and how they would earn 150 dollars in under 20 minutes intrigued Jay because it took him 8 hours to earn 64 dollars. He explored downtown LA, discovering a wholesale district. With $300, he resumed his entrepreneurial journey, buying and selling leather bracelets, door-to-door to store-to-store.

Despite his unstable immigration status, he saw the opportunity greater than the traffic. He decided to start a distribution company without a driver’s license, which eventually grew into a successful Direct-Store-Distribution company in Los Angeles. By the age of 20, he had expanded his clientele and product range, transitioning from local wholesalers to direct sourcing and importing.

In 2016, he was awarded as one of the Fastest Growing Minority Entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. In 2017, he decided to sell his company and move his focus to exports. He sold his first company, and signed a non-competing agreement at his first buyout, which kept him away from directly or indirectly competing in the same territory. Jay describes this as putting him in “Golden Handcuffs”.

He was always inspired by the quality of Made in the USA products. He started an Export company, exporting Made in the USA products to international markets. In 2019, he and his company were nominated and awarded as one of the Top Exporters in OC, California. Passionate about giving back, he formed his non-profit organization, “Liftlife” (www.liftlifecharity.org), to uplift people to live their best lives, to protect pets as living beings with equal rights, and to impact the planet for a sustainable future on behalf of his parents and as a tribute.

Here comes the interesting part. His vision & action were exceptional, but the more money you have access to, the faster you grow. He came to discover the golden challenge. “NEED MORE MONEY TO GROW”. He went to his bank and the bank said “no”. He went to other banks, alternative lenders but the answer was the same or very similar. This was a massive hurdle for him and his company to support growth and to scale. He used his personal savings, borrowed money from family & friends, borrowed from little to nothing by leveraging his personal credit, but that was not going to keep everyone and everything breathing. The puzzle became intensive but Jay knew the only one solution to his problem was to “Figure It Out”. His hustle began again, this time to figure out the Big Boys’ problems, “how to obtain funding on demand?”. He spent years but figured it out. Though the process was long, the answer was short. “You & your business need to be Credible & Fundable”. Since then, Jay has grown many ventures as an entrepreneur and investor.

By staying positive, strategic, and resourceful, Jay managed to separate the wheat from the chaff. He firmly believes that anyone can be in a better financial position as an Entrepreneur with the RIGHT Information, Infrastructure, & Implementation. Therefore, he founded TheFundOne to provide tailored assistance and education to fellow entrepreneurs grappling with similar hurdles.