Before DVLPstudio, we encountered struggles familiar to many businesses. We needed websites but it felt overwhelming and confusing.

In separate experiences, we both started our entrepreneurial journeys and needed websites. With little web development knowledge, we relied on contracted web developers to execute for us. Unfortunately, we both experienced poor communication from web developers who disappeared on us for months at a time. As budding entrepreneurs, spending over $1,000 on websites drained our personal savings and set us backwards on our goals. We felt stuck. We couldn’t build our own websites. We didn’t have reliable developers. We had no clue how to drive traffic to a website, let alone create and maintain them.

…and that’s exactly what led us both to an intensive coding program at UCLA. Interestingly, we actually met a decade prior on a basketball court! Besides shooting hoops, it turns out we were both also interested in building websites for ourselves and others. With our newfound coding skills, we created DVLPstudio with a shared goal of uplifting businesses that are black-owned, women-owned, or owned by historically disadvantaged groups.