PROJECTXYZ: Kim Caudle Lewis
L. Are you originally from North Alabama?
K. I was born and raised in Triana, Alabama, at that time a majority Black community with less than 600 people. Now the area has grown tremendously and [is] more diverse.
L. What is your background and how did that lead to founding PROJECTXYZ?
K. I thought I wanted to be a nurse, so I went off to college to go to nursing school. My junior year, when I started my clinicals and started working in the hospital, I realized that I didn’t want to be a nurse. So, I moved back home and started taking classes at the local community college and got an associate degree in computer information systems and started working in the hospital in the IT department. During this timeframe I got married, had my oldest daughter and several years later I got a divorce. After my divorce, I found myself as a single mother and having a hard time making ends meet. I wasn’t making enough money with my full-time job, so I also started working remotely at night and on weekends for other hospital that needed my consulting help with their IT programming needs About a year after I started doing the consulting work, I received an offer that would require me to leave my full-time job if I took the position. So, I took a leap of faith and left my full-time job and started working for myself at PROJECTXYZ. I started the company in 2002, and we are celebrating 20 years in business this year!
L. You earned the Woman-Owned Business Achievement Award in 2017 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and PROJECTXYZ is continually tanned to the Inc. 5000 list. What do you think is the key to your continued success?
K. I think the key to our continued success is our great team members. We try to hire people with the right skill sets or at least willing to learn those skills, and they also fit into our company culture. We try to make sure everyone understands the company’s mission and values before we make the hire. We allow our employees to grow and expand, and we make sure we do our best to provide the tools to them so they can do the best job for our customers.
L What’s the biggest challenge you have faced?
K. Access to capital (money) when we had opportunities to grow and expand. Some banks are risk-averse and [didn’t] always want to loan the company the funds we needed.
L. What other roles does PROJECTXYZ play in North Alabama? For example, tell us about your representation in the Shoals?
K. The company currently employs almost 300 employees across the United States. In 2020 during the pandemic, we purchased the manufacturing facility in Muscle Shoals. This facility was about to close permanently and the Shoals Economic Development Association reached out to us to see if we would be interested in purchasing the company. We were able to make the purchases and save those 130 jobs for the Shoals community.
L. Other Projects throughout North Alabama?
K. PROJECTXYZ, Inc has several subsidiary companies under our corporate umbrella.
• PROJECTXYZ, Inc. – the parent company that also supports the defense industry
• PROJECTXYZ Muscle Shoals – (Manufacturing) a plastic injection molding company in Muscle Shoals, AL – We currently support the automotive industry.
• Superhero Chef – a restaurant in Tuscumbia, AL
• Coldwater Seed and Supply – Tuscumbia, AL - the oldest seed and supply company in the state
• WTZT – Channel 11 in Athens, AL- the only locally owned and operated television station in North Alabama
• BizTech – Huntsville, AL – Huntsville oldest business incubator
• Valiant Gifts – Huntsville, AL – A certified collegiate supply company
L. What do you see for the future?
K. We want to see PROJECTXYZ continue to grow our current business and expand the work we are doing in the manufacturing industry.
L. Any advice you would offer to future female entrepreneurs?
K. That you sometimes have to step out on faith to achieve the goals that you want in life.