Staying the course

Derek and Alexis Brooks have seen their Inside Cable telecommunications company rise and fall — and rise again.

As a small business owner, Alexis Brooks doesn’t waste a lot of time when asked about the recent economy. “We’ve been through hell,” she says.

Brooks is not exaggerating.

Nine years ago, she and her husband started the small telecommunications infrastructure firm Inside Cable, Inc. Fueled by a highly visible contract with the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Inside Cable capitalized on their success — and extensive business network — and attracted other major clients, including Siemens Transportation Systems, the TJX Companies and Liberty Mutual.

They were rolling. Just five years after launching the company from their kitchen table in Lexington, they moved their company from their suburban home to a 5,000 square foot office in Woburn.

They had 15 employees and counted as their political supporters and friends the late Ted Kennedy,  U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. And annual revenue was growing nicely. By 2007, it was approaching $3 million.

But without much notice, one of their major clients delayed payment on a contract worth an estimated $2 million. One month led to another, and before long Inside Cable was defaulting on its loan and credit lines.  

At the same time, potential government contracts were vanishing as a result of state and federal budget cuts.

And then the recession hit.

The result was a virtual free-fall. Last year, they teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and were forced to lay-off their 15 employees.

“We were in survival mode,” Brooks said. “We owed a ton of money and were no longer considered bankable.”

Brooks said they both realized that something had to happen, sooner rather than later, or their dream was going down the drain.

“We decided,” Brooks said, “that we were not going to fail, no matter what. We saw this period as a litmus test on our resolve, a necessary step before really taking our company to the next level.”

Confronting a challenge is nothing new for the Brooks. Faith, hard work and intelligence has been part of both of their lives from their very start.  

A former model, Mrs. Brooks attended Lexington schools as a Metco student and later, Northeastern University, majoring in broadcast journalism. Her mother, Anna L. Fisher, was a pioneer in public school education in Boston to whom Menino dedicated a media center at East Boston High School.

Mrs. Brooks serves as Inside Cable’s vice president of marketing and communications.

Mr. Brooks serves as the company’s president and chief of operations. His father, Ernest L. Brooks, was the first African American branch manager at Chase Manhattan Bank, in Harlem in the 1960s. A dean’s-list graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School, Brooks was recruited as a telecommunications design engineer by NYNEX/New England Telephone (now Verizon) after his graduation from Tufts University.

It was at his first job that he saw his future. While there, he learned that the company would not commit resources to certain areas of the city. Where the major corporation didn’t see a positive return, Brooks saw opportunities in Mattapan, Roxbury and Dorchester.

From day one, the Brookses have tried to use Inside Cable to bridge the so-called “digital divide” — the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without it.

To achieve that goal, their company offers a range of services, network infrastructure products and Wi-Fi implementation. Their contract with the DNC, for instance, called for them to wire the DNC’s administrative office with more than 175 phone and internet lines.

In another project, a multi-year contract with Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority called for Inside Cable to serve as a supplier of fiber-optic cables and devices associated with setting up the wireless service along MBTA service lines.

Aside from technical expertise, the Brookses also plugged themselves into Boston’s business and social networks and used those platforms to not only leverage their small business but also advocate for minority — and women-owned businesses throughout Massachusetts.

Together, they serve on the boards of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts Inc. and the Center for Women and Enterprise.

With their own business infrastructure in place — and a separate division called Inside Cable Community Technology Initiatives (CTI), whose mission is to bring technology to underserved minority communities — it’s a little wonder then that the Brookses were able to tap into their network for support during the tough times.

 “Our strategy was to continue our advocacy work while also seeking creative ways to reinstate our funding,” Brooks said.

In other words, they kept pushing.

 In March 2008 they went on the National Minority Supplier Development Council’s trade mission to the United Kingdom to discuss diversifying the 2012 Olympics in London. They even went to Dubai to make a business pitch.

 And they didn’t neglect their community commitments. In January 2008, they opened Tech for Tots, a community-based technology access program for preschool- and kindergarten-aged children at the Hattie B. Cooper Community Center in Roxbury.

In the summer of 2009, the company along with a corporate partner, worked with the Los Angeles Urban League to obtain stimulus funding for one of their technology centers.

And things have slowly started to turn around for Inside Cable. The contract that was delayed nearly two years ago has finally been approved. In a separate deal, Brooks said they are close to finalizing a contract under the Department of Homeland Security to be part of its Mentor-Protege program, which pairs small businesses with large corporations.

Brooks readily admits that all of their problems have not been solved. “It’s still ugly out there,” she said. “But we are staying the course.”