Working a expertise firm was not a bucket checklist dream for Sonya Morales-Marchisillo, who labored within the automotive enterprise for 20 years.
She offered automobiles, grew to become a supervisor, then normal supervisor and at last, a finance supervisor and supplier director.
When she made the profession leap in 2020 to change into the proprietor and founding father of Pinnacle Communications Group, which supplies safety system set up service and upkeep to the private and non-private sectors, she had her household in thoughts.
Because the pandemic hit that yr, she continued to go away the home for her job at a Maserati dealership in Jacksonville.
However the closings and restrictions in place pressured her two teenage daughters, certainly one of them in school, to be at dwelling with “no outlet,” stated Morales-Marchisillo, 47.
Sonya Morales-Marchisillo describes herself an a “pandemic-preneur” who “determined to leap out and change into an entrepreneur in a pandemic.”
With the encouragement of her husband, David Marchisillo, who works in monetary companies as an choices analyst, she determined to create one: a enterprise she would personal and function and that daughters Amara and Marissa may very well be part of as nicely.
The consequence was Pinnacle Communications Group.
Its specialties embrace communications, weapons detection, entry management, intrusion, two-way radio, physique cameras, interactive shows and video surveillance and analytics, in response to its LinkedIn profile.
The corporate now has 9 full-time staff and greater than 760 industrial enterprise shoppers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, with some in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and California as nicely.
In January 2024 they contracted with their first world shopper, a London-based firm with company headquarters in Deerwood Park in Jacksonville.
Shoppers embrace faculties, authorities, municipalities, prisons, grocery shops, warehouses, logistics facilities, knowledge facilities, sheriff’s places of work, ports and airports, she stated.
Morales-Marchisillo mixed her enterprise savvy with a willpower to have a family-owned enterprise to begin the corporate.
She framed it this manner: “I really simply advised myself I’m a pandemic-preneur. It’s an entrepreneur who determined to leap out and change into an entrepreneur in a pandemic.”
Her analysis satisfied her that communication was a giant concern because the pandemic disrupted conventional enterprise practices.
The preliminary focus for Pinnacle Communications was two-way radio communication, particularly for firms hit by provide chain points.
She grew to become her personal mentor. She and her daughters “had been utterly self-taught,” turning to each e-book and YouTube tutorial video accessible.
After launching the enterprise, she rapidly pivoted on its attain, “as a result of we are able to’t have one lane of income,” she stated.
Cole Agner, who had labored with large expertise firms, joined the corporate as senior account supervisor.
It was “an enormous game-changer,” Morales-Marchisillo stated.
Agner stated that now that they’d discovered the communication piece, they wanted to increase to incorporate safety.
She stated he advised her, “Folks want eyes on their property, as a result of all people’s working from dwelling. Buildings are deserted. Docks are empty, trucking depots will not be being manned.
“We have to get eyes. We want these eyes for these managers, for these in management, for these police departments, for these safety personnel, to allow them to see what’s occurring, as a result of folks vacated the buildings.”
Jim Swenson, CEO of Pinnacle Communications, got here out of retirement with greater than 40 years of expertise within the safety enterprise to assist form the corporate’s path as nicely, she stated.
Income has continued to develop – from $2.2 million in 2022 to $4.7 million in 2024.
In just a few months, Morales-Marchisillo expects to maneuver from the 1,800-square-foot workplace at 7949 Atlantic Blvd., between Arlington Street and Southside Boulevard, to a location virtually 4 instances bigger in West Jacksonville.
A Latina, she is proud to run a woman- and minority-owned enterprise. However she would additionally like to alter these labels and make them extra part of the panorama “to be able to simply be a enterprise.”
Her analysis confirmed her 5% of ladies labored within the expertise discipline, 2.5% had been minority ladies, and 0.5% had been a C-suite chair, a founder or an proprietor or managing accomplice of a expertise firm.
Morales-Marchisillo frequently reaches out into the enterprise group to encourage different ladies.
“I need to make a wave so large that ladies are by no means questioned about being in management, ladies are by no means questioned about being in expertise, and set the usual that ladies can too,” she stated.
“I need to carry up a hand to the subsequent entrepreneur … as a result of I do know what the struggles are.”
Daughter Amara continues to work for the corporate. Marissa has married and returned to school.
The Marchisillos have three extra grown youngsters, all pursuing their very own profession paths.
The corporate may be very a lot a workforce, she stated, and he or she is prepared to tackle a number of roles.
“Usually I’m dressed up, as a result of I’m the face of the corporate.
“However on the finish of the day, the drill down is that if I have to put denims on, placed on a tough hat, go stroll a warehouse, take a look at website stroll, I can do all these issues.”
She selected to call the corporate Pinnacle as a result of “I need to be the perfect of the perfect,” Morales-Marchisillo stated.
“I wanted a reminder. It was my day by day reminder that I’m constructing the perfect of the perfect,” she stated.
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