Phones and the internet have come a long way since 1992. The term 'surfing the internet' had just been coined; the first ever SMS was sent; and the idea of the two being connected was still a conceptual fantasy. But Sonya Cheeseborough has been in the game of bringing them both to peoples' doorsteps for just that long.
While much of the industry is currently focused on fiber-optic deployments, she has worked in copper campaigns, dial-up internet and more. “I’ve worked across all the technology. I’ve been around for a long time,” she detailed in an interview with us.
When Cheeseborough first began, she was knocking on doors selling rotary phones in Florida. Today, she is a consumer-facing sales director at Kinetic, a branch of the telecom company Windstream, managing over 100 employees.
Not only a veteran with internet and telecom technology, Cheeseborough is also a seasoned pro in speaking with a variety of people — from neighborhood residents and small business owners to corporate c-suite execs.
“It's been very impactful on me for both personal and professional growth. I can't see myself anywhere else to be honest with you."
Price vs. need
The simple “ability to reach across to someone” has long been the focus of Cheeseborough’s job. The means may have changed extensively in the last several decades — but communication has always been essential.
Even in the wireline days, being able to call friends, family members, colleagues and emergency services played a key role in society.
That proliferated in the triadic torrent of social media, smartphones and big data — presenting all new ways to stay in touch.
“The one thing that I enjoy the most is being able to visually see my grandchildren,” said Cheeseborough. When she contemplated moving from her lifelong home in Florida, her biggest worry was being away from them. But with the advent of video calls, they were able to (albeit digitally) see each other. “Being able to talk to my grandchildren every night before they're in bed: you can't put a price on that.”
From Cheeseborough’s perspective, this has always been at the core of her work, but only recently has it become widely regarded as an essential commodity of daily life.
“I don't feel like people really understood the necessity of it until the pandemic,” she said. Be it for schooling, working from home or accessing health care, people rapidly went from conveniently using it — to needing it.
This era of digital reliance has really enabled the technology to “sell itself,” as Cheeseborough articulated, but even with its newfound importance, she has long understood her role in sales to be about addressing a fundamental need for communication.
“You have to believe in your technology, and you have to believe that it's necessary,” she said. “Understand, you're not selling on price, you're selling the need.”
She clarified that price is of course important, especially in the context of internet affordability and bringing the service to those who actually need it the most.
Cheeseborough reflected on the many times she called up small businesses — grocery stores and coffee shops — to offer discounts not only for the business but all its employees as well.
She also cited times in her career, during government assisted programs like the ConnectHome initiative, when other people in her role would avoid going into predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods.
“They were afraid. I was not afraid,” she described. She would go door to door and see that they were aware of the assistance programs and knew how to gain access to internet. “Those are the fights that I had on the back end to make sure that people that look like me had it.”
For how much she believes in bringing internet connection to communities that lack it, she emphasized the toughest part in the whole process: “we can't get it fast enough to our customers. Most of them are in an immediate need.”
But where there is a need, there is often a lack of infrastructure, bandwidth or not enough broadband technicians to install the work.
“We're moving fast, but sometimes we move a little bit too fast in the sales world,” she said.
Proving that ‘I belong at the table’
Seeing that people like her received internet connection wasn’t Cheeseborough’s only battle, as she has long had to fight for inclusion and advancement in her own career. “It’s still male dominated,” she said laughing. “And it’s 2024.”
Following the murder of George Floyd, not only did the world erupt in protests, but many industries saw increased practices in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) — some more meaningful than others. While those practices have since been shifting, it has woken far more people up to the larger issue.
“My leadership team understands it. I’m not saying everyone always understood it,” she detailed, but “more people have come to understand it. People are more aware and they’re stopping to pay attention. Just five years ago it was not like that. But now I feel like we're getting there. We just have to continue in that direction.”
Cheeseborough’s life and career has been proof that the problem has come a long way — but it’s far from over.
"I grew up in a time where there were still water fountains that had ‘colored only,’ and ‘whites only.’ So, understand: that’s the era I grew up in, having to fight through that, you know, because it wasn't that long ago,” she explained.
Much of her career has been spent “having to prove that I belong at the table. I spent a lot of time growing, both professionally and personally, trying to prove that I deserve to be where I am.”
While she recognized that to be a deeply difficult and ongoing struggle, she advised other people in her position to “understand what you're up against and not be angry about it. I'm not angry about it because it's just the way of the world, but you have to be able to make it work for you.”
Cheeseborough herself teaches a six-week course called “Thriving in Corporate America” which supports young people of color navigate the business world and cultivate career success. Even more so, it aims to show them that they deserve and can claim a seat at the table.
“Understand, I’m a director of a [former] fortune 500 company. Look at me... you can do it too. But you can’t give up,” she declared. "I’m proud of it. If I can influence more people, then that’s what I’m here to do. My blessings aren’t for me, they’re for other people.”