Shortly after graduating high school, Kelvin Crosby began to lose his peripheral vision as a result of Usher Syndrome Type II, a condition that affects the vision and hearing. Soon, Crosby found himself at a crossroads between choosing a career path and beginning his healing process, which eventually led him to pottery, entrepreneurship and a platform that would help him reach others in a whole new light.
DIVERSEability Magazine (DM) took the time to sit down with Crosby to discuss his journey as a deafblind artist and entrepreneur.
DM: How did the idea to become a business owner and start Smart Guider Inc. begin?
Kelvin Crosby (KC): After college, I found myself in a job where I was helping blind individuals get employment. It was great but the problem was that a lot of these individuals wouldn’t have the proper training and skillset to do their work and they would be let go. It was really frustrating for me. I decided that I wanted to solve this problem. I found a nonprofit to work with me and I built an advanced adaptive technology training program to help visually impaired people get employed and I did that process for about two years. Within a year of me starting that program, I gave birth to Smart Guider Inc.
DM: There are a lot of different canes out there on the market. What made you want to create the See Me Cane and what sets it apart from the rest?
KC: After I started my business, a friend of mine was hit by a car pretty severely. She blew out her ACL, had several broken bones and lost her job. She was able to recover, but she hadn’t been the same since. That really lit a fire in me and I said, “Hey, let’s make a cane that lights up and makes it easier to be seen, especially for people walking at night.” That’s how it became what it is today and it has really become the product that’s helped visually impaired people have that freedom and independence to continue solving problems. That’s what I’ve done my whole career —I see a problem, I go solve it, I figure out how to do it and make it happen.
The number one thing that separates the See Me Cane from the market is that it’s the first fully lit blind cane. Any other cane out there doesn’t fully light up. One third of blind people have been hit, or had a near miss, with EVs or hybrids, according to TheDriven.io, and because of this, I really wanted to make it possible for every visually impaired person to have access to something that would make it safer for them to walk around. It’s not a 100% solution to fixing the problem, but I would say it significantly helps.
DM: What initially sparked your interest in pottery? How did you become known as the DeafBlind Potter?
KC: Initially, I began doing pottery when I was 19 at the Helen Keller National Center as a way to deal with the pain of losing my vision. So, I got on the pottery wheel and dealt with my pain, I started taking classes and pursued it more in college. People were really impressed with how I was able to throw my clay and I made my first brand, Blind Kelvin Pottery, right before I was working on the See Me Cane.
In March of 2020, I lost all of my funding for me to run my business and I was essentially on my own. A few months later, in June, I lost all ability to engineer my products on my own because I was having some clarity issues in my right eye and could really only see shapes and colors on my computer screen. Between losing my funding and losing my vision, I had to make some hard decisions and find other sources of income.
In December of 2020, my friend had me try pottery in the ceramic shaft that she had built. I really needed to find a way to provide for my family and an outlet to grieve my vision loss and heal from that experience. I began throwing clay once a month and my friend’s older sister began taking videos of me on the pottery wheel and posting them to TikTok.
The video blew up and we went from zero followers to over 20,000 in 10 hours. In just a few days, our first popular video had over 1.4 million views and the follower count just kept skyrocketing. Little did we know that by gaining this following, we were building a business selling pottery and telling my story. I became known as the DeafBlind Potter and I started getting custom pottery orders, which brought in the income for me to hire an engineer to develop the See Me Cane. I had kind of lost hope and pottery really helped me move my development forward and get us to where we are today.
DM: Tell us how you felt when you realized your pottery was the key to funding the See Me Cane.
KC: That’s a very good question, I guess I haven’t really thought about that. For me, it didn’t really hit me until about a year ago. When I was able to start paying my engineer, Angela, and say, “Here, I’m able to pay your bills, here’s your check,” from the money I made from pottery, that was something pretty powerful.
The journey hasn’t been easy and being able to now have the opportunity to have platforms to share with people so they can empower themselves is something really, really incredible and I get excited about it. Sometimes it brings me to tears, sometimes it makes me laugh and sometimes it just makes me really humble. I couldn’t do it on my own without my team and my faith.
DM: In going through this experience, what’s the one piece of advice you’ve give to someone who wants to start their own business?
KC: Working hard is the key to having a successful business, so you really have to be willing to work hard. Being an entrepreneur and a business owner, you’re going to make mistakes and it’s okay to make mistakes, but make sure you have a team around you to support you and keep you accountable. My team has really helped me to make good business decisions and grow my businesses in a healthy way. If you don’t have that accountability, your business will crash.
For more information on the See Me Cane, visit seemecane.com, and to learn more about Crosby, his pottery and to view his pieces for sale, visit the deafblindpotter.com. Read more news from DiversityComm’s DIVERSEability Community here.
