Sacramento Inno Under 25 highlights some of the entrepreneurs and technologists under the age of 25 in the local innovation community.
Chelby Gill, 25
Chelby Gill got the idea for her reverse-logistics company Boummeringue when she and some friends were planning a girls’ trip in 2021 to celebrate the first summer after 2020 pandemic lockdowns.
She and some of her friends bought some clothes online, while other friends were hesitant to shop online at all because they didn’t want to buy clothes without trying them on, and they were unsure about returns.
Even those who bought online sometimes ended up keeping clothes they didn’t necessarily want because of the difficulty of returns.
That sparked the idea for Gill to start the company, which works with fashion retailers and department stores to get unwanted fashion items returned much faster.
The idea is that they can tap Boummeringue’s reps, who take care of shipping and packaging.
Timing is key, she says, because fashion trends change faster than the seasons, and getting an item back quickly can make the difference between being able to resell it or having to store it for a year, or worse, throwing it away.
“If it doesn’t suit their personal taste when they get it, they can return it easily,” Gill said. “It keeps the clothing in market and in the retail cycle.”
Boummeringue is still in pilot mode in the Sacramento region. Gill was selected in the most recent cohort of the FourthWave program, an accelerator for women entrepreneurs.
“Boummeringue is a sustainable solution that enables every fashion brand to be a part of the circular economy,” said Nancy Perlman, FourthWave's founder. “While at first glance the service addresses a novel everyday inconvenience, the impact of Boummerinque’s solution is far-reaching, addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals” on responsible consumption and production patterns.
“Chelby brings her unique insights into the shopping habits of Gen Z and millennials to solve the complexities of last mile delivery and return logistics,” Perlman said.
Gill graduated from San Jose State University in 2019 with a degree in political science. At college she was active in student government, public speaking, advocacy and volunteering. She was awarded the University Governance Award as a senior, and she got a judicial internship at a court in Washington, D.C.
Before moving on to focus on Boummeringue this past June, her last job was in information systems technology support for a disability rights advocacy group. Once she came up with the concept for her startup, she continued to work while she saved her money and did preliminary work on nights and weekends so she could work at building Boummeringue full-time for at least a year.
