Mailboxes line the wall of Takisha Clark owner of a postal service Capital Postal & Mailbox Service business, who went through a rough patch of homelessness in the early 2000s but is now coming back up and franchising her business in Long Beach Tuesday, February 23, 2021.Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Takisha Clark, a single mother from Compton, felt she was on the right path to financial freedom, until a devastating loss knocked her life out of control. After overcoming homelessness and an addiction to pills, Clark is quickly gaining a foothold in a fast-growing industry and is breaking records.

As the world economy continues to revolve around online shopping, the dependence of fast and reliable package delivery has never been greater. Clark’s postal service business, Capital Postal and Mail Services, is positioned in a thriving industry, she says, with lots of room to grow.

Capital Postal first opened its doors four years ago at a shopping plaza in North Long Beach. Her business offers a multitude of services such as packing, mailbox rental, shipping and printing. The company recently acquired a license as an official package courier for USPS, DHL and FedEx.

This year, Clark is hoping to franchise her business, which would make her the first Black woman to do so in her industry—one of her most touted achievements. Clark said a client has shown interest in opening a franchise located in Nevada, which would expand Clark’s business across state lines.

“It actually feels great,” Clark said. “My goal is to transform my mom-and-pop small business into a corporate company.”

Clark has also been listed on Yahoo Finance’s Top 10 Entrepreneurs of 2021 alongside other recognizable names such as Tesla’s Elon Musk.

Ambition is something Clark has never lacked. She started her first business when she was 22 years old. She ran a childcare business in Victorville in the early 2000s, which gained her enough income to purchase three homes. Things were going well for Clark, until tragedy struck.

Her younger sister was killed in a fatal car crash in 2007. The loss of her sibling drew Clark into a spiral of depressive episodes.

“It took a toll on me,” she said. “I couldn’t continue to work at the time, so I took some time off. It hit me so hard that I ended up becoming addicted to pills for a whole year. I couldn’t function.”

Clark never mustered up the courage to return to her daycare business. She said she let everything go, and as a result, became homeless after losing two of the homes she owned and short-selling the third. Clark had hit rock bottom for roughly a year, losing all ambition and falling deeper into homelessness and pill abuse. But as she began to slump further, Clark knew she had to find a way out.

“I had to get it together,” she said. “This is not what my sister would have wanted for me.”

She started going to school full time, staying with friends until she began getting a better footing in society once again. In 2010, Clark took a job as a receptionist working for Shields for Families, a national nonprofit that focuses on helping victims of child and drug abuse. Rising through the ranks, Clark was eventually promoted as a social worker and ran a program aiding families struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

Her time there allowed her to regain that ambition she had lost years ago.

“While working with them I got back on my feet,” Clark said.

In 2013, Clark started a side gig working in credit repair and quickly learned the ins and outs of accounting. A year later, she opened up a franchised location through Liberty Tax.

“After I started my Liberty Tax, things just started looking up for me,” Clark said.

 

Takisha Clark owner of a postal service Capital Postal & Mailbox Service business stands in front of her business and her delivery van in Long Beach Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Clark who went through a rough patch of homelessness in the early 2000s is now coming back up and franchising her business Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Using the experience she gathered there, Clark eventually opened her own tax office called Good Faith Tax Services.

That business didn’t last long, as she decided to close its doors this last tax season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, by then she had already mapped out her next business ambition that would focus on the mail and packaging industry.

“I just decided to just focus on the Capital Postal side of things,” Clark said.

Clark always had a passion for the postal service industry and was curious to know how to get involved. She was also attracted to the industry’s lucrative worth.

“The shipping industry is a billion-dollar industry, there’s a need for it and it’s not going anywhere,” Clark said. “Doing the Capital Postal thing, I knew that that was something I can do forever.”

Capital Postal currently has five employees, offers mailboxes on site for rent and owns three in-house delivery vans. Her company also provides mentorship and on-the-job training to local youth through a partnership with Pacific Gateway—an employment agency contracted with Long Beach.

Looking forward, Clark’s main goal this year is to franchise the business and is currently seeking a second location for her store. The hardships Clark endured after losing a loved one have helped shape her into the entrepreneur she is today. She said it was her determination to endure and a belief in herself that allowed her to break out of homelessness and find her way again.

“It was a difficult fight just to try to get back,” Clark said. “I had to work my way all the way back up.