About Us

Chearis is a family name before it is a brand. Memphis is home, and when Karsten Chearis put his surname on the company, he was making a statement about lineage: Foundational Black Americans have been making the most out of the least for centuries, and he comes from makers.

His career shows the range of the inheritance. Karsten started in IT operations, hands on the systems, and grew into the presales craft that became his signature. He has spent his career at global cybersecurity companies, leading teams of subject matter experts and cybersecurity practitioners, mentoring leaders who now run rooms of their own, and creating the frameworks and processes that keep working after he leaves the room. He delivers keynotes, gives talks, and shows up as a guest on podcasts; his writing and content live across the web. The message stays the same wherever he lands: excellence and authenticity belong in the same person.

That belief in systems is the through line. Karsten builds them for a living, and he built one for his people: Chearis, a creative empowerment brand with a single mission, to equip Foundational Black American makers to make the things only they can make. The brand pairs tools, content, and community with the conviction that worthiness comes before the work. His newsletter, Already, carries that conviction to the people already building.

Faith carries all of it. Karsten was called to preach at 11 years old and has done the work of ministry ever since; today he is a licensed minister whose work centers on disciple making and building programs that serve the local church. He practices that ministry first at home with his wife, Mitzi, and their daughters, MiKayla and Madisyn. Everything else, the brand, the newsletter, the systems, follows the decision he settled a long time ago: to make with what God put in his hands for the glory of Christ.