Mark Stefanos
When Ayaat Zuieter, the enterprising co-owner of Hall of Tech, told her friends that she was going to start building PCs, they laughed. Maybe it seemed out of left field for the young, first-generation American, who had worked a lot of jobs in different fields, trying to figure out what she wanted to do.
“I’ve been a hostess, copywriter, commercial model, and even worked in retail, but tech was always something I loved,” Ayaat shared after she showed us how to build a PC at their La Mirada shop. “I just never had hands-on experience with it until I started learning from those around me.”
It was an unconventional journey to becoming an entrepreneur in the tech space that she, along with her partner Moe (short for Mohammed), went through before they opened Hall of Tech in May of 2023. The unconventional proved fruitful — in just under two years, Hall of Tech has transformed from a shop that repairs laptops, phones and gaming consoles into one that also builds premium, custom PCs for a global customer base, boasting over a half-million followers online on the strength of Ayaat’s vibrant and often funny social media presence.
Ayaat Zuieter at Hall of Tech in La Mirada (Mark Stefanos)
Getting there required a dedicated work-ethic and a leap of faith. Ayaat started posting tech videos on socials from the first days of the shop’s opening. “Since advertising on social media was the most affordable way to drive traffic, I went all in — posting every single day, recording multiple videos at once.” She would even change outfits to efficiently make content, an old trick used by game show hosts who record multiple episodes in a single day.
But customers didn’t start streaming through the door immediately. “In the first few weeks, we barely had five customers. I remember almost quitting social media at one point because it felt like no one was watching or coming in. Then one day, a customer showed up for a tablet repair, and he had found us through Instagram. That one moment gave me the confidence to keep pushing forward.”
Making their fledgling business succeed required a relentless drive. The couple worked from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, even weekends, and Ayaat worked an additional job just to keep afloat. Slowly, their hard work started paying off. More PC repairs trickled in, and then someone asked for a custom-built PC.
Ayaat Zuieter at Hall of Tech in La Mirada (Mark Stefanos)
Ayaat hadn’t built a PC before but they decided that she would take the lead on the new project. Through a combination of a bit of Moe’s help and a lot of YouTube University, she figured it out. “That moment flipped a switch in my head. I built my first PC, filmed it, posted it online, and it did well. So, I kept going. After about five months, social media started to take off, and suddenly, most of our customers were coming in because they had seen my videos.”
Fast forward to today — Hall of Tech has customers all over the country who are drawn to their premium builds. They offer custom PCs through consultation, and pre-selects ranging from the “Budget Baller PC” to the “Polar Bear Gaming PC RTX 5090” — which features more cores than an apple tree. When we spoke, they had just shipped a premium build to a customer in Korea.
Ayaat also builds special edition PCs that are equal parts art and science, like a Valentine’s PC she built last month that is as cute as it is jammed with geeky goodness. She posted the build on socials with a cheeky video titled “POV: your PCs were your Valentine” where she and the PC (and her cat) are on a pizza date.
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Born and raised in Anaheim, Ayaat lived abroad in Jordan, and met Moe while living in Dubai. They are both of Palestinian descent, and their story offers a larger narrative of the dynamism and resolve of an ethnic population in the face of turmoil given the ongoing war in Gaza. She chalks up her entrepreneurial gumption to her father, an entrepreneur himself, who raised her in a business-oriented household and taught her that taking risks was essential to growth. She opened Hall of Tech with his encouragement — “My parents taught me that Palestinians are resilient and that we could achieve anything if we set our minds to it.”
Throughout our conversation, it was hard to not take note of the couple’s humble and grateful attitude, and the warm vibe of the store where they welcome their customers as loving hosts.
Looking ahead, Ayaat wants to teach others about tech — she clearly loves it and wants to share her enthusiasm with people who might find it intimidating at first. When asked what other ideas the “Tech Baddy” and “Tech Daddy” have in store, they hinted at a potential Hall of Tech product line.
Ayaat’s presence comes at a time when there’s been an increase of women in science, technology, engineering and math fields. But they still trail far behind men — women make up only about 35% of the U.S. STEM workforce, according to a World Bank report.
“Being a woman in tech was never something I planned, but somehow, it found me, and looking back, I couldn’t be more grateful,” Ayaat said. “The support, encouragement, and love from our community — whether people it’s stopping by the shop or even just following us online — means everything. The smallest things really do go a long way.”
“Never give up on yourself and dreams,” Ayaat says to the women who are pursuing a goal, because, she says, one day your hard work will pay off and you’ll thank yourself.
“Plus we need more women in STEM.”
Hall of Tech is located at 15270 Rosecrans Ave, La Mirada, online at halloftech.com and Instagram @hall_of_tech
Ayaat on the March 7, 2025 cover of LA Weekly (Cover design: Jewel Baek; photo: Mark Stefanos)