About Micah McCrary-Dennis
Dr. Micah McCrary-Dennis is a skilled Industrial Engineer with a diverse background in process improvement, problem-solving and critical thinking. Proven track record in the development of methods with leadership experience and academic training including the French language. Having a personable and professional character, pursuing intentional goals and a transformative attitude for Equity and Justice; he is passionate about crafting a sustainable future. Currently, Micah serves as CEO of MentorS¢hip – “Fund My College App”. The 501(c)(3) non-profit company has a goal to develop resources that aid students in their scholarship attainment and educational career alignment, through mentorship. The mobile app presents in the form of a scholarship scavenger hunt that connects mentors with students, helping to fund their continued education, promoting financial literacy and encouraging debt-free graduation.At the age of 5 or 6, McCrary began taking apart vacuum cleaners because he figured out that anything with a phillips head screw could betaken apart with a phillips head screwdriver and put back together again.From grandmothers, parents and a community that supported his tinkering and originality at a young age, McCrary’s curiosity eventually led him to be recruited as an engineer for Intel after getting his Phd fromFAMU.But that path, working at Intel, wasn’t enough for McCrary who said he felt siloed. McCrary needed his engineering to be about people and not just completing a task. This inspired him to start Mentorschip, an app that helps students find scholarships locally via their mobile phones. Asan engineer for the people, McCrary’s mission is “ to engineer something that’s going to change how people live their lives in a positive way.” For McCrary “that’s where true engineering happens” and that’s where he plans to take Mentorship.
Notable Time Stamps:
2:00 Portland Incubator Experience – PIE has given us residency at their Autodesk. Program is designed to give startups a voice in particular give minorities a voice. Demo day is culmination featuring all the startups to present their voice and mission.
4:20 Mentorship debuted itself as a platform to those students looking to find opportunities that are on their mobile phones, and local. It’s designed to help them find scholarships in a novel way.
7:37 Intel brought me all the way out here. They said would you like to hike mountains and snowboard? Reached the dream...fortune 500company. Career in engineering.
9:27 I saw myself being siloed, It was the task and not the goal. Began to ask how can I use what I know and want to do to facilitate positive engineering change that I wanted to see in this world. That’s why I started Mentorship.
10:35 The technology is just a repository of the information that was shared between those two people. It’s about bringing people together.I’m as real and authentic as I can be. Once I get this company to this stage I’m going to leave intel. I’ve gone through things so that I can seethe light on the other side. I Want to help people come out on the other side unscathed.
13:50 I think my Grandmothers are driving this passion of mine. They’ve always known that I’ve always had my mind set on the statement that I can do anything. Both of them have passed. They were always about education and just being a good person. That’s what pushes and supports me.
15:40 Why intel decided to fly me out, I’m not sure. My passion started at 5 and 6 years old. I took apart vacuum cleaners because I recognized a phillips head screwdriver was able to take apart anything with a phillips head screw. Great mother, father, family supporting any dream . That Passion for engineering led me to discover how to take apart and reassemble music. Started playing trumpet, marched inFAMU band. Realized I wanted to connect with people in engineering.Had great advisors and teachers. They recommended me for so many things and opportunities.Internships Ford, PepsiCO, Gatorade as a tutor, teaching assistant and project coordinator gave me a resume. Recruiters came to FAMU. I said these people are not going to want me but my PHD made me realize that I knew what they were talking about. I left my resume there. That night I got a call from them for an interview. After I passed their first interview they flew me out there. I thought I bombed it. I thought it was a great free trip. A couple weeks later, congratulations. Here’s your offer. I finished my PHD knowing I had a job offer.
21:14 I got to say I experienced that, I learned about that and realized that that’s not really the type of engineering I want to do nor the engineer I want to be. I want to be an engineer for the people. I want to engineer something that’s going to change in a positive way their lives, the concept of their own lives, how they live their lives or think they want to live their lives. That’s where true engineering happens and I think that’s what MENTORSHIP is. It allows people to do that.
22:29 Trying to solve the problems that existed on a daily basis that we spend a lot of time dealing with. Trying to find a solution without a lot of time spent creates more time so people can spend with each other. Lessen time spent on other things and more time to spend with each other. How do you take a concept, pair it up with a service that it needs to have to create a service or product that can allow for better experiences. Engineers come out of bettering human existence...now there’s a byproduct that harms where we all live. we have to re-engineer a way to sustain the environment that we all live in so we can continue living and without humanity there’s no need to create comfort to create more timeTo be better people with more people.Whether that’s like a computer that says even if we’re all in the house we can still connect. Engineering – Breaking up and reconstructing to build up the time saver.
27:20 Numerology of 2020 based on what we’re experiencing, we need to make our system more efficient. Real time efficient and effective decisions. When this is all over, we’re going to have to launch in a bigger and in a more powerful way
Key Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MentorMicahMD
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mentorschips/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mentorschips/
