DeCarri Wells is the 23-year-old program manager at the Prosper Health Tech Accelerator - Gener8tor who works to invest and assist in the communities best and brightest founders.
What's your background?
I like to say I stumbled into my calling. I was born and raised in Birmingham, specifically the Irondale area until the age of 9. I was raised by two strong Black women, my mother, Claudia Young and my aunt, Antoniette 'Mickey' Maddox alongside my older brother, DeAngelo Young and older sister, Shatonia Young. The two instrumental males in my life are my two uncles, Rev. Barlon D. Maddox and Derwin (Teady) Young. They provided a strong male presence and wisdom throughout my upbringing.
Around the second grade, I became a homeschool student due to health concerns. Eventually, in 2012, I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, a rare disease that causes granulomas to develop in the organs of the body. I had to be hospitalized for one week out of each month, for roughly five months. During this period, I made the most of my time by teaching myself multiple skills and experimenting with different hobbies/professions like music, graphic design, business and tech. I attended Auburn University at Montgomery where I studied information systems with a minor in graphic design.
In 2021 I became obsessed with figuring out how I could create my own startup. Through that, I found out about the Bronze Valley gAlpha program by Gener8tor which is a four-week pre-accelerator for college students. Three months after the program ended, I had to take a break from school for financial and health reasons and needed to find opportunities. I landed two separate internships that I worked simultaneously, as a facilitator for the Alabama Youth Relationship Education Initiative through Window Seat in Montgomery and as an associate for the Bronze Valley Accelerator powered by Gener8tor. During that time I found a passion for helping founders and watching the journey of a startup. From there, I became the Program Manager for a new Gener8tor program called the Prosper Health Tech Accelerator in December of 2021.
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I grew a love for business and through exploration acquired a love for tech. I had the amazing opportunity of watching my mother who worked on the production line at Mercedes-Benz start her own dump truck company, The Roses Hauling Company, my uncle Barlon who has had a home building company for over 30 years, and my other uncle, Teady, who started an event center and several other business ventures. This is where my drive and passion for innovation derived.
In my current role as program manager, I have aided in recruiting companies nationwide to participate in our 12-week program where we provide an initial investment, connections to mentors, investors, large organizations like UAB and Blue Cross Blue Shield as well as provide one-on-one coaching to help health tech startups scale and accomplish their dreams. I have also recently started a shuttle bus company alongside my family members called The Roses Tours, as a tribute to my late grandmother Rosetta Maddox Young.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
It's a tie between my first day at work as program manager and seeing our first cohort pitch at our premiere night.
What is Birmingham doing right to foster innovation?
Birmingham is headed in the right direction to bring the magic back to the magic city with programs and organizations like Prosper, Bronze Valley, Birmingham Black Techies and more. As well as (that), there has been a great amount of unity and collaborative efforts displayed to help change Birmingham for the better. If we can keep the community first and provide resources, education, and funding to those in need, we can make a difference.
Even though some might doubt us, soon Birmingham and innovation will become synonymous. To keep our essence while continuing to grow, we must remember to not only bring people and companies into our ecosystem but cultivate and aid those who are in our backyard. If we can expand our outreach and knowledge to those that don't fit into the conventional mold and truly make sure we are all-inclusive, we would see an explosion of innovation and culture like non-other. We would have more young emerging talent decide to stay here and build here instead of feeling like to have a chance at success they have to move to bigger cities. We can not become content with seeing the same group of people who already has access to the opportunities our ecosystem is putting forward. Every day, every hour we should be introducing someone new into the world of innovation here in Birmingham.
