Meet Mike Steel

We recently connected with Mike Steel and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?

My ancestors and family! It’s that simple. I stand on the shoulders of giants and have benefited tremendously, in my own life, from the folks who’ve come before me. GrassRoots Middle is inspired by Dr. Mary Bethune who is a pioneer in the education movement, globally. We strive to leave out her legacy by developing young, black/brown, homeschooled middle schoolers to be the absolute best they can be!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m passionate about our youth and I wanted to create something that poured directly into our community; and that’s exactly what GrassRoots Middle is. My wife and I wanted to create a bipoc centered, 100% outdoor, nature-based program that was tailored to middle school, homeschooling children. I’ve held executive level opportunities in corporate financial services for almost 20 years and it’s been phenomenal, but spending time building out GrassRoots Middle has been a life changing experience.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Faith-I have a strong belief in Jesus Christ and that he can do anything for us! I really believe that. When we had the idea for GrassRoots Middle, God carved out a path for us and everything simply worked out.

2. Collaboration-GrassRoots Middle is only successful b/c of the partnership that my wife (co-founder) and I have established, along side our wonderful parents of GrassRoots Middle. The parents and community of GrassRoots believe in our vision and mission, which makes it easy to grow, scale, and develop our scholars.

3. Passion-We are passionate about serving our scholars, families, and community at large. We see our roles as co-founders of GrassRoots as an absolute privilege that we GET (not have) to do.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

We are absolutely open to building collaborative partnerships throughout the city of Atlanta that is focused on serving youth between the ages of 8-13; if that’s you, then absolutely reach out via our website.

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