Dextina Booker

While some of Dextina's fellow students from MIT moved to Detroit to take lucrative jobs at the car companies, this 2015 MIT graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Product Developme ...Show More

While some of Dextina's fellow students from MIT moved to Detroit to take lucrative jobs at the car companies, this 2015 MIT graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Product Development opted instead to join the growing startup community there, inspired by Venture for America's mission. When she moved to Detroit in August, she worked for Rock Ventures for several months, helping oversee their investments in startups and nonprofits in Detroit, but quickly realized she missed building things. Dextina now works at the startup Shinola as a Mechanical Engineer where she is part of the team creating a line of Shinola Audio products. Dextina and her brother were raised by a single mom from Guyana who worked multiple jobs to provide for them, and attributes her resourcefulness to her mom. Dextina, recipient of the prestigious Times Scholarship in 2011 and other grants and awards, is grateful to the many teachers who opened her eyes to opportunities when she was growing up. Living in Guyana for three years with her mom when she was younger, Dextina was also turned on to traveling. While at MIT Dextina travelled to Turkey, Israel, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland where she studied, taught STEM subjects, worked at startups and learned about people and cultures. Whether it's building opportunities or physical products, it's important to Dextina to be creating rather than just consuming. Dextina is driven to make quality products and create quality jobs for the underserved and traditionally overlooked. She tutors regularly at Detroit's Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program. Dextina is part of the 2015 Venture for America class. Hide