Birmingham ‘unique testing ground’ with global potential

This story is republished with permission from The Birmingham Times

While she was younger, Kellie Clark always thought she would become a doctor, but as a young adult she embarked on a career where she found work just as important. “I wanted to be a doctor, but I couldn’t pass organic chemistry, so I had to figure out what I was going to do next,” Clark said.

“Next” will eventually become CEO of Prosper Health-tech Accelerator, powered by Gener8tor (PHTA), which connects health-tech startups with the coaching, capital and connections they need to build and develop businesses.

“We invest in early-stage healthcare startups,” she said. “We believe and see Alabama and Birmingham as a unique testing ground for health care solutions that have global potential. Alabama faces a multitude of health disparities and outcomes that mirror the challenges others face worldwide. Our goal is to turn these health disparities into opportunities for innovation.”

While attending Auburn University, Clark “realized there were more ways to help people than just being a doctor,” she said.

She changed her focus of study to economic development after taking a family and social policy class.

“From there I studied public administration and got really interested in economic development. I didn’t know there was a career field in that field at the time,” she said.

As of August 2023, she is the CEO of the Prosper Health-tech Accelerator, where she and her team have two separate cohorts and invest in 10 companies per year and get equity in their businesses in return.

“They come to Birmingham for 12 weeks and for 12 weeks they meet with our networks and healthcare partners. We work to reduce risk in their businesses. We do key onboarding, helping them land customers, pilot opportunities and raise additional funding, and at the end of the 12 weeks, they become part of our portfolio and receive ongoing support,” said Clark.

So far, they have invested in 25 companies.

Room to grow

Born and raised in Birmingham, Clark, 37, grew up in Ensley, the youngest of two older brothers. “I had an older sister who passed away about a decade ago,” Clark said.

Her parents worked in the healthcare field. Her mother, Shirley Cosby, is a big influence on her life.

“My mother was a nurse for over 40 years. She worked hard to expose me to so many different things. What it did for me was when I was in college, when I started working, I wasn’t questioning whether I belonged or not,” Clark said.

Her father was a respiratory therapist at Cooper Green Hospital and Veteran Affairs Health Care (VA).

She attended Central Park Christian, a small private school around the corner from her childhood home in Belview Heights. She graduated in 2005 and then attended Auburn University where she completed her BA in Political Science/Women’s Studies in 2009 and her Masters in Public Administration in 2011.

Clark recalled growing up and noticing the differences between the community he lived in and other places.

But that’s helped her when she’s faced with adversity, especially as a black woman occupying space where more often than not, she’s a minority. If she could offer one piece of advice to anyone experiencing the same thing, she says, “if a flower doesn’t bloom, don’t blame the flower… check the soil. Be present and only accept invitations to places and environments that nurture, protect and grow you. Any space that doesn’t give you that is not a space you should be planted or rooted in,” she said.

Love Outdoors

Clark currently lives in Birmingham with her husband Collier Clark and their eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.

In his spare time, he enjoys the outdoors. “It makes me feel small, and I think that’s important for human beings,” she said. “The outdoors helps me keep things in perspective. There are bigger and more important things than emails, work… the outdoors is humbling. And it continues to exist and do this work without our intervention. Nature does not need us. It’s humbling when you think about it.”

Some of her favorite activities include hiking, camping and gardening which she learned from her grandmother. “For years she only went to the grocery store for meat, sugar and flour,” Clark said of her grandmother. Her grandmother grew okara, tomatoes and gourds, Clark said.

She credits her grandmother for her love of the outdoors.

“She could always ‘smell’ when it was about to rain, or (she would say) if the cobwebs were big, ‘it’s because a cold wind is coming.’ And she would be right. When I was a kid, I thought he had superpowers. As an adult, I realize she’s just spent most of her life in Monroe County, her senses haven’t been graced by the city. She was in touch with her surroundings.”

Clark said she started a group in the Birmingham area called Outdoor Afro in February 2017. “It’s a national origin and I helped start the Birmingham chapter and there’s a chapter in Montgomery as well,” she said. “Our mission is to celebrate, inspire Black connection and leadership in nature. Every month we did something outside. Whether it’s rock climbing or kayaking.

When she’s not outdoors, she enjoys reading science fiction and Octavia Bulter, author of the 1993 Parable of the Sower, and spending time with her family.

Some of her favorite things about Birmingham are the accessibility to outdoor trails “our independent restaurants — O’ Taste and See in Crestwood is some of the best food for the soul. It’s so good” – and our outdoor festivals.

She was recently named one of the Birmingham Business Journal’s 40 under 40, an accomplishment that didn’t occur “until I actually went to (the ceremony) and looked at the past nominees … that made me – showed the weight,” she said. “It is an honor.”