Baltimore, let’s celebrate: You picked these 5 winners for your 2023 Technical.ly Awards

Regardless of their unique missions, the Baltimore nominees for this year’s Technical.ly Awards garnered 1,844 votes. That’s 22.5% of the total vote share across Technical.ly’s markets.

Some might say “you can’t clip” the wings of these Baltimore tech ecosystem leaders and companies.

So, without further delay, let’s put the feathery puns away and announce the winners of Baltimore’s Technical.ly Awards for 2023.

(While you’re here: Check out Technical.ly’s 2024 editorial calendar, featuring 12 themes we’ll dedicate extra reporting to in the new year, and consider nominating a person or company for one of our RealLISTs. RealLIST Startups returns at the top of the year!)

Invention of the Year — The Mint by Richualist

Dawn Myers. (Courtesy Dawn Myers/Alanah Nichole Davis/made with Canva)

CEO Dawn Myers of Richualist, a Baltimore-based hair care company, aimed to establish a new standard in the textured hair care market that specifically addressed the unique needs of individuals with curly hair. This commitment to inclusivity helped Myers, her startup and its signature product, The Mint, earn this year’s Invention of the Year award.

Tech Community Leader of the Year — Brittany Young, founder and CEO, B-360

Brittany Young. (Courtesy Brittany Young/Alanah Nichole Davis/made with Canva)

On Giving Tuesday, Park Heights native Brittany Young earned continued national attention with a grant from the NBA Foundation. A trailblazer and advocate for change, Brittany has set her sights on an ambitious goal: bringing the nation’s first dirt bike campus to Baltimore.

Earlier this year, Young secured $3 million in federal funds to turn this vision into reality.

CTO of the Year — Michele Thomas

Michele Thomas. (Courtesy Officer of the Governor/Alanah Nichole Davis/made with Canva)

Thomas has played a crucial role in implementing core enterprise services across Maryland’s executive branch and shaping IT policy as the state’s first CTO.

Tech Company of the Year — Mindgrub

The Mindgrub staff. (Courtesy Mindgrub/Alanah Nichole Davis/made with Canva)

Under the leadership of executives like CEO Todd Marks and CTO Jason Perry, Mindgrub has employed novel AI and other tech for a variety of clients in 2023. The company has also demonstrated thought leadership in AI through such projects as the Maryland Tech Council’s Digital Transformation Summit in March, where the company led a roundtable on ChatGPT. Perry additionally showcases insights on the impact of technology on our world by independently authoring the “Thoughts on Tech and Things” blog.

Culture Builder of The Year — Hafeezah Muhammad

Hafeezah Muhammad. (Courtesy Hafeezah Muhammad/Alanah Nichole Davis/made with Canva)

Formerly Youme Healthcare, Backpack Healthcare is led by CEO Muhammad, a self-identified Muslim woman who last month used her platform to take an empathetic stand on the implications of the current Israel-Palestine conflict.

“It breaks my heart to see so much pain and suffering,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I have friends whose family is being bombed in Israel and friends whose family is being bombed in Palestine.”

“I just want peace and love for everyone, especially all the kids on both sides who are so innocent,” she added.

In the post, she also asserted that she will one day “ring the bell on Wall Street” in her hijab. The sentiments of her post reflect the priorities of other aspects of her work. Muhammad is a founding member of Chief, a network to get women into positions of power and keep them there. Her company uses its telehealth platform to offer mental health services, medication management and therapy to children and families. The company, guided by Muhammad’s own passion for children’s mental health, also acquired two other companies this year.