In a typical year, more than 92 percent of Drexel’s undergraduates participate in the Drexel Co-op program — our signature model of education that balances classroom theory with job experience. What does a Drexel co-op look like? In this regular feature, we ask Dahrah Muhammad, who completed her entrepreneurship co-op in the spring–summer cycle of 2019, to show us.
1. Musa’s World T-shirt
2. Dahrah’s brother, Musa Muhammad
In 2012, my brother Musa was diagnosed with autism. In honor of him, I founded Musa’s World, which will be an online platform that automates and digitizes transition portfolios to expedite the start of care. I call my brother “my sunshine” because he is an absolute light in all of our lives. When he was first diagnosed, it shook us. We didn’t hear him speak for a while. I couldn’t really hold him or communicate with him the way I had with my sisters and that hurt. But the first time we heard that boy sing, before he had spoken a sentence to us, I knew that I wanted to help other families feel what I felt.
For my entrepreneurship co-op I conducted research to make sure that Musa’s World was filling the needs of both families and autism service organizations. I had six months to conduct the research I needed, to build a small team, and to begin building out a product to pilot test. Having that time, the mentorship, and the like-minded individuals surrounding me was a great gift. The $15,000 of entrepreneurship co-op funding I received from the Charles D. Close
School of Entrepreneurship was also very helpful.
As part of my research, I heard the stories of so many people and have felt the frustration of their situations. That was a big thing to learn because it tells you that you don’t just have a service/product that people need, it inspires you to help solve the issues that exist.
