Born in Ethiopia, Mikias Tilahun attended boarding school in the United Kingdom before moving to Minnesota in 2000 where he finished high school. He started work at Rise in 2003.

Mikias is always looking to improve his work  skills, and over the years, has held eight different jobs through Rise’s Creative Partnerships South program in area businesses. In addition to working on a wide range of jobs at Rise, he also cleans tables part-time at Poor Richards Commonhouse  restaurant in Bloomington.

Mikias says that working at Poor Richards is his dream job which has come true. Mikias also enjoys working with his supervisor, Niki.

Rise is Mikias’ favorite place to work as he is kept quite busy. Mikias does janitorial tasks throughout the production and work areas and cleans the mats on which his co-workers stretch when taking time out of their wheelchairs. Mikias also helps load up a Rise bus with shredded paper and deliver to the recycling plant. At the end of the work day, Mikias gives the work floor a final cleaning.

“Mikias is a very helpful guy and will do whatever he can to help,” Cory McDevitt, a Rise service team leader, explained. “He makes a lot of people proud of how he is willing to help and keep himself busy throughout the day.”

Mikias laughs and jokes a lot and enjoys the people he works with. His favorite volunteer outing at Creative Partnerships South is delivering Meals on Wheels because he likes to talk to people. Mikias also enjoys going out to lunch with co-workers, working in Partnerships’ community garden, and going for walks and picnics on nice days.

“Mikias is positive, polite, and hardworking,” noted Melinda Dannley, Rise’s director of DTH programs. “He greets everyone who visits our Bloomington site and makes them feel welcome.”

Not surprisingly, he likes comedy television shows, especially those that feature Meaza Tekle. Mikias also likes to play Play Station, with Mario being his favorite game. Mikias likes to travel and one of his favorite travel destinations is Washington D.C.; he has also ventured to Chicago, Seattle, and New York City. While on vacation, he likes spending time with family. Mikias’s favorite sports are baseball, basketball, and bicycling.

This We’d Like You to Meet feature was written by Michael Sack, a data entry clerk with Rise’s Data Ability program in Bloomington. Michael loves to write and hopes to someday get a job in the communications field. He and his friend, Sam Graves, write a blog titled Two Men On.  Check it out.