E047: Engineering Resilience and Reinvention with Mark McBride-Wright and Téa Phillips

Mechanical engineer and Founder Téa Phillips joins Mark to share her journey from designing solutions in a university lab to building a purpose-driven medical device company. In this conversation, Téa opens up about the moment her grandmother inspired the invention of the MetaFlex glove, the courage it took to leave a stable engineering role, and why the leap into entrepreneurship demanded more resilience than she ever imagined. She speaks openly about the financial and regulatory barriers in the medical device world, the realities of being a woman founder in a biased investment landscape, and how her engineering mindset became her greatest advantage. Throughout the episode, Téa reflects on the deeper mission that fuels her work: helping people regain mobility, independence, and confidence in their daily lives. Mark and Téa explore the intersection of innovation, inclusion, and impact, revealing what it takes to build products that genuinely change lives. This is an inspiring conversation for engineers, entrepreneurs, and anyone driven by purpose, showing how compassion, persistence, and a problem-solver’s mindset can transform challenges into breakthroughs.