Micah Bess was born and raised on Virginia's Middle Peninsula in Middlesex County. After graduating from Middlesex High School in 2010, Micah attended Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing in 2014. Passionate about serving others, Micah began her career as a nonprofit professional in 2015, working full-time as the Administrative Services Director for the Partick Henry and Atlee Station YMCAs of the Greater Richmond Association. She served the Hanover community in that role for almost two years before relocating to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and joining the Chattanooga Preparatory School (Chattanooga Prep) founding team in the fall of 2017. Ms. Bess began with Chattanooga Prep as a Development Specialist and eventually transitioned to an Operations Coordinator role in the spring of 2019. Later that year, she was promoted to the Director of Operations position. Since the fall of 2020, Ms. Bess has led Operations for the PREP Public Schools network as the Chief Operations Officer. She looks forward to continued growth in her role as the organization expands, and the network team works to open Knoxville Preparatory School, welcoming 105 male scholars to their new campus in August 2024. Micah currently lives just a few blocks away from the first PREP campus in Chattanooga with her husband, Micahel Bess, a Warehouse Supervisor for Wurth Revcar Fasteners, and their two dogs, Wyatt and Penny.