Showing posts with label Detroiter Making The News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroiter Making The News. Show all posts
Shaka Senghor spent 19 years in prison for murder. Since his release in 2010, he’s become a teacher at the University of Michigan, a published author, a sought-after speaker (his 2014 TED talk is a must-see), and an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow, which is how he and I met. Senghor paid his debt, and he’s a one-person testimonial to the value that exists in everyone.
And he doesn’t want to be the only one.
There are currently two separate, parallel debates taking place in Silicon Valley about the future of its workforce. One is about how the technology industry can be more diverse. Much of the effort to that end has focused on encouraging girls and people of color to embrace tech at a young age. The other conversation centers around immigration reform. Industry leaders argue that it’s vital to lure the talent necessary to fill the engineering jobs at companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Dropbox. This is why Mark Zuckerberg created the lobbying group Fwd.US, although its record has been spotty.
I’m all for promoting tech and welcoming immigrants. But neither of these are enough. Not when there are more potential Shaka Senghors behind bars. There are more than 1.5 million prisoners in the United States, many of them nonviolent drug offenders. Our society is just now coming to terms with the cost of letting these people rot away in jail for decades. When rehabilitated ex-cons reenter their communities, they face a jarring cultural disconnect. Not only is it hard to find employment, it’s challenging to adapt to a world that presumes ever more technological literacy. When Senghor went to jail, laptops and suitcases were indistinguishable in size. The only talking car he’d ever heard of was on Knight Rider. But when he was released five years ago, "It was really like, ‘Welcome to an urban episode of The Jetsons!’ " he tells me.
Senghor admits that he still struggles with life beyond bars, and he’s made it his mission to help reintroduce others to society, including an immersion in tech. He’s teamed up with Van Jones—founder of Rebuild the Dream, onetime Obama green jobs czar, and CNN commentator—on #Cut50, Jones’s initiative (with Newt Gingrich!) to trim by half the U.S. prison population. Senghor believes his efforts can help reduce recidivism.
Click HERE For The Full Article!
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| Silicon Valley transplant Jerry Paffendorf chose Detroit: "I thought I should look at big problems. You know, let’s get real." |
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| In addition to her retail shop, Margarita Barry runs a design business and a website for young entrepreneurs. |
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| Alicia and John George faced down financial hardship and endless bureaucracy to create the only coffee shop for miles. |
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| When a much-touted light-rail project stalled, 26-year-old Andy Didorosi stepped in: "We're the other option, all of us scrappy folks."
Click HERE to read the full article from Fast Company!
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influencers: veronika scott at home
What is it about Detroit that makes you want to call it home?
In Detroit, everyone is doing something engag- ing and of their own creation. The city is a hub of creativity, whether you’ve lived here your whole life or moved here to start something new. We have a strong entrepreneurial community, where the people who own businesses and buildings have their own proactive ideas for the future of the city. People in the city recognize that for the success of the whole—we need to look beyond individual success and work together as part of a bigger system. There are many issues that need to be tackled, and no one person can do it on their own. I have lived in many places, but Detroit will always be the one I call home, because I know that I would have never been able to start the Empowerment Plan in any other city in the world.
Tell us a little bit about the building you live in and how you designed your space.
People have many preconceived notions about Detroit, but where I live we walk around at night, ride our bikes around the neighborhood, and new businesses are always popping up. The Canfield building is located in the heart of the city. The building is an old manufacturing facility that is now home to a beautiful loft space, as well as three different storefronts. I have been a nomad most of my life, and this is the first time I have really settled into a home. Because of my job I travel quite frequently, and I am doing construction projects every few months. In picking a place to live I wanted a safe haven that was easy to maintain and relaxing. When I moved in, there was a rather interesting color scheme—purple and green—I had to change it. I used white to open up the space and a relaxing yet vibrant blue instead of a more aggressive color. The loft bed was already in place but I built the wall under it so that people wouldn't be looking at a bed from the living room. Most people don’t even realize it’s there until I point it out.
Any tricks to living in just 750 square feet?
You have to have the ability to minimal-ize, which was easy for me because my possessions were few when I moved into the loft. But realistically it’s all about the hidden storage that you can create in a small space. The bed is on top of a walk-in closet and there are shelves and bins throughout the space for everything else. I enjoy the small space because when I was in a larger loft, I felt like I couldn’t make it my own. I couldn’t afford to furnish a large space, and with my loft now I am able to personalize it and really enjoy it as my home.
Click HERE to read the full article!
As I wrote in my last post, Detroit Collision Works is a new 36-room shipping container hotel under development near the sprawling Eastern Market in downtown Detroit. Founder/CEO Shel Kimen is presently raising money through Kickstarter to build a pop-up prototype called FIRST CONTAINER that will consist of two containers near the permanent site. Like the hotel, the pop-up is designed to be a gathering place with scheduled programming where locals and visitors can gather to discuss the future of community development, food production, sustainable design, green transportation and other New Urbanism topics. Kimen’s priority is creating a place for sharing stories—a platform for people to talk about what’s important to them, both personal and professional.
I have spent the majority of my career walking through hotels around the world and interviewing thousands of hotels reps for a variety of consumer and industry media. Over the years, certain hotel groups have established trends that other hoteliers copied. The Kimpton and Morgans collections, for example, started the designer/boutique hotel movement in the 1980s and 90s. Ace/James hotels invented the residential-style hipster hotel early this century. NYLO Hotels, 21c, Unlisted Collection and others are bringing “industrial-chic” into the mainstream.
Collision Works has the chance to be the next big thing because, like those mentioned above, it’s dialed into both the mindset of today’s traveling public and socio-economic themes of this era. Here are five reasons why Detroit Collision Works is a game changer.
IT’S IN DETROIT
No other city in the country suffered from the Great Recession as much as Detroit. Once the symbol of the American dominance in manufacturing and the American Dream, Detroit lost 25% of its population from 2000 to 2010. That was the largest drop of any U.S. city over 100,000 people, including New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. But as celebrated urbanist Richard Florida writes in The Atlantic, Detroit is rebounding with a renewed spirit of innovation and cultural arts at the grassroots level. The people making up this community need places to share ideas. Collision Works is purposefully designed to meet that demand.
In effect, Collision Works is moving into a new “community accelerator” hotel niche and venue for people to learn more about local start-up companies. In New Orleans since Katrina, the rate of start-ups is about 30% higher than the national average. In Detroit, organizations such as I Am Young Detroit and Detroit 4 Detroit are spurring the same drive among community entrepreneurs. Detroit Collision Works will tap into that energy and knowledge and share it with visitors.
SHEL KIMEN, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
Can one person in America make a difference? The rise of Social Entrepreneurship is one of the most exciting and fastest growing developments in business today. The idea that a company can have a sustainable business model and make a positive impact on the community is highly attractive to the Millennial generation. By leveraging that interest, Collision Works is the hotel of the future where locals and guest can learn about social issues in both a fun and experiential manner.
Founder/CEO Shel Kimen (read her story here) says:
“Everyone loves a good story. Stories make place and bind communities. I wanted to create a project in Detroit that creates lasting and sustainable value for both the people that live here and the people that visit. A combined hotel/co-working space built around stories seemed like the best way to do that. Detroit needs a super cool hotel that helps visitors understand what Detroit is really about and it needs places for people to gather and work beyond coffee shops. It also comes from a belief that great design and rich experiences do not have to be expensive.”
URBAN ECOTOURISM
Hotels have been trumpeting their corporate social responsibility by becoming greener and leaner over the last decade, and that’s great. Detroit Collision Works is designed from the ground up to be low impact. Basically it’s the birth of “urban ecotourism,” and how cool is that?! Container architecture is a fast growing building technology in both residential and commercial applications all over the world, from the Re:START village in Christchurch to the FREITAG store in West Zurich. The Platoon project in Berlin might be the coolest urban culture/arts development in the world right now.
There is a glut of shipping containers in cities around the country because freighter companies often find it more affordable to buy new containers in Asia versus rerouting the boxes back to America’s ports. And that supply continues to grow due to North America’s trade deficit within the Pacific Rim. While there are downsides to using containers for building purposes, the process attracts a huge interest among consumers. And that type of heightened exposure is pivotal for generating discussion among the masses about the future of America’s urban cores.
IT’S SCALABLE
Memphis mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. wrote a letter to Kimen in March requesting that she consider building another Collision Works in his city when Detroit is up and running. The beauty of Collision Works is that it’s easily scalable around the country and simple to adapt to any commercial urban setting. Think of this. If a Collision Works hotel was in your city, would you visit? Chances are yes, especially if you’re a creative professional, because there’s nothing like this right now.
The idea of a community think-tank “attraction” proved itself with the opening of the popular BMW Guggenheim Lab in New York’s East Village in 2011, followed by a road trip through Berlin and Mumbai that ended in January. Data and discussions collected from the project will be displayed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York later this fall.
Now imagine if this type of discussion could take place every day in every major city in America, with a network set up to share all of the information among all of the hotels with the public. This is where Detroit Collision Works gets especially exciting.
Click HERE to read the full article!
In his fourth novel, Detroit native Scott Lasser delivers a poignant story of rebirth in the unlikeliest of places. SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT DETROIT (W. W. Norton & Company; July 2, 2012; $25.95 hardcover) draws a gritty, complex portrait of Detroit as compelling as The Wire. An unexpected love story about family, second chances, and the meaning of home, this is also a gripping novel about the complicated urban politics of the twenty-first century.
Twenty-five years after his high school graduation, David Halpert returns to Detroit, a place that he and most of the people he grew up with fled long ago. At first, everything seems different, and not for the better. David’s mother has developed Alzheimer’s, and his normally stoic father pleads with him to move back to Michigan to help. David doesn’t have anything left in Detroit besides his parents, but by leaving Colorado he might be able to start moving on from the tragic death of his young son four years earlier and his subsequent divorce.
Once back in Detroit, trying to put the pieces of his life back together, David spots a newspaper story reporting that his high school sweetheart, Natalie, and her black half-brother have been shot and killed. This terrible catalyst begins David’s journey through Detroit’s white suburbs and black inner city as he and Natalie’s sister Carolyn reconnect, find solace in each other, and try to make sense of the mystery behind the murders.
SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT DETROIT takes place in a racially polarized, economically collapsing city, which itself becomes one of the novel’s most compelling characters. Lasser takes us on an in-depth tour of Detroit’s decaying urban landscape, setting a powerful tale of redemption and new hope in a neglected city that rarely finds itself as a backdrop for fiction.
Detroit may not look on the surface like a place of rebirth, but in an editorial in the New York Times earlier this year Lasser reminded readers that Detroit’s motto is “speramus meliora; resurgent cineribus”—“we hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.”
A jarring, illuminating novel, SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT DETROIT speaks eloquently about the unlikely path to redemption of one man and, by extension, an entire city. As David and Carolyn journey throughout Detroit, they infuse its decaying urban landscape—with its complex, seemingly insurmountable racial and economic tensions—with new hope. The novel suggests a way forward for our bustling, complicated modern cities and, of course, for all of us living within them.
Michigan Book Tour Schedule:
Ann Arbor July 16, 2012
Nicola’s Books 7:00 PM
Westgate Shopping Center
Detroit July 17, 2012
Temple Memorial Library 7:00 PM
7400 Telegraph Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301
Lansing July 18, 2012
Schuler’s Bookstore 7:00 PM
1982 Grand River Avenue
Okemos, MI 48864
Detroit July 19, 2012
Barnes and Noble 7:00pm
6800 Orchard Lake Road
Talk/Signing West Bloomfield, MI
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: SCOTT LASSER, a native of Detroit, has worked for the National Steel Corporation and Lehman Brothers. His nonfiction has appeared in magazines ranging from The New Yorker to Dealmaker Magazine. He is the author of three other novels: Battle Creek, All I Could Get, and The Year That Follows. Say Nice Things About Detroit has been optioned by Steve Carell’s production company, Carousel/Warner Brothers, and for it, Lasser and his screenwriting partner, Derek Green, have written a screen adaptation. Lasser currently lives in Aspen, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California.
It doesn't take a college degree to start tackling Detroit's problems and making the city a greener, more walkable place. While Wayne State University student Kyle Bartell, a native Detroiter, works to complete his Urban Studies degree, he's also spending time trying to create public parks.
"Living here in the city, that's been one of the biggest educators for me," Bartell said. "It's given me the first-hand experience of wanting to get involved."
When Bartell looked at ways Detroit could become friendlier to its residents, he started noticing "desire paths." Also called social trails, these paths are tread by people walking across land where there are no official walkways. Pedestrians create their own paths simply by wearing down the grass. For examples of the many desire paths in Detroit, see the Sweet Juniper blog.
Rather than forcing people to walk where the concrete lies, Bartell proposes designing around users' needs to make open spaces more welcoming. A vacant lot at Lothrop Road and Third Street in Detroit's New Center neighborhood caught his eye for its beautiful trees and the desire path created by people walking between a parking garage and Henry Ford Hospital.
Click HERE to read the rest of this article on The Huffington Post!
The Delicious DayJeff Klein moved to Detroit 15 years ago. He moved there for music. He quickly found himself immersed in Detroit’s agriculture and landscape scene. A decade and a half later he is a voice and leader within this community. In April, he will be opening Detroit’s first and only farm, garden and landscape supply facility to support the urban agricultural movement and reshaping of Detroit — that the country and world are watching.
Here is a bit of his story.
Why did you move to Detroit?
I was just out of college and I played music. All my friends played music. Detroit was a great place to be for this. My intention was to live in Detroit, play in a band and become a rock star or something. Detroit also excited me because of my suburban upbringing. The suburbs to me were pretty stale. They did not inspire me. The suburbs I was familiar with were predominately white, suburban and predictable. Detroit offered me different experiences and opportunities.
In what ways has Detroit given you a different experience?
For me it started when I first moved here. My route home from work was through some rough neighborhoods. I remember being kind of uneasy in them. These neighborhoods were not my norm. They were not what I was used to. I felt fear but I could not identify the source of this fear.
I felt as a new Detroiter I did not want to passively contribute to an economic and racial divide by heading directly to my ‘safe spots’. I started making a point to stop somewhere along the way and patronize stores, knowing I would be in the minority and interacting with people that were different from me. It was uncomfortable, but I also quickly recognized that no matter how different I seemed to feel from the person I was next to, below the surface we are really not that different.
What do you attribute to the massive swell in the agriculture movement in Detroit in recent years?
I think it is a lot of things. I think people have been disconnected from the earth, from fresh food and from knowing where their food comes from. I think it is a response to a broken food system which is inhibiting people’s access to fresh healthy food. In Detroit if you don’t have a car, good bus access or stable finances, finding healthy, nutritious food on a daily basis can be a burdensome task leaving many with no options but food from the corner store or the gas station — where pop, chips and processed foods are the norm.
What grows in Detroit?
It seems like everything. Add passive solar green houses and other season extension techniques and it is amazing how much variety can be grown in the city.
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| Jeff Klein in His Garden, Detroiter, Founder of Detroit Farm & Garden, Founder of Classic Landscape Ltd. |
Detroiter’s are demonstrating a lot of creativity and determination in addressing this issue. From the Food Policy Council and Eastern Market to so many emerging farm stands, community gardens and programs such as Grown in Detroit and youth farm stands. There is a local neighborhood market almost every day of the week somewhere in Detroit. There is a developing cottage industry in Detroit where many are creating packaged products from the food that is being grown here, like pickles, sauerkraut, chow chow and honey. I’m known for my radish relish.
I have read about people wanting to build huge farms in Detroit.
The type of farming you are reading about is typically called commercial or industrial agriculture. A few of the questions the urban farming community is asking about these types of farms are, ‘How will they interact with existing residents and communities? Will they be farming organically? What are they going to do about pesticides? Will they be using GMO seeds? What kind of return in jobs and training will the city residents get in return for what some view as an intensive land grab?’ There have not been many good answers to these questions.
Isn’t there anything to protect the people regarding the City of Detroit and Industrial Farming?
It is a complicated issue. Currently, there are very few codes and guidelines for this type of land use. The State of Michigan also has a Right to Farm Act that essentially could over ride the city’s power to regulate industrial agriculture. There are great people in city government and community organizations working on resolving these types of agriculture issues in an equitable way. I’m encouraged.
What about toxicity of the soil from prior industry on or around the land? Is there any concern with that?
Yes, there are concerns. Areas of heavy industry in Detroit are going to be worse off than the vast residential areas. However, with the heightened popularity and extended networks in the urban agriculture community people are becoming more and more aware. Programs such as the Garden Resource Program will test the soil at no charge and provide feedback, clarification and alternative options. Generally speaking though, if you find that you have bad soil you can usually build raised beds.
How has gardening helped breakdown social and racial barriers?
The broad example is it brings people together on something we all have in common which is food.
Are these conversations occurring in community gardens or over the fence?
It happens over the fence. It happens in community gardens. It happens in schools, at workshops and on the block. It really happens all over the place as the community continues to grow and connect over issues. I met a lot of my neighbors working in my garden. I named my garden Streetside because it is right up against the street. Our gardens are an important piece of the social fabric and I love the interaction I get with my neighborhood because of its location. I believe gardens should be brought out of the backyard. One day I was working outside and a neighbor came over to tell me, ‘I hope it is ok, but I brought my son over the other day and we picked some of your strawberries. My son had no idea how they grew.’ This was exactly my gardens intent.
How do people get involved in this movement in Detroit?
Currently, it is pretty easy to find yourself in a garden, farming, making food or having meaningful discussions like undoing racism in the food system if you are looking for it in Detroit. There are a lot of opportunities for young idealist and entrepreneur’s looking to create work or volunteer their time. I am opening a retail store Detroit Farm and Garden this spring. The reason I am opening it has a lot to do with what we are talking about. We will provide landscape and agriculture resources to support and assist on-going efforts in food sovereignty and in rebuilding local economies. There are so many people and programs in this movement that essentially I hope Detroit Farm and Garden can serve as a hub helping connect the many different communities of agriculture, land use and learning in the city.
Click HERE to read the rest of this article on The Delicious Day!
ARTEFUSE
"An Empire State of Fashion"
Arte Fuse relentlessly gives you what’s the latest on all visual arts with coverage on gallery opening receptions, special museum exhibits, art fairs and the like but we love to mix things up here. In honor of upcoming Fashion Week in February, Arte Fuse decided to make a cameo appearance at an Art-Fashion Event held at the Empire Hotel last January 27, 2012. The Art of Fashion and Herbert Fox Productions with collaboration from DMA Productions, LLC held a rooftop extravaganza of an art reception featuring juried artists and two young fashion designers with a runway show.
The artworks presented were various representational or abstracts from a lively set of young artists. Presenting such works in a venue of the hotel’s rooftop can be quite a challenge but it gets the work seen. Nowadays, one must think outside of the box when it comes to organizing and having a group show. The gallery format is not the sole dictator of how art gets shown in the city. It takes an entrepreneurial spirit and ingenuity to stage an event where art can be seen in unlikely venues. The Art of Fashion used to have a steady venue at the Hotel Chelsea on 23rd Street but once that sold and became a private condo, the entire show must move on. This has transcended to a more daring leap into searching for other venues where even for a special one-night event can showcase the youngest and freshest talents in the New York art scene.
Clothes are a mode of self-expression just as artists express themselves through their work. It is not an unlikely pairing to have fashion be a tandem to art on this very night. The Young Designer’s Showcase featured the work of two designers on the cusp of staking their claim on the glamorous but tempestuous world of New York fashion. First is a fresh talent motoring her way from Detroit, Michigan is the unique funky styles of Fotoula Lambros Design. Her garments can be worn in infinite possibilities plus it is made from sustainable/organic fabrics. The whole design firm is based in Motor City and they plan to make a major presence in the Empire State. Second to present is a local designer from Brooklyn – Bianca Frazier of Strange Vixens Inc. Her take is the Mod inspired 1960’s with her playful lingerie ensembles and party wear. Fashion models were booked by DMA as well. It felt officially the start of Fashion Week and it just whets your appetite.
A lot of the common stories from the people attending is that they’re all from the other parts of the country but chose to follow their passions. This is the American way and very much the drive of why a lot of hopeful creative types take their chance here in New York City. Art & Fashion are two worlds intricately woven into the glittering tapestry of what makes this city so alluring.
Event was held at rooftop of: The Empire Hotel. 44 West 63rd Street. NYC, NY 10023 (between Columbus & Broadway)
Below are their articles from the Huffington Post:
Detroit Creperie Rises From The Wreckage
Nathaniel Cahners Hindman
When Torya Blanchard was a child, she was caught shoplifting from a local store on the eve of a family trip to Paris. Given the timing of the transgression, her immediate grounding was all the more painful. Only good girls get to go to Paris, her mother told her. Crushed, Torya quickly cleaned up her act, but never forgot Paris.
As an adult, she took a job at a Detroit public school where she taught French for five years until her passion for Paris and its cuisine, sparked years before by her mother's slap on the wrist, finally bubbled to the surface.
Blanchard quit her job in 2008 at the age of 31. She cashed out her 401(k) and, without any business or restaurant experience, used the $20,000 to open up a tiny creperie in downtown Detroit. In the spirit of her mother's motto, Ms. Blanchard named it Good Girls Go To Paris.
Good Girls was born during a bad time in Detroit -- amidst abandoned factories, vacant commercial buildings, and homes that were either boarded up or bulldozed. The median home price in the city fell to $7,500 in December 2008 while the jobless rate jumped to nearly 50 percent over the next year.
Weak demand in the Motor City's sputtering real estate market enabled Blanchard to rent out space on the cheap. And her risky bet that the neighborhood would buy low-cost, high-quality crepes, a dish she says most locals had never even heard of, has paid off. Today, business is booming. Good Girls offers 40 different types of crepes, has expanded to a midtown location, and is about to open another spot.
"When I started out, [Good Girls] was 48 square feet and it's moved to 1,000 square feet. I have more employees, I'm able to give employees that want it insurance -- and I'm able to insure myself," Ms. Blanchard told Huff Post.
In the first installment of The Huffington Post's new video series on individuals who dove into entrepreneurship after losing or leaving their nine to five, we give you the story of Torya Blanchard and her Detroit creperie, Good Girls Go To Paris.
HuffPost's Greatest Person Of The Day: Phillip Cooley, Detroit Revitalization Advocate
Jeesoo Park
Every day on HuffPost, we're highlighting one 'Greatest Person'- an exceptional individual who is confronting the country's economic and political crises with creativity, generosity, and passion. Today we're profiling Phillip Cooley, who after a successful career in modeling returned to his native Michigan, where he opened a local restaurant and launched a series of city revitalization projects.
For many, Detroit, known for its high unemployment rates and arguably dysfunctional local government, is the face of American urban decay. For Phillip Cooley, the young proprietor of Slows Bar BQ, a popular eatery there, Detroit is a city of opportunity.
Cooley, a former model who worked in places like Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo, and New York City, before moving back to Michigan to open his restaurant, bemoans the dearth of commercial options in his city: "Detroit is starved for commercial and small businesses," he says. "There's no Starbucks, and mostly mom and pop shops." But where Detroit lacks, he says, there is room for massive revitalization, for building businesses, seeding ideas, and, giving back on a very local level.
As the owner of his own small businesses, Cooley himself only works an actual 10-15 hours a week, which allows him more than enough time to volunteer. His current big project: transforming Detroit's Roosevelt Park. "We need more green space, more interacting with each other out of our homes," says Cooley of his focus on changing public spaces.
So far, $300,000 has been invested in landscaping, and another $200,000 went into creating a parking lot for the park. Another $50,000 has been raised so far for the next addition: a skate park that will consist of massive, skateable letters spelling out "Roosevelt Park." Slows has been a major financial donor (along with many others) for these projects.
Cooley also points to Detroit's Heidelberg Project, which promotes social change by transforming a previously crime-ridden neighborhood into what is now an art-covered tourist attraction (one house is draped with smiling stuffed animals, another painted with bright, multi-colored dots), as a prime example of urban renewal.
"The crackheads you once worried about when your children were walking to school are out of there because there's so much traffic," says Cooley. He helps out by organizing events and fundraisers to introduce new people to the project, making fliers, providing generators, and collecting purveyors for the annual street festival.
But, there are challenges. "Detroit is a huge city segregated by abandoned structures and abandoned lands, so connecting our city is very difficult," he notes.
Cooley currently sits on seven advisory boards, including the ACLU of Southeastern Michigan, The Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit, and The Center for Community Based Enterprise. This is all in addition to co-owning Slows BBQ restaurant, and real estate and development firm, O'Connor (he founded both with his brother).
"I can't imagine leaving anytime soon," he says. "In a sense, this is utopia."
Christopher Barger
Director, Global Social Media, GM
A key reason Christopher Barger has been so successful in his role is that he understands that “community” isn’t only online. While blogging and social networks are a large part of his role, he also invites influential bloggers and Gowalla users to GM-sponsored events like SXSW 2010, where they were offered special on-site perks, including rides in new Chevrolet models. Barger can also leverage social channels in times of crisis.
When faced with GM’s Chapter 11 filing in summer 2009, Barger oversaw the creation of a beefed-up social media team using multiple social networks—including live tweets from every interview and press conference. —JC
Shannon Murphy, Metro Detroit native radio personality on the popular Mojo In the Morning morning radio program on 95.5 is a contender for the Live with Regis & Kelly "Women of Radio Co-host for a Day Search."
Cast your vote for Shannon HERE! Not only will you help Shannon be Regis's co-host for the day, but Shannon's nomination enters you in a contest to win something as well!
Hurry! Voting ends soon!
Sahar grew up in a conservative Arab community in Dearborn, MI. It would be easy to assume that because of that she's a submissive, conservative girl. But that would not be the case. She's a strong-willed, liberal Muslim who is not easily intimidated. Expect her to speak her mind. Sahar was fortunate to have parents who allowed her a bit more space to be herself; however, there are still things that she was forced to hide from her community, like her virginity... or lack thereof. Although in a vague long-distance relationship, Sahar is used to turning heads and is constantly crushing on boys-- but just wait until she meets roommate Eric! A budding singer/songwriter, Sahar looks to explore more of this career in New Orleans, no matter what anyone in her conservative community thinks.
Abby WilcoxJustinTimberlake.com
Excerpt from "The Etsy Marketplace: A Thriving Artistic Outlet"
If you haven't yet hopped on Etsy, you are missing out.
Etsy has burgeoned recently as an online marketplace for creatives to vend their handmade items...
Like a virtual flea market, on Etsy, you can find anything from vinyl wall decals to furniture made from cow hide to air plants! In fact, some venders make a solid living (more than 100k) selling their creations. Not a bad gig, huh?
We spent a little tlme selecting a few retro peices here to help appease your inner fashion guru:
Tired of the boring daily grind necktie? The detailed graphics on the neckties by Cyberoptix Tielab from Detroit are silkscreened to perfection and sent in a gift box, no matter what the occasion.
Building a Brand on a Budget
To elevate their digital profiles and carve out entrepreneurial niches, more businesses are turning to social media and other free digital marketing alternatives.
Jason Ankeny
Entrepreneur Magazine - May 2010
Chances are that anyone seeking a place to live in and around the trendy Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, Mich., eventually will come across property investment and management company Urbane Apartments. In fact, type "apartments Royal Oak" into the Google search toolbar, and the first result that pops up is the Urbane website--a destination highlighted by photos of the firm's modern, inviting rental units and the young urban professionals who occupy them.
With 16 apartment communities spanning across Royal Oak, Urbane has emerged as one of the region's fastest-growing property management companies. But the virtual prominence of its brand has little to do with its real-world scope. Credit instead founder Eric Brown's decision to extend the firm's message into the social media realm --a move that not only slashed spending on paid property listings, but also afforded Urbane the tools to more accurately communicate the contemporary lifestyle experience so integral to its business.
"When I first announced to our staff that we were going to have a MySpace account, they looked at me like I was crazy," Brown recalls. "They said, ‘We can't do that. Whenever we drop the ball, our tenants are going to write bad things about us.' I said, ‘They may, and we will work to make those things right.' By reaching out and addressing those complaints, those residents became Urbane evangelists and started writing positive things about us. There's no way we could have the reach we have without hooking into the customer base we have."
Urbane Apartments now boasts a resident-penned blog touting favorite Royal Oak destinations, a social networking site exclusive to tenants (dubbed the Urbane Lobby) and active YouTube, Facebook and Twitter profiles. With each new post, photo, video and tweet, the company builds and nurtures its brand at no cost while fostering the hip, forward-thinking image its target demographic finds irresistible. According to Brown, in October 2008 about 100 people were visiting the Urbane blog each month. By the following spring, traffic grew to 4,500 visitors per month, and the number now tops 16,000 per month. Those metrics are even more impressive given that Urbane offers only about 300 rental units in all.
Urbane Apartments is the quintessential example of a small business that has maximized the possibilities of social media to champion its brand online, eschewing conventional advertising and search engine optimization solutions in favor of word-of-mouth buzz. Thanks to social networking, do-it-yourself website creation software and related tools, it's never been easier or cheaper to establish a beachhead online. Of course, the same alternatives are available to your competitors, meaning it's also tougher than ever to earn virtual visibility. That's where small businesses must get creative.
"The average small business doesn't need to worry so much about SEO or spending money on a web consultant. If they're out there and relevant to their audience, that's as much search engine optimization as they need," says Mike Whaling, president of 30 Lines, an online branding consultancy in Columbus, Ohio. "There are plenty of opportunities to build a strong brand on a small budget."
Regardless of how the message is articulated and distributed, the core mission of branding remains the same: communicating to customers who you are, what you do and how you do it. The web is the simplest, most direct channel to convey that information.
"Every company should have an online presence, and the cost of developing a site has come down to relative pennies," says Craig Reiss, founder of retail web developer Reiss Media in Cos Cob, Conn. "Organic search can still drive traffic. People go online looking for [a firm's service or product], and all you have to do is get found. It doesn't matter if you're a single retailer and can't afford the time or have the expertise to drive traffic. Most people are just looking for directions to your store anyway."
Websites serve different purposes for different companies, says Nicholas Chilenko, principal of web design and Internet marketing firm Nicholas Creative in East Lansing, Mich. Sometimes the goal is generating new business, sometimes it's about relaying messages to clients and other times it's defining or even redefining the firm's image. "If someone wants to find out more information about you, they go to your website. It's the convergence of all your marketing messages," Chilenko says. "It's easy to create an identity because it's virtual."
The challenge is getting that identity across in quick, broad strokes, says Mary van de Wiel, CEO of branding and communication design consultancy Zing Your Brand in Brooklyn. N.Y. According to her, businesses have just moments to succinctly communicate their purpose and value to consumers before they click away for good.
"You've got to be bold, you've got to be provocative, and you've got to be daring. Create a language and vocabulary that allows people to get that," Van de Wiel says. "Branding is what sets you apart--it's a natural magnet. If people come to your site, they need to say, ‘Yes--this is who can answer my problem.' If you make a bad impression in the first five seconds, you're toast."
The most essential component of successful online branding is the human element, she says. "People are craving a story. They want to know something about who they're buying from, and they feel like they need to like and trust you," she explains. "You've got to shout what it is that makes you special and makes you different. Our personalities are what drive our brands. Look at Richard Branson--his personality is embedded in all of the Virgin brands. You need to put a face on your business."
Perhaps no tool is more effective at putting a human face on a firm than social media--and no tool is less expensive, either. In addition to utilizing social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, 30 Lines' Whaling recommends that small businesses introduce their own blogs as a means to pass along content that underscores the company's knowledge and expertise, with an emphasis on local information that directly affects customers. For example, an accountant might post about changes to city or state taxes that are likely to affect his clients, positively or negatively.
"Make sure you're regularly adding fresh content," Whaling advises. "Not only are you providing value, you're also adding pages to your website--that's more pages for search engines to index, and more opportunities for customers to find you."
All businesses have information to share, regardless of vertical, he adds. "Not enough companies take advantage of the opportunity to tell a story that's bigger than the company itself. There's always a story you can tell. Maybe your merchandise is made from local products or from sustainable materials. You've got to find that unique angle."
For Urbane Apartments' Brown, the bigger story is the world that surrounds his properties. "At the end of the day, I'm not sure folks really care about apartment features. What they really want to know is what's going on nearby, like where is the best corner bar and the best place for sushi," he says. "Our blog focuses on everything about the local neighborhood--it's all about new bars and restaurants. And our website traffic is off the charts."
Social media outreach also lets businesses keep tabs on their online reputations and interact directly with fans and foes alike. According to Brown, Urbane Apartments closely monitors tenant reviews and feedback across multiple websites and is quick to respond to any criticism.
"A lot of folks want to ignore the ratings and review sites, which is a huge mistake. There's no hiding from that," Brown says. "If you're getting a bad review, you need to fix it and think about how to encourage good reviews. No longer does the general public believe in ads--they believe in what is said on Facebook."
Brown is applying to his own consulting business the lessons he's learned from building Urbane Apartments' online brand. Under the Urbane Way umbrella, he works with small businesses looking to pursue digital marketing opportunities. In late 2009, Brown also joined real estate information content provider Network Communications as a social media strategist. He practices what he preaches: Urbane Apartments dropped all print advertising and premium online promotions years ago, and Brown isn't looking back.
"Internet marketing is what enabled us to compete on a level playing field," Brown maintains. "I'm not suggesting print advertising is dead, but sometimes there's no money for that. There are certainly lots of pay-per-click programs, but how many times do you click on ads on Google? Most people never do that. But you can still build your brand organically. Wherever we can expand our digital footprint, we will do it."
Chicago-based writer Jason Ankeny is the executive editor of Fiercemobile content, a daily electronic newsletter dedicated to mobile media, applications and marketing.
Although experts agree that an engaging online presence is a must for any business, a user-friendly website and compelling products and services aren't enough to distinguish your brand from the rest of the pack. "Getting your brand out there and setting yourself apart should be easy, but it's not," says Mary van de Wiel, CEO of branding and communication design consultancy Zing Your Brand. "You've got to be fearless, and you've got to live out loud--make yourself unmistakably unforgettable."
Here are some suggestions for making it happen:
Establish an identity. "If you can't work out what the unforgettable, differentiating spark is, you're a dead brand walking," Van de Wiel says. "It's a matter of working out what you want to do and working out the attitude of your brand. Your brand has a behavior and a tone. Brands like to show off and have fun. It wants to come out."
Be easy to find. "You want to make sure you're not invisible to search engines--that's why some people avoid all-Flash websites," says Mike Whaling, president of online branding consultancy 30 Lines. "Make sure you're represented in all the local directories. Go to GetListed.org, type in your business name and see where you come up on searches."
Steal good ideas and make them your own. "It's important to create a look and feel that represents your business in the best way, but not everyone has a design aesthetic, so you might need a little bit of help along the way," Van de Wiel says. "I recommend that people look around and see what speaks to them. If you can identify that, then track down the person who worked on that website. But be accountable, give the designer some benchmarks, and be clear about how you want to express your business."
Watch for opportunities. "Lots of people miss the boat in terms of call-to-action. Once you get people to your website, it's not always clear what you want them to do," says Nicholas Chilenko, principal of web design firm Nicholas Creative. "Make sure there's a clear path of motion through the site. The goal is to get customers to convert. Insert subtle cues throughout the copy, and give them some incentive to make that initial contact."
Remember other marketing channels. "Don't forget about basic digital tools--e-mail marketing still works," Whaling says. "E-mail can feature posts from your blog; repurpose content you're using elsewhere. Also, leverage your offline promotions to complement what you're doing online. For example, list your Yelp page on your business card and encourage customers to go there to let you know how you're doing."
Lighten up. "Some people are so intense about their brand, but it shouldn't be a struggle," Van de Wiel says. "We like people who are friendly and relaxed. So have fun." --J.A.
Free Press columnist Mitch Albom has sold more than 28 million books worldwide.
At times, it might seem as if he has won as many writing awards during his quarter-century with the Free Press. For instance, 13 times he has won the country’s most prestigious sports column-writing contest; only one other columnist has won it more than once.
This weekend, Albom was selected for the biggest prize of his journalism career: the Red Smith Award.
The award is bestowed annually for lifetime achievement by the Associated Press Sports Editors. It was started by the country’s sports editors in 1981 when it was presented to its namesake, the legendary New York columnist. In the ensuing years, it has been awarded to a who’s who of the most influential sportswriters and editors, including Jim Murray, Jimmy Cannon, Shirley Povich, Edwin Pope and Dick Schaap.
The voters are past APSE presidents and Red Smith winners, charged with identifying people who have made “major contributions to sports journalism.”
“Mitch’s work and career speak for themselves — he’s given much to Detroit, he’s a wonderful writer, he’s multi-talented, he’s earned his success and recognition,” said Paul Anger, editor and publisher of the Free Press. “And this award recognizes Mitch as among the greatest sports columnists ever.”
Anger, APSE’s president in 1994-95, spent 18 years as sports editor of the Miami Herald and saw the early days of Albom’s column-writing career in the early ’80s at the Herald’s rival, the Ft. Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel.
Albom joined the Free Press in 1985. And the rest, as the awards prove, is remarkable history.
He will receive the Red Smith Award at the APSE’s June convention in Salt Lake City.
Jazz Times
The Kresge Foundation, in conjunction with Kresge Arts in Detroit, announced that jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave is the 2009 Kresge Eminent Artist. That award also comes with a $50,000 prize. The Detroit-based Belgrave has gotten a lot of awards and grants over the years, but he told JT that this one was special. “It’s one I didn’t expect, that’s for sure.” It turns out that he knew he had been nominated, but after attending a gathering of various artists in the running for the award, he ruled himself out. “I saw so many gifted artists of all genres, not just music, so I didn’t think I had a chance.”
The Kresge Eminent Artist Award recognizes an exceptional artist in the visual, performing, or literary arts for his or her professional achievements and contributions to the cultural community, and encourages that individual’s pursuit of a chosen art form as well as an ongoing commitment to Metropolitan Detroit. The award is unrestricted and is given annually to one artist who has lived and worked in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb Counties for a significant number of years. The first-ever Kresge Eminent Artist Award was presented last year to Detroit visual artist Charles McGee. The Eminent Artist Award is administered by the College for Creative Studies. The award recipient is selected by an independent review panel composed of prominent artists and arts professionals from the Detroit area.
Michelle Perron, director of Kresge Arts in Detroit, acknowledged that Belgrave was a natural choice for the award in its second year. “The award recognizes someone who has exemplified outstanding achievement in the arts field, as well as contributed to the Detroit area community. His impact in this community has been so outstanding for many years, not only as a musician but also as an educator.” She confirmed that there are no strings to the award. “This award recognizes his lifelong work and commitment.”
Belgrave himself attributes the award to his lifelong devotion to education in the community. “They knew that if they gave the money to me that I’m going to keep on doing what I been doing.” Indeed, Belgrave has been dedicated to teaching jazz to young people, both informally and formally, since around 1970.
Born and raised in Chester, Pa., Belgrave has been a fixture of the Detroit music community since he settled there in 1963. He told JT that he had his eye on the city for many years. “I was very close with Clifford Brown, who lived in Wilmington, Delaware, not far from me. He became my first mentor. I was trying to play jazz but, you know, I didn’t know what I was doing. He wrote out my first solo for me, for ‘How High the Moon.’ Yes, he opened up my ears.” Belgrave simply couldn’t imagine someone playing the trumpet better than Brown (a sentiment matched by many a trumpet player, past and present). “But these other guys would tell me, ‘Oh yea? There’s a guy in Detroit who plays circles around Clifford.’ I thought to myself, ‘Who was this guy?’ It turned out to be Thad Jones. So I knew that Detroit had a real strong music scene. I got to know him later when I was with Ray Charles and he was with Count Basie.”
Performing with Ray Charles for almost four years was a watershed experience for Belgrave, who had met Charles in Wichita, Kansas and sat in with the band. But it wasn’t until Charles had a three-week engagement in the Chester area that Belgrave was asked to join the band. “The last night he was there, he called me in to be a part of the band, because the trumpet player had had enough,” said Belgrave, laughing. Several years later, Belgrave would have a similar feeling. But he doesn’t harbor any ill feelings about his tenure with the great singer. “Those were beautiful days.” When he left Charles’ band he wanted to find a place where he could make a living without being on the road for months at a time. It was around 1962 and the Motown label was in full swing. Belgave did sessions with the label and when that work dried up, he started looking for other outlets for his talents. “I had worked so hard and lived so hard, I was ready to settle down.”
His conversion to the field of jazz education came in 1970, during a difficult time physically. He had been ill in the hospital and when he was released, he had some time on his hands without an instrument. “The doctor told me, ‘I know you’re not going to give up playing, but you have to give it up for at least three months.’ I lasted two! But it was during that time that I started teaching. And I took to it. It seemed like a natural thing to hook up with talented kids.” Talented they were. Among his students are some of the most accomplished players on the contemporary jazz scene, including Geri Allen, Regina Carter, James Carter, Bob Hurst, Rodney Whitaker and Kenny Garrett, all of whom are quick to publicly acknowledge their debt to their mentor. In an Overdue Ovation profile of Belgrave in JT in 1994, Regina Carter told Jim Dulzo that Belgrave had and continues to have a unique relationship with his former students. “He is like baby’s milk,” Carter explained. “He’s like a nutrient, like a parent. It was just so important to us as young people to really get a firm grasp on the music and come to it in a way that is fun and enjoyable.”
It’s clear in talking with Belgrave about his former students that he gets much pride and pleasure from the relationships. Belgrave said about Garrett that, “He asked more questions than any other student. He’s always trying to learn more. Did you know that he learned Japanese and now he’s learning Chinese? Oh lord. At one point he was working with Miles and he would call me up and ask me for advice. I told him, “You’re playing with Miles Davis—ask him!”
During the ‘70s, Belgrave worked as a musician and teacher with the late Harold McKinney and his organization Metropolitan Arts, but eventually formed his own organization, the Jazz Development Workshop, where many of the aforementioned artists got their early jazz training. Belgrave felt that his program made a difference in the city. “It was a positive thing for Detroit. There are a lot of dedicated teachers in the city—like Ernie Rogers and Dan Pruitt. But it seems like the schools are in such a state of decline, they just don’t get a chance.” Belgrave himself never taught formally in the Detroit school system, preferring to work on his own with students who wanted to learn from a master. Looking back on his teaching experiences, Belgrave attributed whatever impact he had on the students to the simple message that he delivered. “I let them know that they can really play. I think they knew it anyway. But I found that I was able to impart my own knowledge, direction and guidance to them.”
I asked him if he ever regretted settling in Detroit, where he became known more as an educator than as a musician. “No, no. I spent a year and a half in New York City. I worked and played with so many greats. I played on records with Mingus and Donald Byrd. I was in contact with all the musicians. I put in my dues. But it’s a hectic place. You can get in trouble there!”
In addition to his work as an educator in the Detroit music community, Belgrave also teaches jazz at Oberlin College, along with Wendell Logan, Gary Bartz, Robin Eubanks and Dan Wall. He enjoys teaching to these college kids who likely are very different from the inner city kids Belgrave has mentored over the years. “They seem to like my approach there.” He laments that he doesn’t get to spend more time with his fellow professors, who tend to come to the campus for different 2-3 days stretches. And Belgrave continues to be active as a performing musician. He recently toured with his wife, singer Joan Belgrave, in a show dedicated to Louis Armstrong. He performs and records regularly in the Detroit area and is a founding member of the Detroit Jazz Musicians Co-Op. Recently, Belgrave represented Detroit as part of the Lincoln Center Motor City Jazz Masters tribute which Included Yusef Lateef, Curtis Fuller, Charles McPherson, and Ron Carter.
Belgrave has no concrete plans for using the money from the award. He does want to explore the music of his family’s roots in Barbados. And he’s looking forward to doing the 2010 Jazz Party at Sea, which will make stops in the Caribbean, not far from his family’s origins. “I want to see if that music is still in my blood.”
http://autoblog.com
Earlier this week, Brammo's director of product development Brian Wismann along with Dave Schiff of Crispin Porter Bugosky, began a ten-day journey meant to take them to Washington, DC.
The trip, which is being chronicled on the site shockingbarack.com, is intended to raise awareness of the company's new electric motorcycle, the Enertia, and electric vehicles in general.
The trek began at Zingerman's deli in downtown Ann Arbor, MI, which just happens to be a a few blocks from this blogger's office. Brian and Dave swung by the office for a visit to show off the bike – which they prefer to call a powercycle – and chat about what it can do.
Along the route to the capital, they'll be making plenty of similar stops, partly to demonstrate the bike but mostly out of necessity. While the Enertia is undoubtedly a neat ride, it underscores two of the major problems with EVs. They are expensive ($11,995 for the Enertia) and have limited range. This bike only has a 42-mile range and then takes four hours to charge. That means plenty of short hops to cover the 520 miles to DC. On the plus side, it should only take about $4 worth of juice to make the trip.
Hopefully sales will bring volumes that help bring the cost down. In the meantime, check out the video after the jump.
Stephen BakerBusinessWeek
One Detroit-area apartment owner is connecting online with current and prospective tenants. Interested in a place? Send a text for a floor plan.
Forty-nine-year-old Eric Brown is no expert in social media. In fact, he doesn't believe such a thing exists. For Brown, social media is a question of trying new forms of communication, from blogs to Facebook and Twitter, and seeing what works and what bombs.
What he has learned, among many lessons, is that reaching out to the unhappiest customers can sometimes not only make them happy, but even turn them into evangelists for Urbane Apartments, his 500 units scattered through Royal Oak, Mich. "When I explain these things to corporate people, they look at me like I have a horn coming out of my head," he says.
Brown, who had worked in housing for 25 years, launched his own real estate business in 2003, and started to buy up midsize apartment buildings in Royal Oak, a Detroit suburb. He was reading a lot about marketing and social media, and one day in 2005 he announced plans to open a company page on MySpace.
His colleagues worried that residents would trash the company on the social network. But Brown bet that they'd point to things that needed fixing.
Problems, he noticed, turned into discussions—and opportunities to improve things. "The more I saw this," he says, "the more I became a believer."
Brown now tries all kinds of things. Some of them work. He enticed six residents of his apartments to keep up a blog. It's not about the apartments, but instead about the life, food, and culture around Royal Oak. It's a lively blog, and he says that some of its cultural aura has rubbed off on his apartment brand.
Solo Apartment Hunting
One benefit of social media is that Brown can understand the problems his tenants (and potential tenants) face—and what drives them crazy. Case in point: For people juggling jobs and family, "looking for an apartment is a pain in the neck," Brown says. The last thing they want is to stand outside an apartment unit and make an appointment to see it later. So Brown fixed up a cell-phone service powered by text messages. When apartment hunters want to see a unit, they text a number. The floor plan of the unit pops up on their phone. And if they want to look around, they get the lockbox code on their phone. Perhaps the best part? They can do it alone. "A lot of times the salesperson just gets in the way," he says.
A few of his social media experiments have flopped. He wanted photos of the apartments with people in them. So he asked residents to take pictures of themselves and upload them to Flickr, Yahoo's (YHOO) popular photo site. The results, he says, were bad. "You never know how things are going to work out." So just before Christmas he tweaked it. On Twitter and Facebook, he offered residents a rent discount if they agreed to pose in Urbane units. By New Year's he had a dozen models ready to pose for a professional photographer. The bonus: Some of them started posting their promotional photos on social networks and e-mailing them to friends.
Despite his energetic outreach, Brown doesn't subscribe to all the traditional lines about customer management. "I don't think the customer's always right," he says. "But most of them are reasonable, so you can come to some kind of compromise."
He also refuses to try to quantify the benefits of social media. "I have no idea how you'd calculate the return on investment," he says.
Eric Vogelhttp://dzoovoleric.wordpress.com/
Apparently Bill Mechanic doesn’t mind putting a bit of himself in the movies he produces.
Just check out “Coraline,” the inventive animated 3-D film the Detroit native and Michigan State grad produced that debuted theaters on Friday.
Based on a book by British writer Neil Gaiman, “Coraline” was destined for some Americanization.
So suddenly the lead character, a little girl who has just moved to Oregon, was from Pontiac. And her favorite place in the whole world was the Detroit Zoo. And her father was wearing a college sweatshirt with the word Michigan on it.
I am glad to see something with the word Detroit, and the Detroit Zoo being used in good light!
For Showtimes, Click Here
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