What neighborhood do you live in and what makes it unique?

I live in Rivertown. As the name implies, my neighborhood is in very close proximity to the Detroit River! I’m just a few blocks away from the river, and a short bike ride away from both Belle Isle and the Dequindre Cut. I think my access to many of the popular “outdoorsy” parts of Detroit makes my neighborhood quite unique. On warmer days, I have biked along the river front towards downtown to go to Tigers games, down the Dequindre Cut to get to Eastern Market for fresh produce, and to Belle Isle to meet up with friends for a picnic.

What have you learned from Challenge Detroit so far?

In the past few months, I have learned a lot about Detroit, being a professional and myself in my role as a fellow with Challenge Detroit. Not only does the fellowship ensure the fellows know the key points of history about the city, but they help the fellows connect the dots between past events and present successes or points to be improved in communities. Having graduated from Michigan State University just last May, Challenge has been my first full-time job out of college. Through this experience, I believe the most important thing that I’ve learned is the importance of defining the stakeholders impacted by your work. In the past, I would receive an assignment and speak with the stakeholders that I thought were impacted, but I now realize that I was merely scratching the surface of the empathy that my work required. Everything that I do in my professional (and personal!) life has the ability to impact another person or community, and my consciousness of this is an invaluable lesson that I can take away from Challenge.

Tell us about your host company and your role in the organization.

I am a marketing coordinator at my host company, Brooks Kushman, which is an intellectual property law firm. I work in a team of three to develop press releases, plan events, manage the website and social media, design brochures and graphics, and help out with any other business development the company needs.

How do you hope to continue to use what you’ve learned as a Fellow after your year is finished?

I don’t believe it’s possible to leave this fellowship without invaluable knowledge about the innerworkings and underlying issues of the city. This knowledge, as well as the experiences I had while working in and learning about the different neighborhoods we worked with during Challenges, will stick with me as I navigate Detroit as a newcomer. I also learned a lot about how to best work as a professional with people from diverse academic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

What are you most looking forward to this spring and summer in Detroit?

Hopefully Michigan will decide to warm up sooner rather than later this spring. Once it does get nice out, I am most looking forward to being able to take advantage of how close I am to the Detroit River, Belle Isle and the Dequindre Cut. I also live across from Atwater Brewery who just opened a rooftop Biergarten that I’m sure will be a great place to soak in some rays and relax.

What do you envision for Detroit 10 years from now?

Ten years from now, I hope to see a Detroit where those newer to the city and Detroit lifers can have a mutually satisfactory and beneficial community to live and thrive in. Changes and advances are being made in the city, especially downtown and midtown, every day. In ten years, I hope this development will have spread to the many neighborhoods of Detroit, but in partnership with the existing communities as to create an environment where a diverse community of people can thrive.

To learn even more about Claire’s experiences as a Fellow, check out her spotlight video below.