Tell us about living in Detroit. What neighborhood do you live in and what things make it unique and exciting.

Moving back east from west Michigan has been great. There’s a lot of positive energy in Detroit, and it quickly became home. Having grown up close to Detroit, it’s been a homecoming of sorts, but a whole new adventure in a lot of aspects as well. I live in an old industrial building built by Albert Kahn in 1926. I’m walking distance from great eats, and a few bars and coffee shops in New Center – just outside the Mid/Downtown footprint. I love it.

What have you learned from Challenge Detroit so far?

LOL – what haven’t I learned? Detroit is a complex city and there’s not always one right answer. Learning how to look at social issues from multiple perspectives has been one of my biggest take aways. Learning to listen and empathize is another. We live in a solution based world, but finding the best solutions often takes meaningful human interaction. There are plenty of complex social issues plaguing our country and Detroit is no stranger to them. I’ve grown a lot in my time here and try to be a better informed citizen everyday.

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

Employee Engagement strategies is a broad term, but I get to work on a really exciting team taking a pulse on employee engagement and satisfaction at GM. At a large company like GM, that can have a lot of different hats and faces. From hosting events, facilitating design thinking sessions, and global research and analysis my team does a lot.

There are a lot of exciting things happening in the automotive industry and GM is at the forefront of it. I take pride in working for a large company making agile moves and there’s plenty of that energy going around. With plans for the Bolt unveil, and a promise for autonomous vehicles on the Warren campus in 2017 – you don’t want to blink around here.

What kind of impact do you hope to have with your host company and within the city?

I have a little bit of an unconventional background for my role at GM, but I’ve found ground in design thinking and Human Centered Design. The study of organizational dynamics has also been a pretty fascinating new side-passion. In my short time at GM, I try to leave positive impressions in whatever I’m doing. My team covers a lot of ground, and it’s fun to watch the work we do increase engagement at the local level. Sometimes that’s as small as a starting a conversation, and sometimes it’s as large as future product recommendations or creating better processes.

As for the city, I’ve learned more from the city than I could ever give back – but being in a cohort of 31 talented and passionate individuals we have been able to make a ripple. Some of our projects in Challenge Detroit have had more tangible outcomes than others, but they’ve all started a conversation for positive change and disruption in the city. To me, that’s impactful. I’ve been a student of the city and that’s had an immense impact on my life.

As your year as a fellow draws to a close in just a two months, what do you hope to achieve in your final weeks as a fellow.

I’m looking to enjoy the rest of summer doing new things in the city, as well as be more active in community events. There’s no shortage of things to do in Detroit and I’d like to be involved in more of them. Getting a full-time offer and a means to stay in the city would be pretty chill too.

To get even more of a taste of Eric’s life in Detroit as a Challenge Detroit Fellow, check out his spotlight video below: