In this Alumni Fellow Spotlight, we are catching up with Jason Zogg. He reflects on his year with Challenge Detroit and his current work with DTE Energy.

Jason, you moved to Detroit a little over a year ago as an inaugural fellow. What has it been like living in the City since then?

This is a remarkable time to be living in Detroit. I have never lived in a city undergoing as much change simultaneously as Detroit is now. In the year I have lived here, apartments in downtown went from easy to find, to having waiting lists for every building. When my year started, the largest urban planning effort in the city’s history published the Detroit Future City Framework Plan. A few months later, the city was thrust into the national spotlight twice – when Kevin Orr was named EM, and then when Detroit declared Bankruptcy (while in an odd twist Detroit simultaneously made national headlines for opening a Whole Foods in Midtown). It was also a year filled with a very interesting race for Mayor and a new City Council district system. The physical, social, and economic changes have been significant across the entire city – some of which Challenge Detroit was instrumental in kick starting like the rise of the Livernois Corridor Avenue of Fashion. It was a year when the tireless efforts of hundreds of people from hundreds of organizations and businesses finally started to gel, and in part because of organizations like Challenge Detroit that make connections across networks, Detroit’s momentum has vastly multiplied. Last year will be considered a watershed moment in Detroit’s history when we were simultaneously closing one chapter in the city’s history and beginning to write a new one.

Tell us about your role at DTE Energy, and how it has evolved over the past year?

The intent with Challenge Detroit is for our host companies to embrace us as change agents and thought leaders – and that is exactly the type of role I have been able to create for myself. My official title is Lead Urban Planner & Strategy Analyst, working to create and implement the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative which seeks to stabilize, improve and transform the area around our corporate headquarters in downtown Detroit. But I have also tried to be entrepreneurial with my time in the company, so I am now leading part of the team that is creating our company’s first real sustainability report and a new company wide sustainability program, I have worked on or am working on strategy for topics like utility-scale solar, electric vehicles, city-scale energy efficiency, and public lighting. Detroit is creating a new paradigm for how cities function and it starts with anchor institutions – and I’m helping shape that role for my company.

During your time with Challenge Detroit, you had the opportunity to partner with 9 non-profit organizations. How have those experiences impacted your current position and how you approach your work at DTE?

The beauty of the Challenge Detroit model is that through the program structure, it acknowledges that we cannot just focus on one topic or issue, we must tackle all of them simultaneously. Working on 9 very different topics throughout the year gave me a more comprehensive understanding of topics I would not have been exposed to, and I apply that everyday in my work, which results in stronger more thoughtful outcomes for my projects. Our challenges connected me to resources, and a network that allows me to see what I do through a more holistic and Detroit specific lens – which is fairly unique within the company. I have also been able to connect my company with relevant Detroit organizations in ways that I never would have foreseen.

What is the most exciting project you are working on at DTE?

At the moment we are beginning the renovation of the Salvation Army building on Bagley Ave across from our headquarters – our first catalyst development in the area. I have several roles in that project – one of them involves using my background as a LEED AP to ensure that this is the first LEED certified building in the company, raising the bar and setting a new precedent. That is pretty exciting.

You have lived in New York, Washington DC, Rhode Island and now Detroit. What’s special about Detroit?

This city is not predictable. It’s a little edgy, a little gritty; it has character but is very welcoming. If you want to live in a predictable, cleansed city that’s fine, but if you want something more interesting and dynamic, Detroit is for you. Detroit is fun and lively, something new is happening everyday, the city and its people are as real and authentic as it gets. There is this critical mass of deliberate friendly people seeking to be part of something larger than themselves, looking out for each other, helping each other succeed and accomplishing something together. I saw an opportunity to have a high quality life in a dynamic urban environment that I could afford for the first time. The cost of living lets you be an entrepreneur not only in your profession, but an entrepreneur of life. In those cities you are just a number, in Detroit you are not, it is a city of experimentation.

Do you still stay in touch with the Inaugural fellows?

Absolutely, but it is not as easy as showing up on Fridays anymore! One of the best parts of Challenge Detroit was how we were fused into this extensive network of change makers in Detroit, so we tend to see each other at events and conferences. I cross paths professionally with other fellows at companies such as Vadim Avshalumov at Rock Ventures who is also involved in downtown revitalization. But Detroit can feel like a small town – over the course of a couple hours on the waterfront a few weeks ago I randomly saw four other Inaugural CD fellows.

What advice do you have for the current class of fellows?

• You don’t have to be an entrepreneur, but you must be entrepreneurial – in life, in your profession, your workplace, your relationships, your network, your social media, everything.
• There is no such thing as a life plan – only positioning yourself to be in the right place at the right time with the right skills, the right knowledge and the right attitude, the right reputation, the right mindset, and surrounded by people who add value to everyone and everything they touch. With Challenge Detroit you are more than halfway there.
• There is a time in the evolution of every city you can make an indelible mark, now is that time, but it won’t last forever – this is your turn now, every so often remember you are living in an extraordinary time in Detroit during one of the most significant years of your life, make the most of it.