“Guess What? You were a kid once: I bet you drew like crazy.”

I read this line in a book called “Sketchnotes Handbook” while  at work. My takeaway from what I read and my reflection on the content is that we all have it in us to draw, but we often convince ourselves that we can’t.

Being an insecure person, I have a tendency to not trust my ideas. As a result, I often keep them to myself and don’t share them with anyone.

In my first week of Challenge Detroit Bootcamp, we had some amazing speakers. Among them were Drew and Kacha from Skidmore Studios. One of the things that they discussed was the collaboration process. They highlighted the importance of building trust, and using “AND”, instead of “BUT” when brainstorming. They also talked about the idea that creativity lives in all of us. We just need confidence, practice and to get comfortable failing. Like any other muscle, we need to exercise creativity. Michael Brennan from United Way, another inspirational person, further elaborated on the delicacy of design thinking and collaboration by highlighting the importance of having emotional safety and momentum in the process.

So far, I have seen a lot of creative and entrepreneurial people doing exciting things in Detroit. I have visited neighborhoods where the community members have developed urban gardens and art around them, I have used an App that was developed in Detroit to help tackle the fight against blight in the city, and I have been invited to countless art and networking events that talented people are hosting everyday.

The thing that is clear to me is that Detroit is a place where people feel safe to collaborate and exercise creativity. That means that Detroit is a place of trust, a place with “ANDs”, not “BUTs” – – a place where people feel emotionally safe and they have the momentum to do. That energy is contagious. I am excited to be here and hopeful that I too can exercise my creativity AND feel emotionally safe to express AND keep momentum AND…