In this week’s Fellow Spotlight, we are checking in with Katie Dictus. She fills us in on what she enjoys most about living in the city, and her host company, DTE Energy!

Katie, tell us about your move to Detroit? 

I grew up and went to college in Wisconsin, but for the year after school, I lived in Des Moines, IA with my boyfriend who was attending medical school. Along with four other guys, we rented and loaded up a 26’ Uhaul, drove it twelve hours to Detroit, unloaded it the next day, and drove back to Des Moines that evening to finish cleaning our old apartment and go to a music festival. A couple days later, we stuffed our car full of the last of our belongings, leaving some things behind, and made the final drive to Detroit. Exhausting would be one word I could use to describe it.

What do you enjoy most about living, working, playing, giving, and leading in Detroit?

‘Detroit’ means so many things. The word is layered with connotations of the city’s history – from the French farms to Henry Ford and the automobile, from the unrest and riots in the 60s to the economic downturn of 2008 – Detroit is shaped by its people and their stories: the pride and the struggle, the perseverance and the strong sense of community. Living, working, playing, giving, and leading here means learning and caring about these stories. You cannot apply the five pillars of the program in isolation; everything has a context. What I enjoy is discovering how my story weaves into the fabric of the stories of all Detroiters.

Tell us about your host company, and what you do?

I work at DTE Energy, the gas and electric utility that serves the thumb of the Michigan mitten. The company has about 10,000 employees across the country and of those, 3,500 work in Detroit at headquarters: four inter-connected buildings on the west side of downtown. I originally started the program doing data analysis for the storm management team, the people who coordinate restoration and public safety efforts when customers are out of power after a storm. Six months later, I moved to the economic development department where we workwith businesses looking to locate in DTE’s service territory to help them get the power they need and the discounts for which they are eligible.

What is a unique project you are working on at DTE Energy?

Right now, the main project I have going on is gathering data for all the development projects in the greater downtown Detroit area so that our engineers can plan for infrastructure additions and upgrades over the next 5-50 years. I learn about the buildings that have been bought and are being rehabilitated, like the Globe Building on the riverfront or the David Whitney building in Grand Circus Park that will soon be a boutique hotel and apartments, and also about the vacant lots that are expected to transform into housing or offices. It’s a unique perspective to be behind the scenes of the flurry of development that’s taking place in greater downtown.

What is your favorite part of the Challenges?

I really like having a four-day work week with something different, fun, and challenging to do on Fridays. It’s the one day a week when all the fellows are together and it’s a good chance to catch up with people, hang out, and contribute our skills and knowledge to help a non-profit organization that serves the community in which we live. It’s incredibly rewarding to see, a few weeks or months down the line, that the recommendations or materials we’ve created are being implemented by the non-profit.

What are you most looking forward to in Detroit?

This year has gone by so quickly and has offered me numerous, valuable connections to events and people and efforts in the city. Now that it’s drawing to a close, my consolation is that I will not be leaving Detroit when it is over. I am ready to do all the things I missed this year and to engage myself further in my community. For the city itself, I look forward to the day when car travel is no longer dominant; increasing bike lanes, improving public transit, and creating pedestrian-friendly areas will facilitate the development and beautification that is characteristic of other ‘great’ cities.

Check out Katie’s personal blog here, and her spotlight video.