In this week’s Fellow Spotlight, we are checking in with Miguel Davis. He fills us in on what he enjoys most about living in the city, and his host company, the Macro Connect!

Miguel, tell us about your move to Detroit?

I moved from a Mississippi town of less than twelve thousand people to a city of seven hundred thousand and it’s something that I notice everyday. In Indianola, I established a pretty intimate connection with the people, places, and events almost instantly, whereas I still feel like my relationship with Detroit is just beginning. I’ve done so much since I’ve been here, but recognize that there’s still so much more to explore. There also was and continues to be some serious room for adjustment in the living space department. I spent two years living on over ten thousand square feet of old-school, Southern-style housing to cramming my personal belongings into seven hundred square feet of studio space. I will say the skyline view does do a good job on making up for the loss in breathing room.

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

The opportunities and experiences afforded by an exponential increase in population continues to be a highlight of city living. The lines between living, working, playing, giving, and leading have completely blurred – I’ve embraced that being a Detroiter means you just make stuff happen!

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

Macro Connect specializes in IT strategy, planning, implementation, and support for small businesses, law firms, nonprofits, and schools. Throughout the course of this year, I’ve been developing a new product line within our education practice. This suite of services, Macro ConnectED, promotes effective technology integration in education to educators and system level leaders. This takes the form of technology coaching for individual teachers, schools, and districts, software and hardware recommendations and implementation, and  engagement in city-wide and national forums on education technology best practices and its role in next generation teaching and learning. In some cases, this also requires assuming newly crafted leadership roles within a school or school district, such as Technology Integrationist or Blended Learning Coordinator.

What makes working at Macro Connect unique?

I’m consistently blown away by the company’s culture. It’s energizing to operate in such a supportive environment where innovation and collaboration are actively encouraged and recognized. Likewise, I’m proud to put my name behind the quality of the services that each of the consultants delivers to our clients.

What is your favorite part of the Challenges?

I love that every fellow comes from a different education and work background. By the end of every challenge, I’ve been exposed to new schools of thought and a range of experiences I may have never otherwise had. However, my favorite part still lies in the quality of the recommendations we’re able to deliver to our partners. Nothing has trumped the satisfaction of seeing our design challenge solutions used by our partner organizations in their day-to-day operations.

Tell us about some of things you are involved with outside of Challenge Detroit?

No two weeks are ever the same. The only constant is my Monday night tutoring session at the Downtown Youth Boxing Gym. Outside of that holy 5-7pm weekly slot is a mix of other youth service events, Crossfit, community development engagements, Tigers games, work and play related travel, city food and drink, 5Ks, and continuing education. You can get a decent picture (literally) via my Tintup.  Outside of these activities, monopolizing my time these days is starting up the social enterprise Fellow Alexandra Zisser and I are pursuing through the BUILD Social course at D:Hive.

What are you most looking forward to in Detroit?

In the short term, I’m just glad the warm weather and the Tigers are back!

Check out Miguel’s personal blog here, and his spotlight video below.