In August 2013 I had the decision between two job opportunities. One was a well-paid, associate position in a highly esteemed international analytic company and the other was Challenge Detroit. From my bubble in Ann Arbor, where I spent the summer of 2013, the decision was difficult. When I confronted friends and family with the options, most of them thought it was a no-brainer to choose the analytic company. Why turn down a secure, stimulating, well-paid position in healthcare with room to be promoted? Especially if it’s to pursue an uncertain job in a city that is known to the outside world as corrupt, vacant and criminal. While deep down I knew I wanted to take the risk if it meant bringing me to Detroit, it took me a minute to get there. One person who advised me said it the best when she said, “Do you want a stable, corporate job or do you want to find opportunity?” When she put it like that, it was obvious. I’m privileged enough to be able to consider that choice, so why wouldn’t I take the risk? After all, taking risks is what builds business, spurs innovation and promotes growth. I wanted to be a part of that world.

A full year later, I couldn’t be happier about the decision. Challenge Detroit has given me a platform to listen and learn about Detroit. If I made a different choice, I wouldn’t have visited whole sections of Detroit, been able to talk to people who have been here for over 30 decades or work with some of the most radical (as in cool, c’mon) non-profits in the city. Challenge Detroit gave me a starting point, an opening line, a reason to approach people and organizations. It came with a certain respect within many communities. However, on the flipside, it did not garner the same respect in other communities. I welcome that. We should be confronted about our purpose. Getting 30 people together for a year, the majority being new to Detroit, is not going to “save” the city. I don’t pretend it will. Our impact can only go so far within one year. After all, Detroit is complicated. It has a contentious history charged by race and class that is a very real part of everyday life for the people who live here. We are never going to change that. What we can do is be aware and be conscious. Challenge Detroit prepared us for our next venture in Detroit, it pointed us in the right direction and helped build us as leaders. We must now use the information, opportunities and connections we were granted during this past year to contribute to the Detroit in the ways we know how.

Detroit has given me so much in my first year. I have no doubt changed and grown in ways I never would have expected and I’m not sure I could have done that if I lived anywhere else. Detroit has a unique aura of freedom and opportunity among a backdrop of complex social, economic and political issues. It has humbled me, challenged my knowledge, allowed me to be myself, introduced me to passionate people and gotten me way more into jazz and biking. I couldn’t be happier to continue my life in this great city.