Stories
Get Inspired
Through inspirational videos, podcasts, and features, learn how Detroit entrepreneurs have built and grown their of businesses. From start-up to stay-up.
Alice Brazelton-Pittman
Brazelton Floral
“I grew up in the business with my brothers and sisters,” she says. But Alice would forge her own path.
It wasn’t until 2017, following the deaths of both her brother Edgar Jr. and sister Irene that Brazelton-Pittman would find herself taking the helm of her family’s floral legacy.
Nyasia Bey
Ancient Wisdom Birth Service
Nyasia Bey vividly remembers the trauma she experienced when she gave birth to her first child, and as a doula in Detroit, she wants to see to it that other women avoid going through what she did.
Nailah Ellis
Ellis Island Tea
As the largest Black female-owned beverage manufacturer in the United States, Ellis Island Tea is on the cusp of becoming a beverage empire.
Ellis’s story captures her journey from starting her all-natural Jamaican Tea to landing a major investment from international star, comedian and actor Kevin Hart. Recently she traveled to Trinidad and Tobago to negotiate a deal with a major bottler that could be a game-changer in the beverage industry.
Hamissi Mamba & Nadia Nijimbere
Baobab Fare
“A little bit before the pandemic, we were focused on trying to finish our renovation at the restaurant,” says Hamissi Mamba, who along with wife Nadia Nijimbere, have been working for the past few years to open Baobab Fare, a traditional East African eatery and cafe in Detroit's New Center neighborhood. The couple had plans to hold a grand opening in May, but as with every other eating establishment in Michigan and across the country, plans changed as the coronavirus surged. That doesn’t mean the work halted, and that is only part of their relentless journey.
Paul Wasserman & Joe Renkiewicz
Henry the Hatter
Glimpse inside the nation’s oldest hat retailer and one of Detroit’s most iconic shops. This 127-year-old hatter has outfitted the likes of Steve Harvey, LL Cool J, the notorious Purple Gang, Jimmy Kimmel, and President Dwight Eisenhower, who wore a hat from the shop at his second inauguration in 1957.
Carol Himelhoch
Himelhoch's
“In the 1940s, my dad helped start the careers of Calvin Klein and Estee Lauder. If I go back in history, we help designers get discovered. It’s in our blood.” The Detroit legacy brand relaunched as an online retail platform in 2018, featuring indie fashion designers from Detroit, other parts of the United States, and even abroad.
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