Detroit is Different

“I’m happy to be here with you” sets the tone for a powerful Detroit is Different conversation with Leseliey Welch , CEO of Birth Center Equity and co-founder of Birth Detroit, Detroit’s only Black-led self-sustaining birth center. In this rich dialogue, Leseliey reflects on family roots stretching from Detroit’s east side to Mississippi and Louisiana, her journey through Saginaw, Southfield, Oak...

“I really knew that I could do something with it when I started making money with it,” Jason Phillips shares in this rich Detroit is Different conversation, opening up about how artistry became both his balance and his pathway to opportunity. Rooted in four generations of Detroit family history and shaped by the West Side around Myers and Joy Road, Jason reflects on childhood memories of bike ride...

“Detroit has definitely created its own ecosystem for the film world,” and in this Detroit is Different conversation, Return Mark “MJ the Don” Jackson brings that truth to life with the sharp vision, humor, and hard-earned wisdom of a creator growing into his next chapter. Revisiting the podcast to build beyond earlier talks centered on music, MJ opens up about writing scripts with Comedian CP, de...

“Detroit has always been a magical city, always been a place of love and a place that welcomes,” says returning guest Ber-Henda Williams , and that spirit carries this powerful Detroit is Different conversation into the heart of the upcoming Modern Day High Priestess Book Signing Detroit, happening Monday, April 27, 2026, from 6pm–8pm at Teen HYPE. Ber-Henda shares how she is one of the lead organ...

“We come from the same family, we got the same blood running through our veins, but my path got to be this just by virtue of who my parents were and your path is this by virtue of who your parents are.” That line captures the depth of this powerful Detroit is Different conversation with John Conyers III , as he reflects on his book My Father’s House: An Ode to America’s Longest-Serving Black Congr...

“I remembered that I wanted to be a teacher” is the kind of line that grabs you because Mama Nozibele ’s (Susan Kelsey-Brewton) story is not just about a career, it is about a calling. In this rich Detroit is Different conversation, the Michigan Department of Education’s 2025 Regional Teacher of the Year for Detroit (Region 10) reflects on roots in Black Bottom, growing up on Detroit’s east side,...

“His story had to be told” is the kind of line that stops you in your tracks, and in this powerful Detroit is Different conversation, Shushanna Shakur brings that truth to life with love, clarity, and revolutionary purpose. As the sister of the legendary Chokwe Lumumba, author of Memories of My Revolutionary Brother: Chokwe Lumumba, and Founder and Director of Heritage Youth Program, Shushanna ref...

“As you know, literacy rates in Detroit are low… we needed a third space,” Jerjuan Howard says, and that conviction powers this special on-location episode of Detroit is Different from inside the Howard Family Bookstore . Raised in this very community, Jerjuan takes listeners into a vision rooted in memory, mission, and neighborhood love as he shares how a boarded-up building at 13803 Puritan Ave...

“Land is wealth,” and in Detroit that truth hits different. In this powerful Detroit is Different conversation, Attorney Anthony Adams joins Khary Frazier to break down what home ownership really means in Detroit today—not just living in a house, but having “legal title to the property,” clear paperwork, and the protection to hold on to what our families worked for. Adams explains how Detroit went...

“Our job now is to help people unlearn the stuff that is not serving them, help them tap into the remembrance of the (inspirational) things that lie within our DNA.” Dr. Rose Moten’s story is one of bloom—of growing through responsibility, grief, faith, and purpose into a life devoted to healing others. In this powerful Detroit Is Different conversation, Dr. Rose—clinical psychologist, author, spe...

“Once I saw that, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be on radio.” That spark carries this rich Detroit is Different conversation with Gerald McBride author of the new book God and the DJ. Gerald McBride is a legendary radio DJ, voice-over master, and filmmaker, whose story stretches from the soul team reporter days of 1970s Detroit radio to becoming one of the city’s most recognizable...

“My heart bleeds for Detroit” is how Dr. Demarra West opens this rich Detroit is Different conversation, and that one line sets the tone for an episode rooted in healing, belonging, and Black community care. Therapist, author, leadership expert, and founder of Be Well Beautiful People, Dr. West reflects on how spending more time in Detroit has deepened her connection to the culture, the people, an...

“Everybody was moving to the north for jobs,” Beverly Smith says, and in that one line she opens a powerful story of migration, Black ambition, and building something lasting in Detroit. In this Detroit is Different conversation, the founder and CEO of Detroit Smart Pages reflects on arriving in Detroit from Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1968, just after the rebellion, with her husband and young chil...

“The right time is right now” sets the tone for this powerful Detroit is Different conversation with Portia Roberson, CEO of Focus: HOPE, as she breaks down leadership, legacy, and what it means to serve Detroit with purpose. From her years as a Detroit attorney learning to “really practice law” in Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, to working on Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign, to now guiding on...

“Housing is a human need, and policy has to meet people there.” Haley Stevens says in this Detroit is Different conversation, and that line sets the tone for an interview grounded in family legacy, public service, and a belief that community is built through organizing. Stevens reflects on her family’s deep ties to Detroit—from her grandfather coming for Ford work, to her father’s stories of Comst...

“‘You got to love your way through this’ is more than a quote in this Detroit is Different conversation with Terry Campbell—it’s the thread connecting a life built through Detroit legacy, Black migration, industry, policy, and purpose.” In this rich episode, Terry traces her family’s journey from Alabama, Florida, the West Indies, and Windsor into five generations of Detroit life, reflecting on Bl...

“I was never raised to think that there was something that I couldn’t do.” That spirit lives all through this rich Detroit is Different conversation with Angela J. Sikes, Founder and Principal of Ruby Global Marketing Consultancy, and a proud daughter of Detroit whose journey stretches from Seven Mile and Cass Tech to FAMU, Georgetown, Under Armour, and some of the biggest brand strategy rooms in...

“Everybody needs that bridge.” In this Detroit is Different conversation, Njia Kai—Mama Njia of NKSK Events and Productions—pulls up with the kind of wisdom that only comes from building culture for decades. She celebrates the next wave of Detroit creators, saying she loves seeing “a continuum… the foundations aren’t totally forgotten,” and laughs at how our kids swear they’ll never be like us—unt...

“Women are the backbones of family, of community,” Theresa Landrum ( of the Original United Citizens of Southwest Detroit) declares in a Detroit is Different conversation that moves with power, memory, and urgency. In this episode, Landrum traces how her family came from Tennessee into the “triple cities” of Ecorse, River Rouge, and Southwest Detroit, where Black families built businesses, bought...

“You are a Black Panther. You’re a Malcolm X. Do something.” That charge from Edythe Ford , Executive Director of MACC Development , sets the tone for a powerful Detroit is Different conversation rooted in memory, movement, and the living responsibility of Black legacy. In this rich interview, Ford traces her family’s journey from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee—“the place that the...

“I’m your publicist, not your therapist.” Publicist and brand strategist Pam Perry pulls up to the Detroit is Different studio and drops gems that hit like a drumline—because, as she reminds us, before “content creation,” our people were already “getting the word out” through bells, drums, and community signal. From Coney Gardens roots and Hamtramck church connections to Cass Tech, the RenCen, Way...

“Everything is political—fashion is political,” says Rachel Lutz, owner of the Peacock Room, and this conversation makes you feel that truth in your bones. Rachel takes us from working retail at Nordstrom alongside women who “retired after decades at Jacobson’s and Hudson’s,” to realizing modern shopping got too same-same—“you walk into a department store and things just all look the same.” She sh...

“When I'm ask Detroit? Why? My question is—why not?” Diallo Smith , President & CEO of Life Remodeled, pulls up to Detroit is Different with a love letter to the city that raised him and a blueprint for what comes next. He traces three generations of Detroit roots—from Louisville to “Conant Gardens” to Arkansas sharecroppers who “escaped” Jim Crow to find a future. But Diallo refuses the escap...

“Before I leave this earth, I want to tell you about all the greater things I’ve done with others. That is the legacy I want to leave.” That’s Dr. Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur laying it plain—legacy isn’t a title, it’s a collective practice. In this in-studio conversation, Bunchy and Khary move through the full arc: from “a self-proclaimed predator” and “street aholic” in Zone 8 to a transformed leader w...

“Lord, please don’t let ’em take my smile.” Actor Lou Beatty Jr. steps into Detroit is Different with a life that reads like a Detroit map and a history syllabus—North End porches, Oakland Avenue storefronts, and the labor that rebuilt churches and neighborhoods after white flight. He traces his family’s Great Migration from Union, South Carolina—“the automobile industry… afforded these people… a...