Urban Game Changers

Alecia Gabriel and Deirdre Roberson are scientists who left the academic and corporate worlds on a mission to make STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) excellence a fact of life for young people from all segments of society. Their mission was born of their experiences in Detroit, Michigan, where they found that their own excellence in science was all too rare. They set out to corre...

Audio Bill Brinkerhoff and Kathy Sample are the co-founders of Argus Farm Stop, a pioneering local food business designed to strengthen regional farms while expanding community access to fresh, locally sourced food. Since launching Argus in 2014, they have developed a farmer-first model that has returned millions of dollars to producers and helped demonstrate how mission-driven business can suppor...

Audio Lisa Prasad began her entrepreneurial journey facilitating community development around “anchor” institutions. Now she is leading a new wave of innovation at one such institution. Lisa Prasad emigrated to Michigan from India at age 10. She learned English by watching episodes of Gilligan’s Island, an experience that was an early indication of Lisa’s voracious curiosity about her...

Audio Jonathan Kumar built a sustainable, for-profit business that addresses the needs of homeless people. Jonathan Kumar was born in Buffalo, New York, where his parents had landed after migrating from India. His father was a student, his mother a homemaker. They barely had enough to get by, but supportive community organizations and people made an important difference and enabled the family to s...

Audio Carla Walker Miller built a company that utilizes clean energy technology to improve lives and create economic opportunity. Carla Walker-Miller is Founder and CEO of Walker-Miller Energy Services, a Detroit-based energy efficiency and clean energy solutions company focused on helping utilities, communities, and businesses reduce energy burden while expanding economic opportunity. A civil eng...

Audio Carla Walker Miller built a company that utilizes clean energy technology to improve lives and create economic opportunity. Carla Walker-Miller is Founder and CEO of Walker-Miller Energy Services, a Detroit-based energy efficiency and clean energy solutions company focused on helping utilities, communities, and businesses reduce energy burden while expanding economic opportunity. A civil eng...

Audio From Registered Nurse to CEO: Nathan Baar is Changing the Game in Primary Care Access In this episode of Urban Game Changers , we speak with Nathan Baar, Founder and CEO of HealthBar, a Grand Rapids–based healthcare service reimagining how primary and preventive care is delivered. HealthBar operates a hybrid model that embeds clinical teams directly into workplaces and schools, supported by...

Audio Bloom founders Justin Kosmides and Chris Nolte aim to bring “success as a service” to mobility startups In this episode of Urban Game Changers , David talks on location with Justin Kosmides and Chris Nolte, co-founders of Bloom, about delivering a new way for hardware companies to build, scale, and operate in today’s evolving mobility economy. Drawing on backgrounds spanning inve...

Audio Dr. Paul Thomas is reshaping access to healthcare in the City of Detroit. After medical school, Dr. Thomas left the traditional insurance-based healthcare system determined to build a patient-first model centered on transparency, trust, and long-term relationships. We discuss the real challenges facing urban healthcare, how Plum Health serves a diverse Detroit community, and why momentum aro...

Audio Dr. Cleamon Moorer is striving to bring quality vision care to every neighborhood. Dr. Cleamon Moorer is on a mission to deliver quality vision care to homebound people in Detroit and throughout the state of Michigan. It is a mission born of his personal experience. Cleamon Moorer was born with congenital cataracts in both eyes. By the age of 21, he was legally blind, and his family could no...

Audio Can technology be effective in decreasing gun violence and increasing public safety in cities? Ralph Clark is CEO of SoundThinking, Inc., formerly ShotSpotter, a municipal safety solutions technology company, traded on NASDAQ. SoundThinking is a “poster child” for the UEI notion of applying innovation and entrepreneurship to improve urban quality-of-life. Its solutions have spurred controver...

Interview with April Anderson of Good Cakes and Bakes. Recorded in September, 2022. Audio When April Anderson started Good Cakes and Bakes in Detroit in 2013, she was thinking about her Southern roots, family recipes, and small batch cooking. The goal was “food that tastes like what your grandmother would make.” After an appearance on the Today Show and rave reviews by famous customers...

Audio Afro-Caribbean “kid” becomes China-based serial entrepreneur Shagi Defoe was one of the first students from the tiny Caribbean nation of Dominica to attend college in China. A natural entrepreneur, he has since created several entrepreneurial ventures and has built a life for himself and his family in Beijing. How did he do it? Check out the interview. As the saying about a certa...