Call of Leadership

The Call of Leadership

100K Ideas, a nonprofit centered in Flint, Michigan provides diverse resources for aspiring entrepreneurs. Executive Director Brandee Cook Brown discusses the organization’s evolution, including the initial challenges they faced in their infancy and subsequent community outreach efforts. Brandee also shares how 100K Ideas expanded its resource center to include a multitude of programs aimed to equip members with business-critical skills such as accounting and usage of QuickBooks. One vital success story highlighted is that of Miracle McGlone, a former client of 100K Ideas who began with crafting handmade leather bags and has now grown his business into a thriving venture.

Links:

100k Ideas Website: https://100kideas.org/

If you want these stories sent right to your inbox, join our email list at https://totalmichigan.com/join

Show Notes:

01:04 Understanding 100K Ideas

02:01 The Process and Services of 100K Ideas

03:46 Expansion and Impact of 100K Ideas

04:27 Shops on Saginaw: A Platform for Local Businesses

07:35 Brandee’s Journey to 100K Ideas

11:23 The Decision to Join 100K Ideas

13:48 Discussing Challenges

14:21 Navigating Community Boundaries

15:29 Addressing Community Engagement

19:38 Highlighting Member Programs

22:46 Sharing Success Stories

Transcript
Speaker:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: But there

was a panelist next to me who said

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something to the effect of you

have to, get outside your doors.

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You're not reaching the community.

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Like, it was like a full call out right?

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Cliff Duvernois: but

it was a good call out.

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: it was, so it was.

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It was not directed to me personally.

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It was meant to really just say, Hey,

you can do all these great things.

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But do you understand the

community you're working in?

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Cliff Duvernois: Hello, everyone,

and welcome back to Total Michigan,

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where we talk to ordinary Michiganders

doing some extraordinary things.

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I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.

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Today, I'm in the city of Flint.

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The more time I spend with here,

the more I'm impressed with just

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how much Flint is, is really coming

back and working very hard to shake

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off the reputation that they've had.

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And anybody who's been a fan

of the show knows that I love

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talking to entrepreneurs, whether

that's for profit or nonprofit.

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because I really do believe

that entrepreneurship is the

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great economic equalizer.

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So with that being said, today

I'm at a 100K Ideas, in Flint.

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And I'm talking with the executive

director, Brandee Cook Brown.

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Brandee, how are you?

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: I am great,

thank you so much for asking.

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Cliff Duvernois: Before I jump

into it, why don't you talk to us?

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What is 100K Ideas?

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: That used to

be such a simple question and now

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it's so low now it's so loaded.

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as you've

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Cliff Duvernois: It's, nothing's ever

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: No.

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100k ideas is a nonprofit

designed to relieve the innovator

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of the entrepreneurial burden.

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So we know everyone has an idea at some

point in somebody's life they've had

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an idea for a business that they're

like you know this could make me rich.

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Or You know, I think I can handle

that, but a lot of them do not

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have a place to go to get started.

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Because, everyone has an idea.

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But not everybody has the ability to

start a business, if that makes sense.

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That's a very specific skill set that

requires, sometimes knowing people

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who have started a business that

requires some knowledge pieces that

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aren't always accessible to everyone.

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So we were created to bridge that gap.

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if you have an idea for a business,

it can be a service, a product,

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a nonprofit, whatever it is.

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You can come to us.

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And we'll help you determine how

you would like to move forward.

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And so we do that with our direct

client services, which is how we

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started in our bread and butter.

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We sit with you, we learn about

your idea, your inspiration, your

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skill set, where you need some help.

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And from there, we put together

a detailed research assessment.

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Not to tell you whether it's

a good idea or a bad idea.

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People ask us that a lot.

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Like, is this a good idea?

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Is it a bad idea?

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I don't, I don't know.

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I don't have the answer to that.

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and that's by design because sometimes,

you know, you see those as seen on TV ads.

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I say this all the time to people.

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And there are things where I'm

like, I would never buy that.

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But they obviously are selling.

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I say all that to say, it's very

subjective of who would support what.

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And so instead, what we do is we close

that research out with two to three

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things they can do now to move forward.

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And so Some of those next step

services we can assist with.

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We have designers on staff that

can help with your branding

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and your website and your logo.

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And then we also have engineers on

staff to help prototype something

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that you're looking to build.

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And we have relationships across the

state to kind of fine tune things

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as it's time to get to market.

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And test the market.

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See what happens.

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You lose nothing, because our goal

is, we want to get you there without

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making a crazy investment at this stage.

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Because we also know a lot of

people we work with, they don't have

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thousands of dollars to invest in a

mold for a product that's going to

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be manufactured in 10, 000 units.

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That's just not who we're serving.

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And instead, we found ways to be

able to get them to market in a

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very low investment kind of way.

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That allows them to really learn

and see did people buy this?

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Did they like it?

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Did they have suggestions?

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Should I modify this?

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Or they're using it.

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So they're giving feedback.

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And it's very practical is how we work.

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We don't work in philosophical.

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I guess if that is the

best way to say that.

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We work in very much rooted in reality.

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Here's the steps to get to your

business and get it started.

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So that's what we do in a nutshell.

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We've expanded it quite a bit over

the last couple years by adding

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workshops and pitch competitions.

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And now a resource center and a

shop that you can sell products at.

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But the core of it remains the same.

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It still is very much about, we just want

to provide access to entrepreneurship

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to those that have ideas, regardless

of your background, regardless of your

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network, but knowing that it's attainable.

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Cliff Duvernois: And where you're

located in Flint, and this was actually

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a very like pleasant surprise for me.

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So you've got a building, it's

open, the public can come in.

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And many of the people that are

members of this organization can

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actually have a shop set up here.

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: It's

called Shops on Saginaw.

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And it was actually created

prior to us taking it over.

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So the building that we're in now,

the Dryden Building, they, the

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first floor used to be all shops.

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And it was local businesses for

the most part, small businesses.

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A lot of them did not

have other storefronts.

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The goal was to bring

retail back to downtown.

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That was the goal of that project.

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Because there was a time and

actually people tell us all the

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time even where we're sitting It

used to be the kids section of

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JCPenney's or Sears or some Macy's.

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I keep I keep forgetting.

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Somebody tells me every time.

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We do a tour and They tell me.

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So retail was a part of a downtown area.

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And so that's why Shops was created

was like hey, let's bring that

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back Let's provide access to that

obviously a little differently.

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But there's an opportunity for that.

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As the building was being

transitioned in terms of ownership,

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they did end up closing shops.

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What ended up happening was

people were very disappointed.

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A lot of people were supporting shops.

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Because if they wanted to support

local, this was a way they could

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do so and support multiple local

businesses at the same time.

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But also the vendors itself, they

were, they counted on this as a

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way to enter the marketplace at a

very low risk level and do well.

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After being yelled on in the street

by a couple of people, even though

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we did not run shops, for the

record, we did not run it initially.

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It kind of screamed to us like,

okay, it has somehow become our

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mission to bring this battle, there,

no one asked us to, to be fair.

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But we just took it on as something

that we were like, hey, this is

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something that matters to the community.

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Let's figure out how we can bring it back.

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And so that was the catalyst even for

our move from our previous location

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at the Ferris Hall building was,

okay, we have to bring back shops.

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And so that's really where

the inspiration came from.

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We brought it back a little

bit on a smaller scale.

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Because we obviously are using

the space a little bit more

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multi use than it was before.

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But it's the same structure.

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There's no upfront fee.

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So nobody pays a booth rent to be here.

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It's just 15 percent commission on sales.

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And then.

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They just have to give

us their inventory list.

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Because we are a nonprofit and we want

it to we want everyone to do well.

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We do have a little bit more programmatic

components to it than it did before.

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So we do ask that the business

actually be registered.

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That they have their bank account.

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They have their EIN number.

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Our checks are only

written to the businesses.

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And so it's really about if you're

really ready to sell in the market.

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This is what it takes.

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You know, you want to

have everything lined up.

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So also you can track your

business expenses and your

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finances and see how you're doing.

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So, we made it a little programmatic.

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So there's a small change

from where it was before.

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But, overall it's, it's

been so great to see.

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And luckily last year we had opened

just in time for August in Flint.

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And I don't know if you've

been here in August.

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But it's like festival after

festival after festival

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Cliff Duvernois: Oh, with the Art Walk and

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: Between Art Walk and

Back to the Bricks and Crim and, Alley

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Fast and like everything's happening.

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So we were open.

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We were able to be open

during that time and it's not

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actually as full as it is now.

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But even with where it was like

people just you know came in and

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enjoyed supporting businesses.

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And the vendors were here.

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So they were able to show off their stuff

and tell the stories of the businesses.

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So it was a cool thing So

we're very excited that we get

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to keep that program going.

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Cliff Duvernois: And there's so much there

that, I want to unpack, um, because what

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you're doing here is absolutely amazing.

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And, and how you're working

with other businesses and state

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organizations for that matter,

to help out these entrepreneurs.

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And before we jump into all that first,

why don't you tell us where you're from?

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Where did you grow up?

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: up?

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Yep, I grew up in Lansing, Michigan.

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So, about 45 minutes,

down the road from here.

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I went to Sexton High School.

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For college, I went to University

of Michigan because Michigan

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State was way too close.

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My mom would have been knocking on

the door every chance she could.

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But yes, I went to U of M.

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I actually got my first taste of non

profit work right outside of college.

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In my desire to be endlessly

nomadic, I majored in psychology

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and had no desire to be a researcher

or a professor or a therapist.

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So, what's left after that?

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Cliff Duvernois: Which

you kind of have to be

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: You have to be all of

those things you know, so it does come in

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handy, you know, I do use it occasionally.

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No, ironically, actually, the time

I was graduating, I learned about

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a program they were starting called

Mission College Access Network.

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It actually was going

into its second year.

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The model was placing recent

college graduates into high

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schools to be college advisors.

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Similar, if you're familiar with Teach

for America, it's kind of a similar

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structure except not in the classroom.

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You're strictly focused on college access.

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And it's a near peer model, putting

individuals with similar experiences

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to high school students to hopefully

increase their college going success.

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My high school actually was on the

list to be a new location that year.

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And it all was very, serendipitous, I

guess I could say, literally my track

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coach was the one that was there for

the interview, that was there so, uh,

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and, you know, it was, like, fantastic

to see her, and she was excited to

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see me, and we were very much, like,

we're ready to kind of move forward.

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And as a non profit program, that

was my first It's real experience

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into that space and knowing, okay,

I think this is where I see myself.

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Like I see my career.

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moving in.

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So I did that for two years.

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It was fantastic.

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I spent a couple years

in the private sector.

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which I, even though it was not the best

fit for me professionally, I attribute

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that to my ability to be professional

in settings, if that makes sense.

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It was very corporate.

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So you had a certain way you

sent an email, you had a certain

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way you engaged with clients.

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But learning all those soft skills

in a very rigid environment is

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really what helped craft, you know,

the professional you come to be.

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And my husband though is

actually originally from Flint.

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He always had a desire, we were

living in Lansing, but he had

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a desire to come back to Flint.

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And I had said, I'm not going

unless, like, I'm working

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there, like, that's silly.

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We're not just gonna move to

Flint, and I have to commute,

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back and forth, that's wild.

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And he brought me to a networking

event taking place in the newly

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renovated Ferris Wheel Building.

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and We actually missed

all the presentations.

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That is when I met the co founder, David

Ohl of 100k Ideas, who had worked with

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the company that was renovating the

building and bringing 100k ideas to Flint.

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And we were talking and he was

like, So what's your background?

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And we kind of just got

the talking and rolling.

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and yeah, I think I put in my

two weeks, like maybe two, three

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weeks after that conversation.

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It was pretty done at that point.

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Oh, yeah, because they had just started.

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Right.

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So I, as I knew, as much about nonprofit

as I did as a college advisor, right?

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I knew we were grant funded.

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I knew there were like mechanisms there.

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But as far as knowing, like,

no, this is a new nonprofit.

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Like I didn't even ask them,

what's the funding look like?

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Like, what's all the, how long have

you, I asked none of these questions.

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I was like, yeah, sure.

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let's do it.

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and so, no, but I mean, honestly,

it's been the best journey.

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I've learned so much, in the process.

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And really it has been challenging.

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Because you do It's a little

bit of a learning curve, right?

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Like when you're put into the space

and you may know things high level.

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But then to get into the details

and have to figure it out.

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and I do appreciate having a very

supportive team here that allows mistakes.

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I mean, and not anything crazy, you

know, we don't have the building

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coming, crashing down on us.

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But you know, when you,

there's a huge learning curve.

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I mean, people have been incredibly

patient with me as I figure things out.

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And as I get more comfortable.

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So yeah, but that's the

journey to, to Flint for us.

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Cliff Duvernois: I got for you

is, so you had this chance meeting

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with the co founder of 100K Ideas.

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What was it that made you say, you

know what, I'm gonna go all in on this.

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What was it in particular

that drew you to this?

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: Yeah, it's

funny because, I mean, I knew at my

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current, at my job at that time, that

I just wouldn't be there forever.

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Like, I just kind of knew, okay, there's

something else I kind of want to do.

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There's a stepping

stone to something else.

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So there's, that's like

the first realization.

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The second thing was, I had always said,

because I was good at my job, you know,

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I really didn't have any complaints.

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I was like, if I do leave, it's got to

be something that's really pulling at me.

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And I couldn't stop thinking

about the organization.

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And I just really felt like,

you know what, if I didn't do

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this, I'd probably regret it.

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I don't know how to explain it.

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but there was something exciting about it.

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It was a challenge.

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I've, you know, not been in

a situation like that before.

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So it really did push me out of

my comfort zone, but I also think

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that's what I was looking for.

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I was looking for something that

would require me to really be

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uncomfortable if that makes sense.

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So, and it continues to do that.

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And really being able to say, okay,

you're a part of something that has

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really started to make a difference.

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Really, you know.

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And also making sure it did that, right?

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Like it wasn't just something

that came in, not that I felt this

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responsibility in the beginning.

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Making sure we're not just here to make

a quick splash and then we're gone.

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There's a longevity component

we want to see happen.

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Cliff Duvernois: We're going to

take a break and thank our sponsors.

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When we come back, we're going to talk

to Brandee a lot more about what it

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is that they're doing here and how

they are supporting the community.

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We'll see you after the break.

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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to

Total Michigan, where we interview

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ordinary Michiganders doing some

pretty extraordinary things.

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I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.

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Today, I'm at 100K Ideas in Flint.

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And we're talking with the Executive

Director, Brandee Cook Brown.

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Now, Brandee, before the break, we

were talking about how you basically,

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threw caution to the wind, and

jumped on board with 100K Ideas.

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You were all in.

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What are, like, maybe, one or two of

the key challenges that you were facing?

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Either, either personally,

you coming through the door,

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or just as an organization.

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But talk to us about some of those

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Brandee Cooke-Brown: A community like

Flint, there are unspoken boundaries

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and rules that needed to be navigated.

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Our co founder, he had,

was not from the community.

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wonderful idea, great concept.

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But there are nuances, right,

that you have to learn whenever

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you're coming into a new community.

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And to be fair, I'm not

from here either, right?

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So, it's kind of really learning

how, okay, let's take a step back.

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Let's listen to what people are telling

us and are we meeting what people expect?

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And so there was, we were maybe,

six, seven months in or so.

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And we were looking at the data

and we're like, Oh, this is great.

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You know, it's going good.

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We have, you know, all

these ideas coming through.

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But where are they coming from and

they weren't as many from Flint

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as we would have liked to see.

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Cause I think the initial anticipation

was we're going to open the doors.

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People know this is a

resource that can help them.

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They're going to come.

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And this is before virtual

was a thing, right?

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So you physically are

coming to the location.

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And so it was really kind of

like, okay, so how do we fix this?

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Because, you know, now you have, funders,

like, oh, how's it going in Flint?

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Are people engaging?

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How does this work?

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And so, that became a little bit

of a thing we had to reconcile.

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And actually, I remember,

my role changed slightly.

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I turned, I started going into more

community engagement for the organization

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to ensure that we're doing outreach

and that people know what's going on.

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And I was sitting on a panel, with a

couple of different resources that, an

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organization locally was putting on.

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And they had asked the question,

I forgot what question it was.

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But, the facilitator of the

panel knew we had just decided

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to start doing office hours.

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So we ourselves, in addition to our

partners here, which we'll talk more soon,

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we actually go out to local community

centers for once a week to engage with

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residents and their spaces that they

might be a little bit more comfortable.

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We realized, hey, we're creating

an invisible barrier that we didn't

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realize for people that do not

believe downtown Flint is for them.

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So in order to rectify that, we're like,

okay, maybe at some point they will.

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But we got to meet them where

they are and really engage.

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:

And that became, through tabling

at community events and really

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:

getting outside of our own doors.

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And putting ourselves in

different positions as well.

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:

And so I remember sitting on a panel

right before this program was launching.

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And I had just said something.

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I don't remember exactly what the

question was or what I was referring

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:

to, but there was a panelist next

to me who said something to the

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effect of not staying downtown, you

have to, get outside your doors.

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:

You're not reaching the community.

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:

Like, it was like a full call out right?

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:

and it took me,

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Cliff Duvernois: but

it was a good call out.

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:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: it was, so it was.

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It was not directed to me personally.

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That's what I do realize.

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It was meant to, and I really do believe

the person's intent was not malice.

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It was meant to really just say, Hey,

you can do all these great things.

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:

But do you understand the

community you're working in?

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And I think that was the mirror.

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And that's a valid point, right.

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:

I will never argue with that.

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:

Luckily we were planning

to launch Office Hours.

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We just had not announced it yet.

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So they got a sneak peek announcement

at that point because then I was able

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:

to point out like we hear you, like we,

this is not something we have overlooked.

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This is not something we, take lightly.

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:

We get it.

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This is what we're doing to address that.

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Cliff Duvernois: Right.

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:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: So that

was a a challenge because I'm a

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:

very non confrontational person.

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So I'm just like, oh God.

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:

But I mean it was it was a turning

point for the organization and at

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:

that point my focus became how do

we become more community centric?

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Like where do we need to be?

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:

Who do we need to talk to?

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:

And it became almost like a Gosh, like a

track down, have I talked to everybody.

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:

And I'm fortunate because even

though I'm not from Flint, my husband

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:

being from Flint and him having

connections that I'm able to utilize.

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I was able to get in rooms and talk to

people just simply off of the strength

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:

of saying, Hey, I'm not from Flint, but

my in laws, they own the barbecue spot

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:

at the farmer's market, do you know them?

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:

You know?

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:

And honestly, and that's why I will always

say Flint is such a welcoming community.

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:

I have never seen them shut anybody out.

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:

You just have to come in very authentic.

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:

And that is the one thing

they just want to see.

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:

If you are authentically

you, they're open arms.

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:

They are ready.

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:

They, they're like, Oh, my

gosh, this is so awesome.

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:

Because even when I would talk to

people, we were maybe like year in.

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:

And, people were like, Oh, I

didn't know you guys were here.

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:

And we're like, that's not good.

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:

So, it's really being conscious of that.

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:

So we really took a lot of time to

craft and a community outreach program.

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:

And how do we do that?

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:

And that's since evolved.

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:

So we still have our office hours.

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:

Every quarter we do a community engagement

with another organization So, that

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:

includes like, you know going to the

food bank that includes reading for

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:

schools that include You know a cleanup

at a park like it includes some sort of

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:

engagement to let people know not just

What 100K is but that we actually are

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:

here and we you know We share the same.

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:

And that we care right.

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:

Like we're not just here to be here

and you know Say that we're in Flint

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:

for whatever Notoriety that gives

us it's really intentional and we

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:

really want to make sure people

know we're a part of the community.

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:

And we care just as much so

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:

That was a huge thing in that space.

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:

And then shortly after we're making

all these changes leadership shifted

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:

a little bit in the organization.

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:

And I I was asked to step into that space

of like, okay, are you ready to do this?

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:

And I said, yes, not knowing I

was ready not knowing to do it.

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:

And that was just a time of learning

curves, Right, Like I went from knowing

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:

every project that came through the door

to almost being pulled completely out

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:

of it because there was so much on the

back end I had to learn pretty quickly.

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:

Cliff Duvernois: One of the things

that you have, that you offer

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:

here to your membership is all

of these different programs that

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:

were coming through the door.

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:

So, talk to us, maybe, like, highlight,

maybe one or two of those that,

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:

members can take advantage of, whether

it's, if it's a presentation once

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:

a month, once a quarter, Mm-Hmm.

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:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: whatever that Yeah.

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:

So, to us about some of those programs.

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:

Yeah.

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:

So as opening the startup hub,

which is what we, call it, we, in

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:

addition to physical equipment,

we also knew knowledge-based

463

:

resources were incredibly important.

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:

So in working with the thousand or so

people we've worked with since we opened.

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:

Those are the things that kept

coming up of just like, well, I

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:

don't know anything about accounting.

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:

I don't know anything

about a business plan.

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:

And to clarify, we do not

help with business plans.

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:

And that's strategic 'cause there's other

organizations in our community that does.

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:

So we are big on referrals and

making sure that, we don't take

471

:

on projects we don't need to.

472

:

and so In building out this new

resource center, we were like, Hey,

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:

we really need to make sure we have

office hours for people to come here.

474

:

It's a central meeting place.

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:

people know us, they're comfortable

with us, but they can get help from

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:

different organizations they may

not have had contact with prior.

477

:

And so one of those, accounting being

like one of the number one things on

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:

the book, we reached out to the John L.

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:

Group.

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:

They have an interesting story.

481

:

They're three brothers who

started an accounting firm.

482

:

Actually, it was logistics accounting

and then construction firm.

483

:

They actually just, I shouldn't

say just, they've been opening

484

:

their brick and mortar for a while.

485

:

they actually were a

client as well of ours.

486

:

And so to see them grow into this full

fledged business that they are now is

487

:

phenomenal and being able to utilize

them now for our clients, as a client,

488

:

is such a full circle moment for us.

489

:

They come in once a month and they're

going to provide accounting help.

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:

So, in talking with their COO, Luther

Brown, he, me and him talked through it.

491

:

I was like, these are the struggles

that we see people having.

492

:

Is that something you can help with?

493

:

He's like, Oh yeah, that's no problem.

494

:

And, so.

495

:

they'll be here not just for office hours

to answer your accounting questions.

496

:

They're also going to be doing

QuickBooks trainings twice a month.

497

:

one session's for you've not used

QuickBooks ever before in your life.

498

:

and You just need help.

499

:

And the other one's a little

bit more experience, but I use

500

:

the term experience loosely.

501

:

Um, you have the platform, you might

have some information in there.

502

:

But you need help organizing it and

getting it, to a point where you

503

:

can run reports and the reports will

tell you what you're looking for.

504

:

Because our goal is we really want

people to be financially stable.

505

:

We see too many, especially

early stage businesses that.

506

:

One, the investment into

QuickBooks is already a thing.

507

:

And then if you don't feel like

you've used it, you're letting it go.

508

:

Because obviously you're like,

oh, I didn't use it that much.

509

:

I'm just letting, as you're,

reflected on expenses and trying

510

:

to make sure you're utilizing what

revenue you do have responsibly.

511

:

But we also know without proper

financial and accounting practices, the

512

:

likelihood of your success is is less.

513

:

And it's also hard to afford an

accountant at that stage of your business.

514

:

So how do we bridge that gap?

515

:

And that's really what we We have

like a two pronged approach to that.

516

:

Well, really three tiered because

there's bringing in an accountant.

517

:

There's the actual trainings.

518

:

And then there's also, we are providing

QuickBooks subscriptions to our

519

:

members for the first year for free.

520

:

So giving them a chance, not just saying,

hey, here's a subscription, you get

521

:

one, you get one, but really, we want

to teach you how to use it as well.

522

:

And that's really how we're, if that's

a great example of just how we're

523

:

approaching the space in general

and the resources that we have here.

524

:

It's not just meant to

be like a one off thing.

525

:

We want you to develop these

relationships, expand your network.

526

:

If you have a question, we

have someone that can help you.

527

:

And that's the message we

want to make sure is clear.

528

:

Cliff Duvernois: I was wondering if you

could like maybe share a story of somebody

529

:

that came in, maybe started from scratch.

530

:

and has been able to use your

resources and be able to grow like

531

:

a real business from from this.

532

:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: It's wild

because I have so many examples.

533

:

So I feel bad like if I call

one specific person out.

534

:

But I'll talk about Miracle

McGlone a little bit.

535

:

You saw his bags downstairs.

536

:

So he actually, he came

to us at a weird stage.

537

:

So we actually, previously a

partner with the John L Group.

538

:

We got a grant to be able to provide

accounting hours for businesses.

539

:

And I believe that's how he

somehow found his way to us.

540

:

or it was a grant program or

something else we had going on.

541

:

And we got to know him.

542

:

And we're like you make these bags by

hand, so we're like what is going on.

543

:

Like what is what are you doing?

544

:

So he had been making these bags by hand.

545

:

And he had been selling them like like

custom bags as they were ordered So,

546

:

you know you could do that and stuff.

547

:

But he had some very specific things

He needed to become more efficient

548

:

and he wanted to make sure he knew

what they were So we ended up working

549

:

with him took him through our process.

550

:

But, he learned his craft

while he was serving time.

551

:

So he learned lever working at that point

and really just found a passion for it.

552

:

And he was, provided clemency

under President Obama.

553

:

So from there, he really was looking for

resources to help him keep doing this.

554

:

Because he just genuinely enjoyed it.

555

:

We're just incredibly grateful

that we're along for his journey

556

:

And so now he's in shops.

557

:

He's also in I believe Comma Bookstore,

which is a black owned bookstore downtown.

558

:

And they both also have his bags.

559

:

And so we have them available.

560

:

You can see him on display.

561

:

He also does custom and

that's what he said.

562

:

He's like, you know, I make sales here.

563

:

And he's had some really cool

months here since he we've opened.

564

:

But he said, you know the referral

piece is what's crazy for me

565

:

He's like people take my card

after seeing the bags and shops.

566

:

And they'll call me and say hey can you

do this or that and he's able to do that.

567

:

And so he's even hosting

Flint does It's Art Walk.

568

:

second Friday of the month.

569

:

And we open it up to vendors to host.

570

:

And he will be hosting the first one where

he'll be to Actually, he's going to do a

571

:

demonstration of how he makes these bags.

572

:

And I mean they're actually real

leather that he is stitching by hand.

573

:

And measuring and cutting and

doing all of these things.

574

:

Cliff Duvernois: Brandee if somebody

is listening to this and they want to

575

:

check out what it is that you're doing.

576

:

Maybe they have a 100k idea.

577

:

Where can they find you?

578

:

Where can they find you online?

579

:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: So online,

it's 1 0 0 K I D E A S dot org.

580

:

That's where you can find us.

581

:

It has links to all of

our programs on there.

582

:

Right on the first page.

583

:

From our direct client services

shops, as well as, our startup hub,

584

:

the shops link is awesome because

it also shows you all our vendors.

585

:

So it gives you a little sneak

peek of who's all in here.

586

:

We are physically located at

601 South Saginaw Street, Flint,

587

:

Michigan right on the bricks.

588

:

So you can't miss us.

589

:

We're right on the corner.

590

:

And in any social media platform.

591

:

We're just 100k ideas 100k.

592

:

So

593

:

Cliff Duvernois: K.

594

:

Nice.

595

:

Brandee, thank you so

much for taking time to

596

:

Brandee Cooke-Brown: Yeah.

597

:

No, thank you so much for having me.

598

:

This is awesome.

599

:

I really enjoyed it.

600

:

Cliff Duvernois: And for our audience You

can always roll on over to TotalMichigan.

601

:

com click on Brandee's interview and

get the links that she mentioned above.

602

:

We'll see you next time when we talk

to another ordinary Michigander doing

603

:

some pretty extraordinary things.

604

:

We'll see you then.