Global Women Detroit

Amy Peterson – Rebel Nell

Amy Peterson co-founded Rebel Nell in 2013 with the mission to employ women facing barriers to employment in Detroit, educate them on financial management, life wellness and entrepreneurship, with an end goal to empower them to transition to a life of independence. Rebel Nell is a Detroit social enterprise and for profit business. They partner with local organizations to seek out women who have struggled to find and retain employment. Rebel Nell then hires these women as Creative Designers, teaching them to craft unique, wearable art from fallen layers of graffiti, while providing services to support on their way to self-sufficiency in society.

Nada Dalgamouni

Nada Dalgamouni is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Jordan who currently lives in Michigan. She has dedicated her life to helping children and encouraging diversity within her community and beyond. She is a strong advocate for peace, and her actions have made a considerable impact toward building bridges, instead of breaking them. Dalgamouni focuses on molding the future generation because she believes in their influence. In 1991 she founded the organization Children Helping Children, which was created for children to showcase special performances that represent their cultures. Dalgamouni’s work goes beyond performances however. In the Children Helping Children after school program she broadcasts the diversity of the United States through the demographic of the very children who participate in the program. By building bridges between the young generation, Nada Dalgamouni is fostering empathy in Detroit and dismantling hate and prejudice.

Deborah Drennan – CEO Freedom House Detroit

Deborah Drennan has a long history working for social justice. She has more than 40 years in non-profit experience, and has helped thousands of people take their initial steps working up from rock bottom. Deborah offers hope to vulnerable asylum seekers arriving to Detroit and offers vital resources to renew their purpose. Deborah is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Freedom House, a non-profit organization founded in 1983. Freedom House is a temporary home for indigent survivors of persecution seeking legal asylum in the United States and Canada. Freedom House is the only agency of its kind in the United States, providing all services needed by those fleeing persecution in their home country.

Nia Batts – Detroit Blows

Nia Batts is the co-founder and CEO of Detroit Blows, a nontoxic blow-dry salon in Detroit she launched with co-founder Katy Cockrel in 2017. Inherent in Detroit Blows’ business model is a commitment to community. As part of their goal to grow a mission-driven company, the salon donates a percentage of its retail footprint and $1 of every blowout service to support Detroit-based female entrepreneurs and other local, women-focused organizations. Nia is also the chair of Detroit Blows’ affiliated philanthropic arm, Detroit Grows, which makes microgrants to Detroit-based female entrepreneurs and to programs helping women enter or re-enter the workforce.

Carolyn Cassin – Michigan Women Forward

Carolyn Cassin co-founded Michigan Women Forward nine years ago. Michigan Women Forward has a vision where women and girls are empowered to be leaders, inventors, dreamers and doers. The organization strives to advance equality and opportunity for women and girls to create a Michigan where women are recognized leaders who thrive, contribute and uplift the state’s future.

Belle Michigan Impact Fund

The Belle Michigan Impact Fund generates returns for their investors while serving the early stage capital needs of women-led companies generating social or environmental impact. Belle Michigan realizes that women-led companies are the fastest growing sector of new companies and dedicates their time to serve every aspect of their growth. By creating jobs and opportunities for women the Impact Fund yields positive impacts on the economy and brings role models for women to the local and international level. They provide early stage investing, a network of successful and connected women, and experienced leadership and operations support.

Anika Goss-Foster – Detroit Future City

Anika Goss-Foster is advancing sustainability in the form of triple bottom-line development in Detroit by lifting up resident voices and ensuring the city’s growth is economically strong and environmentally healthy.

Amy Good – Alternative for Girls

Amy Good has 32 years of experience serving children and families in Detroit. Under her direction, Alternatives for Girls has expanded from a volunteer-run organization to a staffed agency with $4.7 million in expenses that annually helps 4,000 homeless and high-risk young woman and girls and their families avoid violence, teen pregnancy and exploitation. AFG provides after-school programs, mentoring, women leadership programs, and Peer Educator programs to young women in the Detroit community. Good has implemented numerous services and programs, including street outreach, emergency shelters and the ability for those they serve to transition from shelters to independent living.

Alison Vaughn & Betty Henderson

Since 2000, Alison Vaughn and her nonprofit, Jackets for Jobs, have assisted more than 27,000 job-seekers by providing clothing and training. Alison says, “If a person doesn’t have a job, they can’t afford career clothing. Yet, without appropriate attire for an interview, they can’t get a job.” Alison Vaughn saw an injustice within our country’s system and created a solution. Jackets for Jobs was recently honored as one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For by the National Association for Business Resources.  Alison Vaughn is a Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business Scholar and author. The organization is mainly funded by the City of Detroit, and each woman who goes through the Jackets for Jobs program is referred by one of the numerous agencies under the Michigan WORKS! umbrella.

Tonya Allen – Skillman Foundation

Tonya Allen serves as the Skillman Foundation’s president and CEO. Her two decade-long career has centered on pursuing, executing and investing in ideas that improve her hometown of Detroit and reducing the plight of people, especially children, who live in under-resourced communities. In her current role, Allen aligns the complexities of education reform, urban revitalization and public policy to improve the well-being of Detroit’s and the nation’s children.

Birgit Klohs – The Right Place

Under the 31-year leadership of Birgit Klohs, The Right Place, a regional economic development organization in Grand Rapids, has created more than 44,000 new and retained jobs and spurred more than $4.7 billion in new investment.

Klohs is known as a leading economic development strategist, collaborating with local, state and national organizations on critical issues related to economic development. A native of Germany, she travels to Europe, Asia and the Middle East on investment missions each year. In 2014, Klohs was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to serve on the International Crossing Authority, a joint authority between the state of Michigan and Canada on construction of the North American International Trade Crossing.

Nancy Philippart

Nancy Philippart is a co-founder of Belle Michigan alongside Carolyn Cassin. She has extensive experience in international management and operations, product development, strategic planning and new venture start-ups

Nikki Pardo – Global Alliance Solutions

Nikki Pardo is the founder of Global Alliance Solutions, a consulting company that offers simulation-based customized diversity training for corporations, non-profit agencies, school districts, and law enforcement agencies.  She also is co-founder of The Pack, a community-based project that hosts conversations linked to inclusion, equity and community throughout Detroit. Nikki has been featured in several publications, received Corp! Magazine’s Diversity Business Leader Award for 2017, facilitates trainings across the country, and is a trusted consultant on the topic of diversity, equity, inclusion, and implicit bias.

Kelli Dobner –  Samaritas

Kelli Dobner has has made a significant impact at Samaritas, which provides adoption, foster care, family preservation services, refugee resettlement services, affordable housing and at-home services and residential communities for seniors and persons with disabilities.