Episodes

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 support both economic and social impact. Through their work in food systems innovation, entrepreneurship,...

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 newfound home and the world in general. By the time Lisa completed her college education at University of Mich...

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 survive and later thrive in their adopted country. Jonathan didn’t forget that lesson. As a busine...

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 engineer by training, she began her career in the power and electrical equipment industry with Westin...

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 engineer by training, she began her career in the power and electrical equipment industry with Westin...

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 virtual access via phone, text, and email. Health Bar makes primary medical care care more accessib...

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 investment banking, e-bike manufacturing, sales, and national distribution, Justin and Chris share why Bloom was f...

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 around Direct Primary Care is growing nationwide. Dr. Thomas’s practice shows what can happen when h...

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 not afford the surgery needed to restore his vision. In a desperate bid, his mother penned a heartfel...

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 controversy in some quarters, as some have claimed (incorrectly) that Shotspotter listens in on neighborhood...

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 like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, April had to figure out how to take her soulful treats nationwide. It wa...

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 certain other large city goes, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…” The post Beijing Baller appeared f...