{"id":27484,"date":"2022-02-14T06:35:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T06:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?post_type=blogpost&p=27484"},"modified":"2022-02-14T06:35:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T06:35:45","slug":"fellow-spotlight-lily-passafume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/fellow-spotlight-lily-passafume\/","title":{"rendered":"Fellow Spotlight: Lily Passafume"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lily Passafume is a 2021-2022 Fellow. Lily is from La Porte, Indiana and attended Ball State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. In addition to being a Fellow, she is currently an MBA student at Wayne State University.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your host company and your role in the organization.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Some of Lily’s work: content creation and managing Advance Plumbing’s social media.<\/p><\/div>\n

My host company is Advance Plumbing & Heating Supply, a fourth generation family owned and operated business since 1920. The Moss family business was originally located on Grand River Avenue across from Motor City Casino but relocated to its current location in 2016 to Cass Avenue. The Detroit showroom has won numerous awards such as Detroit Home Design Awards and the Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Association Showroom of the Year Award, amongst many others. My role as Advance\u2019s Marketing Specialist consists of maintaining communication and positioning of Advance\u2019s core values across all platforms and identifying new marketing opportunities.<\/p>\n

Tell us about the challenge project you\u2019re currently working on; what are you learning from the experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m very excited to be on the Integrated Programs team for the Marygrove Conservancy. We recently worked through my favorite stage of design thinking, the empathy phase, where we listen to stories and experiences of a variety of stakeholders in the community. What I\u2019ve learned from this experience is how important it is for trust to be built, intentionally and authentically, with the organization and that community voices must be at the forefront of all development. It\u2019s unsettling to hear how many false promises have been made over the years.<\/p>\n

How do you hope to impact the community as a Fellow?<\/strong>
\nThere is something about this fellowship that not only helps you identify and define your own leadership, but challenges you in intentional ways. How I hope to impact the community as a fellow is by offering my time, experience, and skills to push the needle forward in Detroit communities. I know my involvement won\u2019t solve systemic racism but it may be the link between a Black entrepreneur and the resources they need to sustain their business. We can talk about revitalizing neighborhoods and creating equity all day. What matters most is that I chose to be a part of this cohort and dedicate myself to serve the communities I now call home. I hope to continue listening to stakeholders and having conversations that help shape the way we design programming.<\/p>\n

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Advance Plumbing Detroit Showroom: Lily and Vice President Justin Moss<\/p><\/div>\n

Since becoming a Fellow, what is something you have learned about Detroit that has positively impacted your perspective on the city?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before relocating from Indiana to Detroit, MI in 2019 I didn\u2019t know much about the city or history at all; only that I was told an inaccurate story articulated by systemic racism. Since becoming a Fellow, I learned the history of Black Bottom through an immersive tour guided by <\/span>Jamon Jordan <\/span>and learned how the people in the community were forced out with false promises and left with nothing. I\u2019ve witnessed influential community leaders like Charity Dean, CEO and President of Metro Detroit Black Business Alliance, provide its members with opportunities to connect with leaders and help advocate for policies critical to the success of Black businesses. My perception of Detroit was automatically shifted during our first few Fridays together as a cohort through those experiences alone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you believe your fellowship year will shape your career moving forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Black women succeed, we all succeed,\u201d a saying that I wholeheartedly believe in and hold close to my core values. When I think about how my fellowship year will shape my career moving forward I think about committing to work that is bigger than myself. In five years I would love to see myself working with Detroit youth, music, arts, and culture in the nonprofit sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

If someone is reading this and considering applying to be a Fellow, share why you would encourage them to apply?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, I am now in a position where I can share my true feelings about Challenge Detroit. There are three things that have undoubtedly made my fellowship experience memorable. First, the cohort friendships and professional connections are everlasting. I choose to spend my free time connecting and establishing relationships. It opens up more volunteer opportunities and grows my network. Secondly, Friday is not considered another work day; the best day of the week is dedicated to growth in leadership, social impact, and constant reflection. Lastly, witnessing project partners move closer to achieving their mission is the greatest reward. This has been the best year of my life so far and I owe a considerable amount to Challenge Detroit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lily Passafume is a 2021-2022 Fellow. Lily is from La Porte, Indiana and attended Ball State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. In addition to being a Fellow, she is currently an MBA student at Wayne State University. Tell us about your host company and your role in the organization. My […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":27485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,17,12,18,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-givedetroit","category-leaddetroit","category-livedetroit","category-playdetroit","category-workdetroit","category-y10-fellow-spotlights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}