Jeanette Pierce Jeanette Pierce is a social entrepreneur and lifelong city resident who grew up in the Morningside neighborhood on the east side of Detroit. She has a bachelor’s of arts degree in communication from Aquinas College, and has been walking to work since she moved to downtown Detroit in 2003…which is pretty much unheard of in the Motor City.
In 2006, while working at United Way for Southeastern Michigan, she founded a grassroots nonprofit that used tours and experiences to take people beyond the headlines and educate them about Detroit’s history, culture and community. Today that organization has evolved into the Detroit Experience Factory which operates the only Detroit Welcome Center and creates eye-opening experiences and innovative resources that connect locals and visitors to Detroit’s people, places and projects. Over 80,000 people have taken a tour in the last 10 years to learn about Detroit’s assets, small businesses, historic neighborhoods, city planning & development policies and innovative solutions to the challenges the city faces.
She has presented at more than 100 events including the Downtown Las Vegas Alliance’s Annual Meeting, The City of Chicago’s Neighborhood Organization Workshop and the International Downtown Association’s Urban District Forum. She was honored by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of the Top Twenty in their 20’s, was awarded the Shining Light Future Leader Award from the Detroit Free Press, Shooting Star Award from MichBusiness and the Detroit Young Professionals Vanguard Award.
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