Category: Talent & Recognition

Sarah Hansen, graduating from the innovative Western Michigan University (WMU) Product Design Program this year, is someone who values the element of fun when it comes to design. Sarah is hoping to find a position in the community to put her skills of adaptability and optimism to work, preferably in the soft goods industry. Sarah’s […]

Meet Robert Snell, a student at the innovative Western Michigan University Product Design Program who is graduating this spring and looking for an employment opportunity in southwest Michigan. Robert is passionate about designing “for good” and loves to work with passionate people whose lives can be impacted by his work. A team player who loves […]

The Product Design Program at the Western Michigan University (WMU) Richmond Institute for Design and Innovation (RIDI) is taking innovation to a whole new level with its unique, interdisciplinary program preparing graduates to lead in the field of industrial design. Nick Gromek, graduating from the program this spring, is eager to take his experiences from […]

The Product Design Program at the Western Michigan University (WMU) Richmond Institute for Design and Innovation (RIDI) is taking innovation to a whole new level with its unique, interdisciplinary program preparing graduates to lead in the field of industrial design. Graduating from the program this spring, Madison Dempster is interested in the soft goods industry […]

The Product Design Program at the Western Michigan University (WMU) Richmond Institute for Design and Innovation (RIDI) is taking the concepts of design and innovation to a whole new level with its unique programming that prepares graduates to lead in the field of industrial design. Created in the fall of 2016, the program brings together […]

Prevention Works is arming Southwest Michigan with the tools it needs to build a brighter future. The prevention-focused nonprofit is built upon best practices for community-wide prevention of drug and alcohol use, relationship violence, adolescent health, and more—with a primary focus on youth and families. Prevention Works offers evidence-based programs specially-designed for the community, including […]

College students return to the region for career-building internships. For Michigan State University student Kimberly Verduzco, summer vacation doesn’t mean a hiatus from working toward career goals. Verduzco, who studies advertising with a minor in public relations, is spending her summer working as an intern at economic development catalyst Southwest Michigan First. “The thing that […]

The story of Kalamazoo bookshop, this is a bookstore and Bookbug, begins with the Kalamazoo Promise—along with a leap of faith and a steadfast drive for making reading accessible, joyous, and human for every person in Southwest Michigan. 2008 was not the year to start a small, independent bookstore in the heart of Southwest Michigan—but, […]

The beauty of diversity in the workplace is much more than skin deep. Workplace diversity no longer merely denotes the color of one’s skin in the workplace, but rather implies the range of differences belonging to the people of an organization. Differences in race, gender, ethnicity, age, education, place of birth, tenure, position within the […]

A Q+A with Zach DeYoung, Partner at Maestro. How Do You Approach Design at Maestro? Maestro is a forward-thinking design agency creating things that you probably wouldn’t imagine get made in Kalamazoo. We’ve been here for 11 years, and we work with huge Fortune 500 companies like Southwest Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, and Google. I […]

Tune your bow with corporate culture. In 2010, during the mad scramble from the nadir of the Great Recession, renowned business leader Alfred O. Weber, recently retired, strode into a hotel conference room in Detroit. In January of that year, Weber had been named co-president and CEO of MANN+HUMMEL GmbH, a global leader in the […]

The 2017 Catalyst Education Awards, sponsored by the Michigan Lottery, recognize educational excellence. We sat down with this year’s winners to see their commitment to education firsthand. In these exciting times of astonishing access to technology and information, the traditional model of education has changed. The days of lecturing and rote memorization are over. Today’s […]