Grand Circus + Google Present: Female Leaders in Detroit Panel
Join us at Grand Circus for our quarterly women’s event, this time we’re featuring a Panel Discussion with Female Leaders in Detroit. The panel includes women from diverse professional backgrounds, with unique perspectives on growth and success in their respective fields.
At this event you’ll have the opportunity to hear from female leaders in law, business, and technology who will share insights on succeeding in leadership roles and making a positive impact within their business or company.
As always, we’ll have some wine and snacks and time set aside to network with other women in the Detroit area!
PANELISTS INCLUDE:
Melissa Grusche – Melissa has been at Google for 9.5 years and worked in three Google offices in four different roles. She is currently an Account Executive in their Ann Arbor office focusing on Specialty Retailers. In this role, she collaborates with a set of large, Fortune 500 and Top 100 Private retailers to reach their business objectives and build their brand by leveraging Google tools. She also has experience leading and managing teams.
Beyond her core role, she also has a 20% project at Google leader their Women@ chapter. Women@Google is a global employee resource group that is committed to empowering all women at Google by connecting, developing and retaining female talent.
Prior to joining Google, Melissa worked for a dozen years at several advertising agencies working on automotive account including Jeep, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Mazda. She has a BA in English from the University of Michigan and live outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and two children.
Nailah Ellis-Brown – Nailah Ellis-Brown is the founder of Ellis Infinity, LLC., maker of Ellis Island Tripcal Tea. She is young Detroit, one of a growing group of entrepreneurs calling the city home. The 28-year-old Nailah was born, raised and educated in the Motor City.
Now, she’s putting her efforts back into her beloved city. Her business was derived from a family recipe that has been passed down from her great-grandfather who was master chef for Marcus Garvey’s Black Starline. Nailah started her trial and error by selling bottles of tea from the trunk of her car back in 2008. In 2014, she opened her first beverage production and co-packaging facility in Detroit. Ellis Island Tea is currently sold in high-end niche markets, such as Whole Foods. Her teas are currently told in three states and Nailah is ready to shre her family tea with the rest of the country.
Nailah is married to Rob Brown, a Detroit school teacher and gifted singer. She is the mother of one daughter, Aaliyah.
Stephanie D. Jones – Stephanie is an attorney with General Motors Legal Staff. She specializes in intellectual property law and assists GM’s Research & Development efforts in the US, China, and Israel. She advises GM inventors and business leaders on strategies to protect cutting edge inventions to bring innovative products to market. She handles diverse matters including autonomous (self-driving) vehicles, lightweight materials and specialty polymers, speech recognition, infotainment, batteries, and much more. Notably, Stephanie has negotiated billion dollar transactions with GM’s global partners and has worked extensively in China.
Stephanie also serves as counsel to GM’s Global Academic Contracts team and provides broad spectrum legal advice for GM’s activities with universities. Prior to joining GM, she was with a top 10 national intellectual property law firm where she handled patent prosecution, litigation, opinion work, and due diligence matters for billion dollar and multi-million dollar corporate acquisitions.
Stephanie earned her Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law and earned a BS in Biochemistry from Michigan State University. Stephanie enjoys working with students and generating excitement for and awareness of the multitude of STEM opportunities and the power of education. Of the host of community service and leadership activities in which she is involved, Stephanie notes her roles as a past the Chair of the Intellectual Property Law Section for the National Bar Association, a member of the Renaissance (MI) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and a proud “Big Sister” for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Detroit.
PANEL MODERATED BY:
Tara Reed – Tara is the CEO of Kollecto, a Detroit-based startup using technology to help people find beautiful art for their homes. Her app hunts the internet for art, based on your taste, and is the first recommendation service for affordable artwork.
Tara is also the CODE2040 Entrepreneur-in-Residence, powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, here at Grand Circus. Prior to launching her company, she lead marketing programs at Google, Foursquare and Microsoft.
Learn more at http://www.grandcircus.co
About Grand Circus
At Grand Circus, we’re passionate about training people for amazing careers as developers through our coding bootcamps and helping local businesses grow by hiring local tech superstars. Our bootcamps serve both purposes: we give people critical skills for tech jobs while introducing them to businesses looking for talent. More than that, we’re here for the broader Detroit community through coworking and events.