Terri Weems Appointed Group Executive of Workforce and Detroit

Mayor Mike Duggan made an announcement today appointing Terri Weems as the Group Executive of Workforce and Detroit at Work. Weems will assume part of the responsibilities previously held by Nicole Sherard-Freeman, who served as the Group Executive of Jobs, Economy & Detroit at Work, as well as the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Workforce Development Board since 2019.

According to Mayor Mike Duggan, “Nicole has made remarkable contributions to the City of Detroit and its residents, and her impact will be felt for generations to come. We have decided to divide the role to allow Terri to solely focus on workforce development. I am confident that Terri, with her extensive experience and knowledge, will approach this position with a strong dedication to addressing the needs of the people of Detroit.”

Terri Weems

Katrina Turnbow Marion Hajj Flemings

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In her new role, Weems will concentrate on developing an economic mobility strategy aimed at reducing poverty, increasing employment opportunities, and equipping Detroiters with the skills necessary to adapt to a changing economy.

Before her recent appointment as the Group Executive of Workforce and Detroit at Work, Terri Weems served as the President of the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC), a nonprofit organization that serves as the work- force agency for the City of Detroit and Michigan Works Agency. Weems joined DESC in 2017 as the Chief Financial Officer, where she focused on developing metrics and utilizing data to inform the organization’s decision-making process. Over the past few years, she has been instrumental in executing the city’s workforce strategy and facilitating the growth of the organization. Since 2019, Detroit’s workforce development team has succeeded in securing employment for over 40,000 Detroiters, with nearly 10,000 placements resulting from priority hiring agreements with major companies like Stellantis. The city experienced a rapid recovery from the pandemic, with unemployment reaching a 30-year low in April 2023, and over 228,000 Detroiters gainfully employed.

Speaking about her new position, Weems expressed her enthusiasm for preparing Detroiters for the future workforce economy in the next five to ten years. She believes that the community possesses strong and versatile talent, and her role is to support their innovation. Weems stated, “Our strategy is to provide all Detroiters with the opportunity to acquire advanced skills and compete in an ecosystem that ensures financial stability and generational wealth for residents and their families.”

Weems, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with a diverse background, has over 15 years of experience in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers. She worked with the company’s largest clients in the United States and abroad, leading transformative initiatives and contributing to major projects. Additionally, she serves on several boards and is an active member of professional organizations such as the American Institute of CPAs, Michigan CPAs, and the National Association of Black Accountants. Weems also actively participates in her community through various volunteer and fundraising activities.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Science in Accounting degrees from Ohio University.

Simply put, “artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses subfields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence,” according to the dictionary’s definition of the term.

Its capability has been applied to multiple ways in recent years. From the ways users are already engaged with mobile apps and technology, which enables voice or language recognition, to the way some law enforcement agencies use AI using facial recognition software.

“You’re inputting information, and of course it’s coming back out, but as technology has advanced, it’s [AI] learning,” said Ka- trina Turnbow Marion, Kanopi Social and Detroit Digital Coach at Google.

“One of the things that AI has made significant is to lower the barriers of entry in so many areas. You can now do really impactful, fast research on whatever industry you’re looking to connect with, and even meeting people.”

Marion said the AI world and its accessibility, along with one’s creativity, is something that will propel an individual forward, particularly in the Black community. “Something we have often struggled with is the ability to collect that would allow you to make educated decisions on what you should do next.”

She believes the capabilities of AI coupled with someone’s creativity and vision make for a powerful force for good in the Black community that couldn’t be stopped, but people must be informed.

“The critical piece is not the actual AI, it’s the awareness and making sure our community understands that this is a place of power, not something that should be rooted in fear.”

As artificial intelligence has been an embedded part of our life in ways we haven’t realized, the emergence of its capability is starting to make employers thing about the ways in which AI are utilized in a more intentional way in workplace operations.

“We’re trying to help people reimagine what work looks like,” said Hajj Flemings, founder of Rebrand Cities and Prompt Camp. “We don’t believe everyone is going to be replaced by AI, but people who understand and leverage AI will replace those people.”

The advancing technology will certainly have com- panies figuring out ways to create efficiencies while reducing redundancies and taking on the role a human being once filled, likely creating displacement or providing time and attention to tasks an employee can focus on elsewhere within their company.

“I think there are a lot of things we do at our jobs that we don’t draw energy from that seem repetitive and can be automated,” Flemings added. “We don’t multitask well as human beings, computers do.”

From formatting a document to scheduling meetings to certain management elements, all are things companies can automate according to Flemings.

AI is also changing the way people enjoy or appreciate music. AI tools allowed an online user to recently mimic the voices of artists such as Drake and The Weeknd and piece together a would-be song collabo-

4 Tips to Grow Cash Flow For Your Small Business

(StatePoint) As every small business owner soon learns, growing sources of revenue and cash flow are key to survival, particularly during a venture’s first few years. While this is easier said than done, small businesses can focus on attracting new customers, building partnerships and scaling up sustainably to improve cash flow.

To get you started, Wells Fargo is sharing actionable tips for entrepreneurs, along with information about how to leverage helpful resources:

1. Create an action plan: Don’t just make a business plan, put it into action. Tech tools can help. For example, the Silver Lining Action Plan, a data-driven software service from the American Small Business Growth Program, provides wide-ranging support and structure so you can develop behaviors and drive actions that lead to longterm, sustainable growth. The program also offers the opportunity to build capital, lending money to business owners based on their behavior in the program, not their credit history. With Wells Fargo philanthropic funding, the program is expanding and is now available in Spanish.

“Having access to a trusted expert in business and financial planning can be a game-changer for any small business owner to get their initial footing and grow for the long-term,” said Jenny Flores, head of small business growth philanthropy at Wells Fargo. “We are very intentional about funding non-profit organizations that can help guide small business owners through goal setting and improving their profitability.”

2. Expand your network: Expanding your network can be a powerful path to attracting new customers, contracts and cash flow. In addition to joining your local chamber of commerce, consider opportunities like Wells Fargo’s Connect to More pro- gram, which through the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, places women entrepreneurs from across the country into “circles” that receive virtual and in-person peer and professional coaching over 12 weeks, plus the support of a growing network of fellow business leaders. Since its inception, the program has empowered more than 1,200 entrepreneurs in 47 states to grow their business through a wider network of engagement.

3. Scaling up: From streamlining operations to adjusting the business model, there are many moving parts to scaling up a business. Look into programs that can help you develop a growth mindset and provide you with an empowering ecosystem of support needed to make it happen.

The Latino Business Action Network’s Business Scaling Program, a nine-week online and in-person hybrid program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaches participants about funding and capital options and pairs them with mentors who will challenge and support them. Corporate funders like Wells Fargo make it possible for the program to offer significant scholarships to admitted participants.

4. Get certified: If you’re a diverse business owner, consider getting certified with a third party, such as the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce or Disability:In. Doing so can open up lucrative opportunities. For example, Wells Fargo, which is committed to working with diverse suppliers, spent over $330 million with certified women-owned businesses in 2021 alone.

For more small business ideas that will help you take action and increase your opportunities for business success, visit https://smallbusinessresources.wf.com.

“As a bank that serves millions of small business customers, we know that success is hard to come by without support,” said Flores. “That’s why we’re always trying to connect entrepreneurs to valuable resources and contacts. It’s important to find the right expertise for where you are on running or growing your company.” ration between the powerhouse artists. The song gained major online traction, and quickly became a hit, despite both artists never having anything to do with the song that was AI-generated.

“If you think about how music is created, you connect with an artist,” Flemmings said. “Because that artist is creating from a sense of pain or something you can relate to, AI might sound good, even if it could pull from all the songs that ever existed; it’s not like the story behind that song is going to be like, ‘this computer didn’t fall in love with this computer.’”

Flemings says that’s the part where artists leverage the storytelling creative and human connection capability they have while getting ahead of Al and the corporate music industry.

Which brings up the question of how artists get a chunk of the financial pie when AI-generated music takes the likeness of an artist’s voice and sound and streams on platforms which potentially draw revenue for the user who used AI to create it.

“An inflection point is coming where true advocacy and education as an artist is going to have to exist,” Marion said. “Artists can no longer afford the privilege to just be artists. They must be businesspeople.”

“I believe as with the writers’ strike, there will come a music movement, in alignment to the business of music that goes back over 100 years of African American music being stolen, the issues of rights and publishing . I think a lot of wrongs needs to be righted and it maybe actually happened because of AI.”

While there are many benefits to AI, there are just as many concerns as this tool continues to take share of market.

“There are privacy issues, there are transparency issues, there are ethics issues, governance issues,” said Flemings. “We as African Americans have an opportunity to be able to help shape what this looks like.”