Every year Crain’s Detroit Business magazine highlights the best and brightest in their 20s whose creativity and entrepreneurial spirit are already contributing to a new energy in Southeast Michigan. This year Black Young Professionals of Metro Detroit (“BYP Detroit”) founder, Darvell T. Powell was honored for his vision and tenacity to create this organization, as well as his outstanding contributions to General Motors as a Design Release Engineer (DRE) in their Body Engineering division.
Darvell’s recognition came after less than a year in the Detroit Metro area. He is a recent transplant hailing originally from Ohio, by way of Kentucky. Having an ever growing understanding of the social landscape of the up-and-coming in Detroit, Darvell is continually motivated to make BYP Detroit an easy-to-find home for transplants and natives alike to network, grow, and give back to the community.
The spirit and passion, along with the empathy and depth of understanding which Darvell carries, was developed within him in his hometown of Mansfield, OH. He says, “people have been heard to jokingly call (Mansfield) ‘Little Detroit’ because, similar to Detroit, it has seen the heyday of various industry, and now is another story of dilapidation and demise resulting from massive industrial pull-out.”
As a promotional partner with Crain’s, BYP Detroit members were guests of Crain’s at the Detroit Yacht Club on Belle Isle. A well appointed awards ceremony took place within the beautiful second floor halls of the Yacht Club house, in which Darvell was honored to be one of only six Black recipients of the 2016 award. Afterwards, members networked with some of the most well known movers and shakers in their 20s in the metro area.
We would like to thank Crain’s Detroit for the recognition, and their very own Keenan Covington for partnering with us on this wonderful event.
Read more on Darvell’s award, by visiting Crain’s website here.
Director of Body Engineering, Lower Structures, for General Motors Company, David Malik (Left), and Black Young Professionals of Metro Detroit CORE members.
Primary award photo by Jacob Lewkow, taken at the Detroit People Mover (DPM) Cadillac Center Station.