Born and raised in Detroit, it isn’t hard for Nicole Sherard-Freeman to see herself in the lives of other Detroiters. These are the same residents she is passionate about helping find better employment opportunities and resources.
As the executive director of Detroit at Work and Workforce Development for the city, she wears a lot of hats and wears them quite well. And she is looking forward to a new promotion come next year. In October 2020, Mayor Mike Duggan designated her as the group executive of Jobs, Economy, and Detroit At Work, and she will assume her new role in January 2021.
Sherard-Freeman joined the City of Detroit as executive director of Workforce Development in August 2019. She will play a key role in staffing major employers in Detroit, and bringing them to the city based on the strength of the city’s workforce, according to the city’s website, https://detroitmi.gov.
No stranger to major staffing programs, she was the force behind ensuring that over 4,000 Detroiters were hired for the FCA assembly plant. She said she and her team “worked through some really difficult dynamics” with FCA ensuring every aspect was fleshed out beforehand. And she says it is not only good economically but “looks good and feels good to the community.”
She is currently responsible for overseeing the strategy and the fundraising and the operations for the Detroit at Work career center systems, Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, an employment agency, and other career technical platforms and programs.
Sherard-Freeman said that she has a “fantastic team” that happens to be an all-Black female leadership team that helps her in a variety of capacities.
“That, in and of itself, is a story we feel pretty badass about that — at least two of us are Renaissance [High School] graduates … that is really how this all works; I have a phenomenal team,” she said.
Earlier this year, Duggan also had Sherard-Freeman oversee the operations for Community Health Corps, a new city initiative led by Deputy Mayor Conrad Mallett, that will offer direct outreach and case management to many of the city’s lowest-income residents to help connect them with the services and support they most need to improve their quality of life, health and economic standing. The first CHC workers graduated in November and are slated to begin their outreach soon.
Mallett said in an email that Sherard-Freeman’s elevation to head of economic development is an “historic first.”
“Not only is she responsible for all the City of Detroit’s economic development activity she is also in charge of the city’s talent agency. Combining economic development with job creation/training/opportunity programming makes Nicole’s role singular in the country,” Mallett said. “The fact that the leader of this extremely important effort is an African American woman could only take place in the City of Detroit under a Mayor like Mike Duggan. Nicole is a proven leader and an extremely talented program manager. This is a great opportunity for the City of Detroit and Nicole.”
Sherard-Freeman said that what she is most looking forward to day one next year is connecting the dots with employers and future employees who need these job and career opportunities.
“I am most looking forward to working with employers who want to locate in Detroit; developers who want to build in Detroit and civic and business leaders who want to step forward and have a greater impact in Detroit,” Sherard-Freeman said. “I am looking forward to lining up all those possibilities into a future that Detroiters can’t even imagine.”
She added that while 2021 is going to be a “tough year” she also thinks that 2021 is going to be the year that “the rest of the nation pauses and looks at Detroit as a model for what’s possible in other communities.”
Sherard-Freeman said that while “a rising tide lifts all boats” a targeted focus is geared toward fixing racial injustice when it comes to building strategies for Detroiters, especially when it comes to Black and Brown communities in the city “if we are serious about evening out the playing field.”
Sherard-Freeman said that her focus is for Detroiters and the economic opportunities available for Detroiters who are saying that they are making ends meet working two to three part-time jobs.
“I see more and more [of the] landscape of Detroiters eager to understand what is ahead,” she said, adding that she wants to help create opportunities for residents in an impactful way, especially on day one.
Sherard-Freeman said that she worked to create opportunities for herself, even if some came later on.
“I didn’t get my bachelor’s degree until much later in my life — I didn’t start working on my masters until a little later after that. I’m not the conventional graduate from high school straight to college” coming back home with the “right relationships” to jump-start her career. “I was on the grind trying to prove that an unconventional pathway to education [was possible]. I worked long and hard; my path works.”
Sherard-Freeman has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has completed graduate studies in Organizational Management and Development at Fielding Graduate University. She holds a credential in Global Human Capital Trends from Columbia University School of Professional Studies.
She added that she understands that so many Detroiters don’t have the funding or family support to take traditional routes, but routine doesn’t always mean it’s the only right way.
“That is one way my background has significantly shaped the work I do,” Sherard-Freeman said.
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