Nya Marshall, August 23rd, 2022

Nya Marshall, August 23rd, 2022

in this interview, Nya Marshall talks about being born and raised in Detroit and owning two businesses.

Detroit Historical Society

Detroit Historical Society

en-US

Nya Marshall

Nya Marshall is a Detroit native that tells her story of growing up in both the east and westside communities before creating her business.

Billy Wall-Winkel

Detroit Historical Society

8/23/2022

41:30

Taylor Claybrook

Billy Wall-Winkel: Right? Yes. Okay. Hello. My name is Billy Wall Winkel This interview is for the Detroit Historical Society's Hustle Project. Today is August 23rd, 2022. Tuesday, we are in Detroit, Michigan, and I'm sitting down with nightmare. So can you please spell your name for me in.

Nya Marshall: N-Y-A M-A-R-A-S-H-A-L L

Billy Wall-Winkel: Thank you so much for sending me.

Nya Marshall: Thank you for having me. So exciting.

Billy Wall-Winkel: What is the name of your business?

Nya Marshall: So I own a couple businesses. What I'm known for is Ivy Kitchen and cocktails. It's a restaurant on the east side of Detroit. It's on East Jefferson Avenue. But I am also a small developer and I have a sustainability company as well. So one of the things that we're not known for at Ivy is sustainability. But we are one of the most sustainable restaurants in the city.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So that paints a picture that the city of Detroit overall is not sustainable. If you're not known for it, but you're one the most sustainable one.

Nya Marshall: No, I wouldn't say that the city of Detroit isn't sustainable because we've gotten so much better. We actually have, you know, the city recycle. We have recycle cans where every resident is recycling today. But we're known because we actually recycle our food waste. So we convert our food waste into compost. We have a partnership with a black woman owned company, Passion Murray called Detroit Dirt, and that is allows us to recycle our food waste into compost and then purchase that same compost from her in the spring. So when you pull up at Ivy and you see all of our beautiful flora flowers and our flora flower beds, that's our food recycle food waste.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's awesome.

Nya Marshall: Yeah.

Billy Wall-Winkel: Please, please invite him to table. Oh, don't worry. I will do it. Everyone does it. Most people talk with their hands.

Nya Marshall: Yeah, I do.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So are we coming back to the sustainability part of it? In a moment. But where did the idea for Ivy Kitchen in cocktails come from?

Nya Marshall: So I am born and raised Detroiter, originally from the East Side. I moved to the West Side when I was 14 years old. The area where Ivy is, I'm actually from that neighborhood. And when I live in that neighborhood today, I moved to the West Side for many, many, many years. And now I'm back on the east side. And when I moved back to the east side, what I remember most when I was growing up is that most kids, including myself and my siblings, we ate at gas stations, you know, we ate Coney Island, you know, things of that nature. When I was a food desert, you know, that wasn't a thing back then. But today it is, even though it did exist then as well today. When I moved back to the east, I moved back about eight or nine years ago. I've been a lifelong Detroiter, but I've moved back to the east side, close to where I grew up, and it was still a food desert and you're talking 25 years later. And so that was disturbing to me. And I still it's not like it's not a heavily populated area. It's just there wasn't any good quality restaurants in the area. So I didn't understand that. And so I wanted to have an impact on that because, you know. What we eat, what we consume in our body matters. You know, nothing is wrong with eating the gas station food every now and then or eating the cone every now and then. But you really want some other additional options for the community that have that are healthy, that are sustainable, that, you know, places where they can actually gather with their families and their friends and their loved ones and have fellowship, because at the end of the day, food is fellowship.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And what neighborhood is it on the east side?

Nya Marshall: So it's technically called East Village where Ivy is located. We are in District five if that matters to anyone. Mary Sheffield set out to marry this jerk. On East Jefferson Avenue, 91 five, East Jefferson Avenue. I own a few buildings on the block.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So when you went back to saw to see your own neighborhood and you decided to like correct this change, what year was that?

Nya Marshall: That was shoot 2022. That was 2010. 2011. Somewhere in there. Because initially what happened is I purchased the building and I knew that I wanted to have an impact in the food space. But what you don't want to do is just plop something down. This is this is my original neighborhood, but it wasn't my neighborhood at that time. I was coming back to it. And so I reached out to all the neighborhood organizations, all the community groups, all the churches to see, you know, what does the community need? Because no one just wants you to just come and just put something in their neighborhood without letting them know, without giving them a pay have here, hearing their voice, basically, you know what I mean? That's the appropriate way to do this. And so I attended several community meetings, several neighborhood organizations, churches, anyone that would have me. I pretty much went and sat in and wanted to hear what the community wanted. And overwhelmingly they wanted a gathering place. They wanted a place with good quality food, good quality affordable food and healthier food options. Vegan options, vegetarian options. Because believe it or not, so many Detroiters don't eat meat. So many don't eat pork, things of that nature. And this is what they wanted. And so that's why I wanted to give them do the best that I could. And I still work hard at it every single day today.

Billy Wall-Winkel: Mm hmm. So how long did it take you to get it off the ground?

Nya Marshall: Oh, years, because it was self-funded. You know, my project is self-funded because not only did I redevelop a building that had been vacant for almost 30 years. Right. So where I've is, it was the food desert. I would say we spon development in that area now because we have several restaurants within a one mile radius of us now whereby before there were none. We have different various businesses popping up in that area where before when I bought those buildings, there was nothing there, you know. So I would say we respond some type of a movement on the on the Lower East Side. So that's kind of how that process began. But it took me several years because I had to I bought the buildings, I had to pay the taxes on the buildings. I had to redevelop all these things. And keep in mind, I'm still working in my career during this process. And so it was a slow process, but it was a winding road. And I when I met the finish line, I was very, very, very proud.

Billy Wall-Winkel: I bet after the years of working towards a.

Nya Marshall: Commitment of me, probably five years, almost five years to actually complete the project.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And over the course of those five years, you you said earlier that you knew as a me in the food space. When did the idea for Ivy. Take root.

Nya Marshall: So I'm initially and this is still a part of the plan because I believe in sustainable food systems. My goal is to have an aquifer where I'm farming my own seafood, basically to have a sustainable pipeline and pathway for my restaurant. Or if I decide to open another restaurant, I want a sustainable pathway. Because how? What's more, what's what's equally important is what you put in your body is how the food is created, how it's bred, how it's grown, how it's fostered, how it's nurtured. You know. And while we are low, we get our food from most local farms. We actually have a partnership with Oakland Avenue Farm, Jerry Brown on the East Side. So a lot of our produce comes from there. It's all of our produce is organic and a lot of it during the summer months comes from Oakland Avenue Farm. But I wanted to create a pipeline whereby you could I knew that. Okay, I know how this food would grow. I know how this food is bred. Things of that nature to have a sustainable, reliable food system. Because one thing that COVID taught us is that we rely on so much heavy international sources for our supply chain that we need to have a more localized system for that. And that's my ultimate goal.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And as you expand it, are you looking to look at other farms as well? So if say, if the demand creeps up, are you working with other urban farms to increase supply?

Nya Marshall: So currently I'm only working with Oakland Avenue farms locally, but we do our our our proteins are locally sourced from other farms, if not in the city of Detroit locally, meaning within a 45 minute radius. So that, you know, we're reducing our carbon emissions and things of that nature to to our food supply chain.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And how did COVID affect those supply chains? So you mentioned that internationally they were significantly affected. Did it have an impact on the local level?

Nya Marshall: Oh, of course. Because so much prior to COVID. Well, keep in mind, I wasn't open long before COVID. That was very, very, very heartbreaking. So by the time I got open, COVID hit within 90 days. So it was very tough. However, several sources, including, you know, we do craft mocktails, hand-crafted cocktails and mocktails at IAB. So much of that, those products come from France, come from Germany and things of that nature. So whereby things were readily available before you weren't able to have access to certain so many products during the course of the supply chain was complete, especially in the restaurant business was completely disrupted.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And how did you how did you handle it? Not only that, the interruption, but also COVID hitting so quickly after you opened.

Nya Marshall: That was tough. So COVID hit, obviously, we had the mandate come down to close down March 15th, 2020. It was unbelievable, quite honestly, you know, because it's not just me. I have a whole staff of 28 people and all my staff is Detroiters, you know, and more so you're worried about, you know, their lives. How how are they going to feed their families, you know? So initially, what we did when COVID, when we were forced to close is we packed up all the food, all the inventory that was remaining at Ivy. And I let my staff take it all home because obviously they were losing their jobs at that point. Quite honestly, I had no idea it was going to be for the length of duration that it was. I was thinking and hopeful that it would be two weeks, three weeks, tops. You know, who was I in for a surprise? It was obviously we we were closed until the end of 2020 almost, because we couldn't we were a new restaurant. We were a new business, small business. And the reaction time to so many things we didn't have in place that more established businesses had in place their takeout system. You know, we didn't really have that because we did not really do takeout. Well, people don't understand this. There is a science to carry out, you know, in terms of the food packaging, how the food transports, you know, it affects your menu, what you actually sell, you know, things of that nature. So it wasn't as quickly and as swiftly the process of our reaction time. I literally had to go back to the drawing board and begin to figure things out. So the restaurant was closed for quite some time. However, one of the ways that I pivoted was we have amassed several restaurant boards now, but we had a partnership with Jose Andres, who is one of my heroes, who I met this actually a few weeks ago at the James Beard Awards and our partnership with the World Central Kitchen, because this is a person that believes in making sure no one he his whole mission in life is to. Thought hunger. And so our partnership with him in which we received payments to provide meals to the feeding the front line. So we ended up with several partnerships with actually frontline foods, the city of Detroit, World Central Kitchen, we had about five partnerships where we were. We were giving out about 800 to 1000 meals a day. And we actually have sustained some of those partnerships. So we actually still one of the ones that I was most proud of was Alternative Living for Girls. That's the homeless shelter for the youth, for young, young women, young girls, I should say. And we still have that partnership right now today where we're providing them meals, but that that allowed us to actually develop a relationship with them. And it was just a proud moment, you know, to do something like that. In addition to algae, we provided meals to obviously our local policemen, our firefighters, our nurses, our doctors, all the essential workers, because a lot of people don't realize that they they were never off work. You know, a lot of people that I knew, they were sitting at home, you know, but the people that we were providing the meals to. They were working every day. Not only were they working 8 hours, they were working 14, 15, 16 hour days. And so that was a moment where it was a very proud moment, if you will, for myself and my team, because we were able to just make their day a little bit easier and a little bit better. And so that is actually what we did all during COVID until the restaurant opened back up. And that was. Almost October-November frame. Yeah.

Billy Wall-Winkel: It opened back up in October 2020.

Nya Marshall: Yes. So we were closed for about eight months. Yeah, eight months. Then the reopening process. Keep in mind, when we reopened, there was still no indoor dining. We were on the outdoor dining ban and I had to do like a makeshift. I mean, it's crazy to think about this now because, you know, you're scrambling around just to get outdoor heaters. No one had them something that you can just go and buy you readily a readily available at your hardware store. You know, there were none. You know, there was none. And so getting the outdoors, temporary outdoor space that we had built. Was challenging because of construction materials. Again, the whole entire supply chain was disrupted. And so just the the process of that and just trying to make sure that it's not even about making any money during this period. It's about making sure that I can pay my employees, you know, and I can afford to keep people safe. I can afford to keep people healthy, because at that time, the city of Detroit was one of our partners, and we received several small business kids from the city of Detroit in terms of hand sanitizer, masks, gloves, you know, all of these things that it took to keep this business going every single day and the level of support that we receive from the community, people were just coming out just so that we would stay open. You know, it wasn't even you know, they were there with their blankets and their this and their onesies, you know, and those are that level of support, that level of impact. Let me know that I was doing the right thing.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And there must have been. Utterly welcomed from from especially when you would think back to having to close after barely 90 days in business. Yeah.

Nya Marshall: It was because you know, um, you know, you know, when you're in it, you're in it. You're not removed from it enough to actually look at it and see the level of impact on what you're doing. Right. People are looking at it like for me it was like I, my goal was to. Provide healthier food options in a food desert, in a community that I grew up in. That was my goal. Unbeknownst to myself, that that impact reached people way beyond my immediate community and to to witness. It was something that was very beautiful and very powerful because in a very humbling because you don't you don't really realize a lot of impact that you have until later. You know, often times, especially for me in that that that's how that happened. We actually won the Neighborhood Hero Award from the city of Detroit, which is a proud moment because, again, you know, we. You don't you don't start this for that, you know, but to have that level of recognition was profound. And my staff and I, we just couldn't believe it. It was just like, wow, you know, it was it was amazing because, you know, you're like, oh, I was just another neighborhood restaurant, etc., etc.. You know, we're near downtown Detroit, so we do get a lot of downtown people. We're 5 minutes away from downtown Detroit. But the level of impact that you have, you know, on the community at large was it was it was immeasurable. You know, we had the mayor come in. We had the governor come in. You know, we've had, you know, most of the city council in our in our restaurant. And this is it. You know, this isn't something that, you know, I started this with to do and to to witness this. And the level of appreciation that we had from that was was just was amazing.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's great.

Nya Marshall: Yeah.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So you at the beginning of the pandemic, you. Oh, well, first off, what year did you receive that award?

Nya Marshall: We received the award in 2021.

Billy Wall-Winkel: Awesome. Mm hmm. So earlier you mentioned that you had a staff of 28. Mm hmm. How many were you able to retain when you were in that in that closed down period when you were working with the other organizations coming out? Because you said you were doing up to a thousand meals a day.

Nya Marshall: So we were I was fortunate that so what we did is we basically share the wealth. So all the proceeds from that was distributed equally and we just decided to take shifts. So pretty much all of them. But. So 19 people I had on rotation for the meal process. So every day a different group of people would come in because we wanted to make sure that everyone was receiving something. Even though it wasn't nearly their salary. Right. But it was something whereby they were able to provide food to their families and keep their utilities on and things like that. Yeah.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And when did you start that? So you had mentioned that you had your staff take all will take home all the food that was in the building. Yeah, in the restaurants. I wouldn't go bad.

Nya Marshall: We quickly actually we I was very fortunate. I'm a very resourceful person. So, you know, I'm always reading and, you know, listening and watching. I was very, very, very fortunate because I reached out to I reached out to so many organizations and I didn't sit still or sit idle. I worked all during COVID. And so by April 1st, remind you we were shut down. We shut down March 15th. By April 1st, we had two partnerships in place. Already and the We're Authentication was our second partnership. Front Line Foods was our first partnership. The City of Detroit was our third partnership. They were getting their program up and running. But others there were also too few. Central Kitchen is out of New York and they had their program up really quickly. And because it consists of a bunch of chefs and restaurateurs and things of that nature and so how they Andreas he he reacted really, really quickly and implemented the program because obviously this is the premise of his business anyhow. So when the pandemic hit, he just expanded upon that and included more restaurants, and I was one of the lucky ones to be selected by him.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So you mentioned you received those small business kits from the city. Yes. Was there any other support for you, either from the state or nonprofits or anything like that?

Nya Marshall: Oh, we received several grants. Yeah. I mean, if if it wasn't for the community at large and the business pipeline, the small business pipeline, I don't know what will happen. I don't even want to think about it, quite honestly. But we received like even the state of Michigan, we received several grants from the state of Michigan. The state of Michigan had a crowd funding grant, a matching grant patron, the city. We received that. In addition to that, we received several a lot of support from the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, the the SCC, the city of Detroit as a whole. At that time, it was Councilwoman Ayres. She was going door to door to all the small businesses giving out kits, hand sanitizers, thermometers, you know, we everything. Like I said, I'm a very resourceful person. Everything that was pretty much being offered or awarded, I was either applying for or, you know, people were at that point, it's crazy because we weren't well known. You know, we were our new restaurant in the neighborhood. But by the end of the pandemic, we had our awareness was so profound because of our philanthropic efforts that people wanted to support us, to keep us going. And so we received a lot of support. The DGC from, like I said, the state of Michigan, Amy, D.C. We received a lot of support from the business pipeline in the community as a whole.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And as the Medici, the Michigan Economic Development Council.

Nya Marshall: Many Michigan economic. Oh, I'll have to look at that for you.

Billy Wall-Winkel: It's development something, but development corporation.

Nya Marshall: Yeah, definitely. But because we definitely they actually gave us a grant to allow us to even today we still have this in place. We change our filtration filters in there for our HB, AC every other day and I.V. So we're there's a lot of those practices that we implemented during COVID for COVID safety. We're still employed. We still have them implemented today because, again, we still care about the safety of others. We still have had hand sanitizer on all of our tables, our filtration system, things of that nature. We still have it today. So we're still a very COVID friendly restaurant whereby we are we still have that in our mind, because let's not forget, the fall is coming. And typically this is when COVID peaks again, it's not gone, it's still here. We're just managing it a lot better.

Billy Wall-Winkel: MM You mentioned before that you had the 28 workers. They were all Detroiters. Oh, is that a conscious decision of yours?

Nya Marshall: No, we were lucky. We were just fortunate. It's like, no, I mean, I would hire someone that's not a Detroiter. That's not there's no bias there. It just we were just fortunate that one thing that I've learned in this journey, we are for year three, three years and now is that, oddly enough, your small businesses and communities, they function more efficiently and better with people from the neighborhood. As your employees, they can get to work. It's closer to them. You know, it just works a little bit better than someone coming from outside because they traveling further. A lot of things do happen in transit on your way to work. The attendance tends to be higher, higher rates of attendance when they're locally in the neighborhood. And we've been fortunate to hire most people with our name in and all of my employees, even today, they're all Detroiters. But I would say about 60% are within a five block radius.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's awesome.

Nya Marshall: Yeah, it is. Uh.

Billy Wall-Winkel: I suppose, speaking with John George once and when Maya went to go put in their new store on Grand River, they apparently someone was like, so like, how do we like handle like shoplifting and things like that? And and John. George So I'm like only hire people from the neighborhood.

Nya Marshall: Facts.

Billy Wall-Winkel: Because you get the community invested. No one's going to touch that store because they don't want it to close. No, the music says absolutely anything to be pumping money directly back in, so you won't have to deal with that as much because people around the store will have money.

Nya Marshall: Absolutely. It's a it's an ecosystem, believe it or not. It's literally a paradigm, an ecosystem meaning that we're giving jobs, they're able to feed their families. We've never we've never had any break ins or robbery. We've never though we've never had any events or occurrences at ivy before, knock on wood. And I thank God for that. And I know it's because the community has his hands on us. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Billy Wall-Winkel: Where did the name for Ivy come from?

Nya Marshall: That's a winding row. So the name Ivy. It's a funny story. So the name Ivy comes from the Ivy leaves that were covered on the building when I first purchased it. So here's what happened. The city of Detroit kept calling me about these leaves. I kept getting tickets because they kept going back every time I removed the leaves. They kept growing back and I went like, What do I do to get rid of these leaves? I don't have this problem anymore. Keep in mind, this is pre ivy. I'm in the develop redevelopment phases. And so I was like, why are they even here? Because it was such a nuance. And so I decided to go to the library downtown to find out what was this land before this building. Because I'm the only the third person to own this building. A family of Jews built it. Another small real estate developer had it. Next, Mr. Magee, who I purchased it from. Why are these leaves still here? I go to the library. I look at the old plans. This was when it was all agriculture. Turns out the Ivy Leaves was heavily farmed in this neighborhood. Keep in mind, this building is from 1902. So these leaves have been growing pre 1902. And I went like, wow. Right. The tenacity of this leaf. Right. Like, it reminded me of myself. It reminded me of Detroiters. It reminded me of the city of Detroit. And I just thought, like. Like, you can't hold us back. We're going to keep coming. We're going to keep coming. You can tear it down. You can do all these things to us, but we're going to keep coming back. And that's what this leaf does, keeps coming back. Even today, I manage it very differently, but that's where the name Ivy derives from, because I just felt a connection to it, because I am a huge. Proponent of agricultural sustainability. The leaf predates. It's a historical. Figure in my mind, you know, that's attached to Ivy. And that's why I named the business Ivy.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That is an amazing story.

Nya Marshall: You know. And to myself, I went like initially it was annoying. It was just like, Oh, God, you know what I mean? Like, I'm trying to do other things and I still getting calls about these damn leave. Oh, sorry. And I'm going like, oh, my goodness, this is just too much. And so something in me just said, take the time. Why? Why is this why is this happening to me? And I started doing my research and I found out why. And hence the name I.D..

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's awesome. When when you opened, you. You were the first new business in around the area. And now there's a few more possibilities. And that's it. A few more restaurants. How is it? Is that change in the way I was doing business or is it only amplifying what you're doing?

Nya Marshall: No, I don't look at other businesses or other restaurants as competition. I look at it as a great ecosystem for us because there is enough money, there is enough people for everyone to be successful and prosperous. So that what's changed is we now do collabs with other businesses in our neighborhood. We have, you know, a restaurant business drop for our community now because we have more than one. You know, so it's the we actually work together instead of separate in our ecosystem now in the on the floor on the Lower East Side, because, again, it's not competition. It's really just amplifying what we're all doing and putting us on a greater scale, a greater platform, and allowing us to actually do more than what we did before.

Billy Wall-Winkel: When you were working on redeveloping the restaurant and the buildings and getting the restaurants set up. Did you do any of the business programs that are out there, either through Tech Town or anything like that?

Nya Marshall: So I did. I didn't officially participate in any tech town programs, but I did visit Tech Town for the shoot. I'm trying to think, what was it called? So they reviewed my business plan. Yeah. They had, like a business plan coaching our. And I did participate in the hour for them to review my business program. Great. Great place, architect. Definitely. I worked with Prosperous Southwest Solutions, the Eastside Business Association, Eastside Connection, the ACM, several business organizations and in the community. I've worked with many. We actually we actually just did a big dinner for I mean, I'm sorry, a picnic for any i j i which is new economic initiatives, JCI as well, and several organized several nonprofits. Were there several nonprofits because we received the anchor business grant because we are an anchor business in the community.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's great. What does that entail?

Nya Marshall: So it basically helps support to make sure that the city maintains businesses in areas whereby they're outside of the seven strategic neighborhoods. So the city has identified seven strategic neighborhoods that are focused on businesses, parks, schools, etc. We are outside of that, but we are still an anchor business because our business is one that has been deemed that's necessary and a good. A good. Stewart in the community.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So does that. What does that fund, though?

Nya Marshall: So it basically help keep us afloat. So what did I use for that anchor business, Grant? It helped me build a permanent outdoor seating space. That's what that. That's what that program helped us do. Yeah. So they want you to thrive. That's the beauty of the city of Detroit. You know, they want everyone to succeed and they do everything that they possibly can to help make sure that's possible.

Billy Wall-Winkel: So now that you have that space, you have people coming in. Regular attendance is is okay. Again.

Nya Marshall: It's it's not pre-COVID. Pre-COVID, we were doing very well, believe it or not, a lot of people are still apprehensive about going into restaurants. So we have our slow days, you know, so we're I'm trying right now. Our goal right now is to get more corporate events and corporate sponsorship events because, again, who know there's so many unknowns when the fall hits, even though the fall typically the winter in the fall, our numbers are better, typically because people are coming indoors. We're not downtown. We're right outside of downtown. We're in the neighborhood. And so when people go out, most of the time they're heavily downtown. They're passing right by us. So we are kind of focused on, you know, family reunions, dinners when your family comes in town and you want to host a dinner. Things of that nature, a corporate event, smaller corporate events. Because Ivy is a smaller restaurant, we have 75 seats inside and 30 seats outside. And so with that being said, we want to utilize the space with maximum capacity as much as possible.

Billy Wall-Winkel: Gotcha. What is next for Ivy?

Nya Marshall: What is next for Ivy? So there is a few things that we are hoping to. Bring on is complementary businesses to HIV. So next is we're actually opening it up another restaurant. It will not be called Ivy, but there is another restaurant coming. Ivy is more upscale, more of a vibe. You got to come to Ivy Valley, but we want to do something for those. That's just a more casual dining space. And so that's that's next. In addition to that, I mentioned my sustainable food pipeline, which is the aqua farm that is also next. That is in the process right now. Hopefully, that will launch by first or second quarter next year. That is something that I'm very excited about. I'm very proud of. And I'm I'm just looking forward to it because. It literally goes to the of the core of really who I am and what my mission and my goals are for my life.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's awesome. Yeah. Is there anything about? The story of Ivy in your work that you wanted to share with me, but I didn't ask you about. I'm.

Nya Marshall: Let me think. We talked about sustainability. We talked about the food pipeline. We talked about the community. No, I don't. I don't think so. I want to give a shout out to Bedrock, though. The rock group, they actually donated a mural to us by local artist Jeffrey McFly. I mean, there are so many people I should be thanking right now because without them, I mean, there's just so much. I want to thank the city of Detroit. I want to thank the DGC, the state of Michigan, Medici prosper us any I g I should say in new economic initiative and Jefferson East Inc. There are so many people that helped make this pop. Pop helped make this possible. Um. I do want to say, when I began this journey, my parent company is called Dynamo. It means did it on my own. That's how naive I was, right? Because you go in and it's just me. I'm the owner. It's just a little near. And I'm doing everything. I'm like, I'm the developer, I'm the builder. I have a construction company. I'm doing all these things, doing everything on my own right. At least that's what I'm in my mind. I'm telling myself. Right. And then as you go through the process, you realize that you did not do it on your own. You know that it took all these groups, including my staff, shout out to my staff. So I told my general manager, Tanya, you are loved and greatly appreciate it. My chef, chef Mike, everyone. Because without these people, my team, it would not be possible. And so I want to say that I've grown I've learned a lot, because initially when I began this, I was naive. And my company is called Dynamo, did it on my own. When you don't do it on your own, you know it takes a village. When people say it takes a village, it truly does take a village to make this possible. Because without the community, it's nothing. It's literally nothing. I knew that going in from a community base, but I had no idea the level of help and the level of assistance and appreciation that we would get from the small business pipeline.

Billy Wall-Winkel: It doesn't taste like. Awesome. Well, I just have a couple now. I have a couple more quick questions for you. When you think of the word hustle, what comes to mind?

Nya Marshall: The hard work. Yeah. So one of my staff members nominated me for this award, and I didn't know. And so when I got the when I started reading about it, right, I identify with it immediately. Because one thing about Detroiters, and I'm a Detroiter through and through, you know, I'm from the east side and the west side shut out McKinsey High grad, you know what I mean? And so we had so hard in Detroit, you know, it's just it's a nonstop. I wake up every day working hard every single day, and I have my entire life, even as a young girl delivering newspapers, you know, I worked for the Detroit Youth Summer Youth Program. I was one of those yellow shirt girls wearing a yellow shirt and a yellow riding the bus for cleaning senior citizens apartments and delivering meals to them. Born Detroiter through and through. And the level of work that you have, even from a young girl right till today, these things stick with you. This is what shapes you. This is what molds you into who you are, who I am today. Keep in mind, you know, I'm Michigan grad as well. I'm a Wayne State grad. I got my MBA at Wayne. All that is work. You wake up every single day because, you know, many doubt Detroiters, many think that, you know, we're nonexistent. We're nonexistent to many people. And when you travel around this country and around this world. But one thing that you know for sure is that Detroit's Detroiters hustle hard. They do.

Billy Wall-Winkle: And then similar very simple question what comes to mind when you think of the word hustler?

Nya Marshall: Hustler? Hmm. There is a negative and a positive connotation associated with that word. One thing that's ubiquitous with both of the negative and the positive is that work. Work. Working hard is how I would identify that word.

Billy Wall-Winkel: And then you have Ivey up and running. You have all these other projects. Do you have a separate high side hustle going on right now?

Nya Marshall: We always have a side hustle. You know, there's always a side hustle. There's so many things that I do on the side. Some of them I help on a name cause. But on the side, I do a lot of small businesses with their business plans, with business consulting, setting up their businesses. I have a podcast called Love Sex Business and I took Jana Williams, Joe's my co-host who owns Credit Cash used to go and we talk about business. We talk about balancing life. Our family, I love life, our family life and our work life. It's a it's definitely a side hustle. So, Tony, and you can find us on wherever you watch or listen to your your podcast. It was actually on TV last season. This is our season for now. The second season was on TV, so that's one of my side hustles. There are so many. I host with my co-founder Passion Murray. We own a company called Culture of Carbon. We host the largest sustainability event in the city of Detroit, right in the heart of Detroit in Cadillac Square. So that's another side hustle of mine. So there there is. So we were actually invited to the United Nations in 2018 and 2021 for these projects. We spoke before them. So that's another one of my side hustles. So there are several there are several layers peeling back this onion over here.

Billy Wall-Winkel: That's fantastic. Thank you so much for sending me.

Nya Marshall: Thank you, Billy.

Billy Wall-Winkel: This is great.