Anna Swartz

Jan 13, 2025 | detroitdesignmag.com | Anna Swartz

When a fashion stylist purchases a 6,000-square-foot new-build in Birmingham, she’s bound to have a clear vision for the desired aesthetic. Living with her husband and three young children, though, posed a challenge: how to create a space that’s sophisticated, clean, and organized while knowing that real life is bound to mess it up a little.

Oct 31, 2024 | seenthemagazine.com | Anna Swartz

Volunteering in soup kitchens and at summer camp as a teen laid the groundwork for Letitia (Tia) Russell’s life work of impacting lives — one person, one act of kindness at a time. While the roots of her nonprofit Take My Hand go back to 2012 with an event benefitting the homeless, Russell officially founded the organization in 2019 and then expanded her vision.

Jul 20, 2024 | seenthemagazine.com | Anna Swartz

A cultural arts corridor in East Village — spearheaded by Library Street Collective founders Anthony and JJ Curis — is breathing new life into a community previously laden with abandoned buildings and attracting creative individuals, organizations, and businesses eager to share common ground.

Apr 30, 2024 | seenthemagazine.com | Anna Swartz

While revitalizing one of Highland Park’s most notorious blocks into a thriving ecovillage, 58-year-old Shamayim “Mama Shu'' Harris gathers strength and purpose from exactly what would crush the spirit of most — the death of her two sons. “I do things that represent their lives because we're still all connected,” Harris says. “You know, those are my children. I always say that I'm raising them in the heavens, and I do things and create and build things.

Apr 30, 2024 | seenthemagazine.com | Anna Swartz

Elizabeth Lewis, 41, isn’t down for small talk. From personal pleasure to intense grief, no topic is off the table. Vulnerability and honesty are the cornerstones of her community-building work with Detroit Mom, a multi-faceted parenting resource she founded in 2014, and Retreat to Reclaim, a retreat company she co-founded in 2020 to foster belonging for women. The seeds for Lewis’ current roles were planted when she gave birth to her first child at the age of 17.