Latest / Serious Lady Business / Detroit Series: Reimagining Education, Sports, and Tech in Detroit with Chloe Barnes-Henderson

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Detroit Series: Reimagining Education, Sports, and Tech in Detroit with Chloe Barnes-Henderson · Serious Lady Business

• Leslie Youngblood (00:01) Detroit has always been a city of builders, builders of businesses, builders of culture, builders of futures. This is Serious Lady Business, the Detroit Founders Series, where we spotlight the women who are creating, leading, and reimagining what's possible right here in this city that knows how to rise. These are the stories behind the hustle, the risks, the resilience, the pivots, and the purpose. Let's get into it. Leslie Youngblood (00:32) Welcome back to Serious Lady Business. I'm Leslie Youngblood, your host, feminist and founder of Youngblood MMC, a marketing media and content agency. Today, I would like you to meet Chloe Barnes-Henderson. Chloe is a former Division I student athlete and collegiate athletics administrator with over a decade of experience spanning sports, media, and advertising. At Twitter and IPG media brands, she led strategic initiatives focused on revenue growth, brand partnerships and investment strategy and accountability, bridging purpose and performance in the evolving sports and media landscape. Now a professor at Michigan State University, go green, Chloe teaches courses, yeah, Chloe teaches courses on NIL strategy and digital monetization, helping student athletes and creatives understand their market value and build sustainable brands. She also leads Athletic Academy. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (01:10) Go white Leslie Youngblood (01:24) a Detroit based nonprofit that leverages emerging technology to redesign how student athletes prepare for college, careers, and life beyond sports. Chloe, welcome to Serious Lady Business. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (01:37) Thank you. Thank you for having me. This is the first podcast since launching the Academy. So it's like actually very cool to have it in like to have it as a part of the bio, my bio. It's like it's really happening. Leslie Youngblood (01:48) Yes, ⁓ my goodness, yes, I am so honored. And we connected because we're both Detroiters and we're all about talking with Detroit founders and Detroit leaders right now. I'm so, I'm always excited to talk with our guests. But just, I feel like we share so much in common, this love of sports and marketing and media and obviously Michigan State and the love of Detroit. And we'll be talking about how Detroit's entrepreneurial energy, the tech innovation, that community spirit, they're shaping your mission really to prepare this next generation of kids here for careers in this global sports economy that is, I'm. You are seeing it on such a different level than even us from the outside are seeing it. And so tell us, let's start with athletic because it's so, my goodness, I just get goosebumps when I think about it. And what was the moment that you realized athletic wasn't just an idea, but something you had to bring to life? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (02:48) Yeah, thank you first and foremost for having me on the podcast. It is such an honor to be here and to share this space with yourself and with all of the guests that have came before me and all of the awesome ones that I know that you have in store for this series. But at Vodac Academy, I wish I could say it was like one. pivotal moment, they kind switched everything for me. But it wasn't. And what I mean by that is, this is something that has been on my heart, on my spirit for over 10 years. My career has been very nonlinear. I am a cat. I've lived nine different professional lives. But what I find to be very funny is every single time I kind of thought that I was supposed to be going into a different path of corporate America, something popped up, whether that was Elon Musk taking over Twitter, whether that was IPG media brands getting bought out by Omni-com, but continued to push me back to this space of, know that idea you've been sitting on, you know that thing that keeps you up at night, you know the scrolling that you're doing at night in the emails and the newsletters that you're getting, they don't actually have anything to do with your corporate job, they have to all do with this concept of redefining education, artificial intelligence, and this new wave and new era of ⁓ human interaction with technology and what that looks like. then lastly, and most importantly, know, NIL and the that has, and honestly how it's turned the sports world completely upside down, both from a financial perspective, if you're looking at the schools and institutions side, and on the students perspective. So there were so many things that kind of happened over the years that after I finished my last stint as SVP of Equity Investment IPG Media Brands, I was like, you know, maybe it's time that I actually start doing, you know, the thing that I feel like I've been called to do, which is when I started teaching at Michigan State, which is when we started getting the band of truth together to launch Athletic Academy. And so here we are. Leslie Youngblood (04:42) Mm-hmm. Amazing. And so share with our listeners in case they don't know what NIL stands for, Chloe, and tell us a little bit about that too. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (04:50) Yeah, so name, image and likeness, that's your I and your L. So essentially the easiest way to kind of boil it down for folks is it's the money or the ability to profit off of your name, your image or your likeness. So anytime your name appears somewhere, your image or something that's in reference to you, you're able to profit off of it. Why it's significant is because for many, many years, I believe up until 2021, athletes weren't allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness at all. All of you gaming fans that may be listening and were playing Madden or all of those other pieces, athletes weren't getting stuff from that. Leslie Youngblood (05:26) Even in the Chloe Barnes-Henderson (05:28) looking at ⁓ ESPN, or pardon me, EA, like when they did the NCAA versions of Madden and what have you, like that's what really started the whole, honestly, the whole kickers because they were making millions and millions and millions of dollars off these athletes by using their skill levels, their names, et cetera. And athletes weren't profiting off of that at all. Leslie Youngblood (05:48) Yeah. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (05:49) And so that kind of started the first wave of everything. And now we're in a place four or five years later where you have name, image and likeness, you have the emergence of revenue sharing. Those are not necessarily the same. Those are not the same things. And it has created this crazy wild west ecosystem that the majority of people, whether you have a background in sports or not, have read or heard about ⁓ at some point within the last year or so. Leslie Youngblood (06:15) And again, just creates all the more urgency for young athletes coming up to be aware, to understand the system. And I think that's also too, when it comes to, gosh, really any business where you have an individual, whether that's acting or music or athletics, it puts that person at the disadvantage, right? When you don't know the game that these business people are. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (06:40) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (06:41) playing, right? And so how much Chloe Barnes-Henderson (06:41) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (06:43) more important than ever is for these young athletes coming up to be able to understand fully what is available to them and how to quote, unquote play that NIL game. And so, to have your experience in this and to be able to bring that also to an incredible school that's also going to be technology focused and technology led to. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (07:04) Mm-hmm. ⁓ Leslie Youngblood (07:06) I mean, how truly incredible. can't imagine that there are many schools like this anywhere, let alone in the Midwest and let alone also that will be here in Detroit. Chloe, is that correct? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (07:16) Yeah, yeah, no, that is correct. There's definitely none that are in the Midwest. There are in a wide array of sports academies right throughout the country. We say the largest differentiator though between what we're trying to build with Athletic Academy and other existing powerhouses like your IMG Academy is probably the most notable. It's two different things. One, they have an over 80 acre campus, have thousands of students. It's a larger and it's a four profit entity. It's owned by private equity firm ⁓ Endeavor and so that's a different it's a different type of model here in Michigan while we believe and we will be working towards providing like state-of-the-art facilities and whatnot. Our school that we're building will serve as a private institution so 300 kids give or take max within the first five years focusing on everything that you mentioned but honestly more so around holistic development. The curriculum and how we approach Leslie Youngblood (07:45) Mmm. Mmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (08:12) How we approach student education is really our differentiator, and I would say so in two ways. So one, unlike those other sports academies, we actually do service and want to work with students that are driven to pursue a career in sports, regardless of whether or not they're elite athletes. That is like my number one, my number one thing. So even if you're not scoring, even if you're not the next McDonald's All-American, but you have an interest in being perhaps like a future front office executive, we want to hear from you. Leslie Youngblood (08:28) Mmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (08:42) or if you have an interest, yeah, broadcasting, physical therapists, et cetera. We think that there's power in collective education. So we're focusing on building curriculum that not only supports our next generation of elite athletes, but our next generation of sports professionals as well. And being able to use AI and advanced technology to be able to do that. For us, our tagline is like, we want you to graduate with portfolios and not just diplomas. So every student that comes through our doors is required to complete an internship that sports Leslie Youngblood (08:42) broadcast. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (09:11) specific or sports related. In addition to having you know career or general high school classes we also have specialized like sports tracks so where you can explore these different areas and arenas in the world of sports and have that actually count towards your education. So there's a lot of different things that we're doing to focus on the holistic development not just of athletes but of students in general and we're using AI and technology to be able to do it. Leslie Youngblood (09:37) I that is just so fantastic because again, you're a former D1 athlete. I played sports in high school and still play rec sports. And I think sports is so wonderful because it never leaves you, but the amount of people that get to that level of like pro or is very minuscule, but that doesn't mean that you can't. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (09:54) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (09:56) be involved in so many different aspects of sports and contribute and be a part of something that you're so passionate about. And I think that's something that has been missing so much from education. And I had no idea that that even existed as a kid when I was like, well, no, I'm not gonna be a pro, but I still love sports. I'll just watch from the, you know, I'll be a spectator, but you didn't necessarily have to do that. And I think that is with kids anywhere. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (10:00) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (10:21) opening their eyes. So if you can't see it, you can't be it right. And to be able to share that with them and to cultivate all the different facets that goes into that for them. I think it's incredible. And I also feel like it kind of poses an wonderful challenge for you and your team, right? Where you've said previously that this project feels like 10 businesses in one. I hope with you, is there something that's been the most unexpectedly? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (10:25) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (10:50) hard part of building something that doesn't have a playbook that takes some of the inspiration from some of the places that do exist right now, but really you're building something entirely new and entirely special and unique. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (10:51) Yeah. Yeah, I mean, to be quite honest, I would say the hardest part for us has been around fundraising and capital development, right? So traditionally, as I mentioned before, a lot of these larger sports academies have private equity firms that have bankrolled the entire operation. You're talking about 150, 200 million plus dollars of an operation. So not only are we not allowed to do that in Michigan, you can't have a for-profit educational model in Michigan, which I agree with for that's another podcast. ⁓ Leslie Youngblood (11:09) and Chloe Barnes-Henderson (11:31) But what makes it difficult is because to be able to still compete with those individuals, to be able to still provide the overarching experience our students deserve, finding the right partners, whether that's corporate, individual, philanthropic donors, et cetera, is harder than I had anticipated, specifically because the model has not existed in this space to be able to build an institution like ours in the way that we're doing it without money. from a private equity source. So that's actually been very interesting, to say the least, more so than I think I had realized. And then just in general, every single day I'm learning something new, whether it's about facilities and capital planning or zoning and regulations in the city of Detroit or academics. And then literally something changes in NIL and college athletics every single day. it's always Leslie Youngblood (12:24) I can't imagine. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (12:25) something, but I'm so incredibly fortunate to have an amazing board of directors and team and my husband who have been able to help, you know, kind of navigate this area together. And none of us, we always say like, none of us really know exactly how to do everything, but we'll always research, find out, give it our best guess and keep moving forward, which I think is a a true tenet of any type of entrepreneurial journey, right? Regardless whether it's non- Leslie Youngblood (12:53) Thank Chloe Barnes-Henderson (12:54) profit, for profit, whatever sector it is, it's always important to try something, fail fast, and keep moving forward. Leslie Youngblood (12:56) meet. Right, definitely. How do you keep going when you talk with people, whether it's a potential investor, even just somebody in your personal life that doesn't fully understand your vision yet? Maybe they call it a project instead of, you know, something that's truly your life's work. How do you deal with that, Chloe? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (13:15) Mm-hmm I think it's really important that I do it a few different ways. One, I don't always deal with it well. I will just say. ⁓ It's not, it does not always, it doesn't always sit well. And usually my husband is the first one to get a look on my, he can tell the look on my face. He's like, no, what did they say? What did they say about the school? What's going on? But no, all jokes aside, it really is important. Leslie Youngblood (13:27) I love- listen, right? You just want to punch him in the face. I love it. I'm gonna do that. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (13:48) And again, just a shout out to our board about early adopters and people that have believed in this way before we've even started to kind of see traction and fruition. And I think that's been my kind of biggest lesson in growth area. ⁓ I've started a business before many, before but I was pretty much by myself or I was by myself and I think that it was really hard for it to be sustainable and to scale for a wide variety of reasons but a large part of that was you know when I was met with opposition when I was met with you know some struggle it was very difficult to Leslie Youngblood (14:09) Mmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (14:23) was very difficult to find some counter counter thoughts to be able to lean into outside of the ones that I was telling myself. So I would say I spend a lot of time and like a lot of group chats with our board. have one on one conversations with all of them on a regular basis. Law actually the the woman who introduced us ⁓ is yeah, she's probably like my number one cheerleader hype man firm believer. So I'm so thankful to her. ⁓ She's definitely Leslie Youngblood (14:30) Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (14:50) gotten me through a lot of precarious times the last few months. Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (14:53) She's amazing, truly. I mean, what an incredible hype woman to have in your corner as a friend and on the board. And every single person that you have brought on the board, I mean, like you said, it... Not every founder does all the things, right? A baker opens a bakery and doesn't know how to hire or do payroll or all the bills, right? And so we need that. we hear entrepreneurship is the hardest thing ever. It's incredibly difficult. But I also and I feel like we hear this. We're like, I'm sure it's hard, but I'm tough. I'm an athlete, right? Like I can handle this. I can do it. And then you go through it and you're like, my God, this is harder. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (15:27) Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (15:32) than ever and you realize you do have to be delusional in the way but then When you have a support team that sees that vision and gets it, it has to be again, go so far for you too. And they get it. These people have been around and seen endless things and they believe in this. This is important. And I appreciate that so much. And that is something that may even to them might seem small. I guess I'm beyond your board. think this is amazing, but like just how profound and special and incredible and meaningful that is. so whether anybody listening right now has a board of directors or small Chloe Barnes-Henderson (15:51) Okay. Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (16:07) team or a business coach or an entrepreneurial group that community when you're doing something that hasn't been done before is just so incredibly important. Are you a member of any community teams or women's organizations or anything like that as well Chloe that help you in your path in your journey? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (16:17) Yeah. Yeah, I'm really fortunate to be connected with a wide variety of influential, selfless, very supportive women. am a... proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and also the Lynx Incorporated. So they have been an amazing support group, have been the largest presence and biggest cheerleaders when we did our fundraising launch in October and since then. So I'm honored to be a part of both of those organizations. And I'm also a trailblazer and resident at Boss Blue in Detroit. So I've always been so... ⁓ fortunate to be not only a part of their programs as a participant, but also the beneficiary of a lot of their folks' generosity, especially as we're starting this new journey and times are tight. To be able to have access to the club on a scholarship and to be able to get the support and resources that I need from them is, I think, a true testament to the work that they're doing to uplift female founders and entrepreneurs in the area as well. Leslie Youngblood (17:13) you and a reflection of all the work that they see that you're doing and how special and important the work that you're doing is. And again, to come back to the education with AI, you're using AI to make education more personalized and relevant for students. Tell us what that looks like in practice. Because I think, again, people think sports, school, and you have it in the title athletic, but there's such a focus and I think it's so, again, so important and needed because the technology is changing and to be able to give kids things that are truly of the time is incredible and to also do it with student athletes and within that sports bucket as well. So tell us a little bit about what that looks like in practice Chloe. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (17:53) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would say, well, one, I don't think I realized until I was teaching this last semester and I had multiple students, college students come up to me and say that because there's a part of my syllabus that talks about the responsible use of AI, not that they can't use it, but that if they do, they need to, you know, sort or pardon me, cite particular sources. They need to be able to do X, Y, Z thing because the thought at this day and age that folks aren't using AI to be able to engage with their educational pursuits just isn't realistic. And so what was interesting to me when we were having conversations was that they still had shared both in high school and in college that they had professors and teachers that had actively told them that they weren't to use artificial intelligence, that they could like in any way, shape or form, whether it was through research, writing, et cetera. And while I can understand how the misuse of AI from an academic integrity perspective and whatnot does cause problems, I think that not teaching our students how to use it Leslie Youngblood (18:34) Hmm. you Chloe Barnes-Henderson (19:03) properly and safely and to the best of their ability puts them in a significant disadvantage. So when you look at how other countries are handling education specifically for younger students as they kind of progress through secondary education, post-secondary education, etc., it's very, very AI focused. Not in a substitution for traditional learning and discussion and critical thinking, but as a way to automate and increase ⁓ the effectiveness of traditional like time related tasks like research and what have you. Why that's relevant in this particular context is I think as educators we have a duty and responsibility to be able to prepare our students to engage in a digital world and so when I decided to kind of really go all in an athletic academy I took a year-long AI intensive fellowship with a team out of India. I literally spent a year again of doing a deep dive in all things AI, figuring out how I could plug that into like our educational model, etc. And what that has turned into are a few different things. One, using AI to help optimize our teaching and learning. So what I mean by that. is being able to create lesson plans that help meet students where they are, being able to use free tools and resources to help create rubrics and different things that allow to better assess and address different learning styles, because that's a thing that we see. Being able to leverage AI to provide, and not even just AI, whether it's virtual technology or what have you, to be able to provide in-person learning experiences, but digitally. ⁓ So for us, because it's emerging and growing, Leslie Youngblood (20:32) Mm-hmm. Mm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (20:47) from a curriculum perspective, a lot of what we're testing and piloting and having conversations with corporate partners about is what is possible from our curriculum model? Is it possible for our students to be able to connect with someone in another part of the world to talk about what NBA Africa is looking like and how they're building that out? Can we use technology to be able to do that? Can we use technology to be able to help our students with different learning concerns navigate through traditional course material better? It looks like a lot of different ways, but that is a part of why we put tech into athletic and the name is because we want technology to be fully integrated into everything that we do because that is the world that our students will live in and do live in currently Leslie Youngblood (21:20) Mm-hmm. Right, you're putting them at even more of a disadvantage by not acknowledging that it exists because it's not going anywhere. And I don't know why there's always the peanut gallery that's, you know, whether it's the, mean, you know, I remember when the worldwide web was coming up, right? And like email or even in marketing where it's like email marketing is dead in 2020 and it's really video. It's like, no, it's not going anywhere, Chloe Barnes-Henderson (21:36) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (22:00) There's new pieces, there's new facets for us to learn and to not embrace that or to use your encyclopedias. I remember my parents had a set of encyclopedias, old encyclopedias. I can remember the smell even, right? They're probably from the 70s. And then to have something at your disposal that you just, and it's all current and how profound. So that's not going anywhere. It's a new way to harness information. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (22:03) again. gosh, encyclopedia. Leslie Youngblood (22:26) and it is always when it's new, it is going to feel the wild, wild west. You have the wild, west of AI and you have the wild, wild west of NIL as well. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (22:27) Mm-hmm. I know people hate to see me coming. There's like still this group there is this group of people that think NIL is going away and I'm like, it's not and then there's people that think that AI is going away and I'm like, it's not so let's just double down and start an entirely new educational model because why not? Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (22:53) Right, why not? Again, and it's so needed and, even specifically within Detroit, tell us a little bit about the journey that brought you to Detroit and to bring this education system and program to the city of Detroit. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (23:10) Yeah, I love this question because I get to do my little personal love letter to the city of Detroit. So I've lived probably since graduating college. I've lived somewhere new probably every two years. I've lived in New York. I've lived in Chicago. I've lived in Texas. I've lived in Florida. I've lived across the board. And when my husband began working with the Detroit Pistons probably, I don't know how many years ago it was, maybe five or six years ago, it was the first time that one, he and I kind of got to build like our home together. And two, it was also right during COVID and we got kind of like a behind the scenes look of all of the things that were happening within the city in a very intimate way when things were kind of shut down. But we really built a life there and a community there. And since then have just gotten so attached and such an affinity to the people, the people, the energy in the city, this pride of where people come from and I'm, I always say like I'm a historical romantic, like thinking about the history of Detroit and what greatness has came from the city and what greatness still is there and being able to see that people are finally kind of reconnecting to those roots. again, having spent time in Chicago, I know what it's like to be associated with a city that gets a lot of negative news, but it's not necessarily always a true representation of the wonderful things that are happening in the city. And that is very much how I Leslie Youngblood (24:13) you Mm-hmm. Hmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (24:38) feel about Detroit. So when it came time for us to think about, okay, what location one, like is ripe for opportunity to has a group of people that in leadership that are willing and excited to like think differently about how you not only approach education, but also how you how you look at just innovation in general, and who are who's you know, being able to invest in those spaces. And then three, like what is a hub that relies Leslie Youngblood (24:59) right? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (25:06) that is, you know, accustomed to being a sports and entertainment landmark and like given everything with the draft and the team. Detroit hit all those boxes for us. My husband played football at Michigan State, so a lot of our connections are here. I teach at Michigan State. Like I said, just honestly everything kind of seemed to line up. It was the right time, the right place, and the right connections. As you can imagine, getting an entire academy off the ground is like, you need support. Leslie Youngblood (25:11) Really, really. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (25:35) from grassroots level all the way up to state government ⁓ and we got the most yeses and the most excitement from Detroit and so we were like let's do it and it's been all roads ahead ever since. Leslie Youngblood (25:36) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love that. Leslie Youngblood (25:48) Quick pause, because if you're listening to serious lady business, chances are you're building something of your own. And if your business feels solid, but your marketing feels scattered, reactive, or stuck, that's where Youngblood MMC comes in. We're a boutique marketing, media, and content consultancy right here in Metro Detroit, helping founders and growing brands get clear on their message, focused on what actually moves the needle, and confident showing up consistently. No fluff. No trends just for trend sake, just smart strategy, strong storytelling, and execution that makes sense for your stage of business. If you're ready for marketing that finally feels aligned, head to youngbloodmmc.com slash Detroit to book your free 30 minute consultation now. That's www.youngbloodmmc.com slash Detroit. Now let's get back to the conversation. Leslie Youngblood (26:49) What do think, what do you, what is something that you wish more people understood about being not just an entrepreneur here, but about being a female entrepreneur here in Detroit, Chloe? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (27:00) I would say that, and you kind of spoke on it earlier, it can get lonely at times. And I know that a lot of entrepreneurs say that, and that's not just a female entrepreneur. think that's just entrepreneurship in general. But what I would love people to know is that there is value in showing up in a wide variety of ways. And what I mean by that is, I have people that will tell me, this is a great idea, ⁓ this is wonderful, et cetera, which is fine. But I've also had people that have said, this is wonderful, and have hopped in my LinkedIn DMs, are like, here's my expertise, here's how I can help you. Or hey, I don't necessarily have money to be able to donate right now, but you really need to connect to this person. I have folks that I've crossed that will drop me different articles or things that they've came across as they're having conversations with folks. Leslie Youngblood (27:36) Yeah. I'm yanking. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (27:51) hey, like, I just want I saw this and I thought of you like wanted to share it with you or I think this would be valuable for the school. And I think for me, specifically in this phase of entrepreneurship of my life, it's important to be like an active supporter. Like, I love and appreciate every you know, like I may get on a LinkedIn post or what have you but the people that are willing to show up and be active participants, whatever that looks like for them is really, really important. I think sometimes we look and it's like, I showed some Leslie Youngblood (28:06) Thank you. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (28:20) you know, I liked their post or I shared and yes, that is important, but specifically when you're doing something, at least for me and from my perspective, when we're doing something as big as starting a school that requires all of this different support and we're still hiring for staff or trying to get fundraising. I need a little bit more than a like. would love, I would love and it, yeah, just help me, like help me out here. I'll take a referral, take an introduction, I'll take an article, I will take whatever. Like, and it's not just about the money. Like the money is important and you can't do anything without the money. Like don't get it twisted. But there are other ways to be able to actively show up for people outside of just liking something or what have you that you see on social media. Leslie Youngblood (28:39) Yeah. Help me out here. Right? Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Yeah, a million percent. you're so hyper aware of those things too, because you are literally betting everything on this idea and on this business, on this academy that you're building. And so, yes, the likes are great, but it is the ability to do something. And I think that is also something that makes... Chloe Barnes-Henderson (29:08) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (29:22) Detroit really special and there is a friend of mine who lives in Toronto and She comes down to Detroit once a month because of the tech community here and the startup community here is so much more Chloe Barnes-Henderson (29:31) Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (29:33) robust than what they have in Toronto. that blew my mind. like, get out of here. I mean, like I love, I'm a, you love of like talk Detroit, like talk it up as much as possible. But I had no idea even because you, I think, Toronto, it's a huge, you know, Canadian city and they must have like all sorts of stuff going. But you realize truly when you're going through it, just how much this city offers to an entrepreneur that's looking to do something again, not just something small and different, but something Chloe Barnes-Henderson (29:35) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (30:02) completely new and innovative and how excited people are to participate in that. And I also think too, how excited they get because they know how special Detroit is and they want to continue to see the city flourish and we have this history and we have this really exciting future before us as well. And so to see amazing people like yourself. really doing the work to bring that to fruition, not just in business. This is a nonprofit. This is in kids, investing in kids. I mean, how much, again, more incredible and important could you get to that? I just think it's so fun to know that it really has been, you you under just the right choice, right? Like just like better than you could have even hoped for. So I think it's so fantastic. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (30:44) Yeah. And better than yeah, better than we could have hoped for. Definitely the right choice. We're affirmed every single day in some way, sometimes big ways and small ways that we made the right choice. And I'll even, you know, kind of piggyback off of what you were just sharing about the, you know, the tech ecosystem, the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Detroit, we launched our first or we had our first ever like kind of live Athletic Academy presentation where we unveiled some of our curriculum and our workshops at Black Tech Saturdays Digital. Empowerment Summit. don't know and that was like thousands of people, attendees, other entrepreneurs, etc. I don't know many other places that were like, here's this, you know, this new, completely new concept that no one's ever really done before. Can we present it? You know, why? Like at one of your conferences and their entire team was beyond gracious and supportive and we were able to kind of do our official kickoff and have used that video of that Leslie Youngblood (31:29) No, no, no. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (31:44) presentation to be able to get into more rooms with corporate sponsors to be able to help kind of like fine tune some of our curriculum and other things. So even without like platforms like that to be able to again like fail fast, put something out there, get feedback, etc. It would make this whole entire journey a lot more difficult. extremely, extremely appreciative of that organization in general for giving us an opportunity to share what we're building on a larger platform in our early days. Leslie Youngblood (31:56) Amen. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (32:12) the Leslie Youngblood (32:12) I love that. What is one piece of advice, Chloe, that you have for anybody listening right now that is considering starting a business in Detroit? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (32:23) Great question. I would say that... There's like so many things. I'm like, what are the things that I wish that I would have done differently? What do I wish I could be still be doing or change? I would say the, don't let the concept of not knowing how to necessarily do something prevent you from moving forward. What I mean by that is, cause there's a little bit of a caveat, right? So if like, if you're not, you know, a trained doctor, like what I advise that you start your own medical practice, like, no, like that's not what, that's not what I'm saying. Leslie Youngblood (32:54) Right? Please don't do that. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (32:59) That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, is that truly, truly, truly, and I will say this all the time, I would never have been able to start a school if it wasn't for AI. I have an expertise in digital advertising, in business, in education. I have all of the pieces and the skill sets, but the actual act of starting a school, no one just casually knows how to start a school, right? It's like, like where, like, where do you, I think I literally, Leslie Youngblood (33:25) been great. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (33:28) years ago put in like I want to start a school like where do I start and then like that was a how Kind of the processes came into place. That's how I learned about the accreditation requirements It's how I learned about even like the differences in board governance and different safety protocols and the amount of capital We would need to be able to fundraise appropriately, etc And so that would really be my piece of advice. It's less Detroit specific ⁓ More so about if you have the skills and if you have the experience don't Leslie Youngblood (33:31) Amazing. Mmm. Mm-hmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (33:57) what a lack of knowledge or information keep you from moving forward and identifying like, I have to kind of ground myself in this sometimes as well. Like what's just the next right step? Like I am a very type A person. I want to be able to know, like, and be able to see the whole staircase. And that's just not a reality when you're building anything or at least not a reality in like the world that I'm living in right now. So for me, it's like, can I get enough information to just make Leslie Youngblood (34:18) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (34:25) the next correct next step. And then when I get to that next step, then it's like, can I find the information and ask the right people and do the things to make the next right decision? And then hopefully, my goal is that like a year or so from now when we're ready to open our doors in 2028, so I guess that's not a year from now, but I would have made enough right steps to be able to like actually open the doors. So that's the advice I would give. Leslie Youngblood (34:41) Mm-hmm. ⁓ Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's fantastic advice because you don't know what you don't know, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't do something to get you closer to what that vision is in your mind. And especially as you said at the very beginning of this episode, and I love that it comes full circle as we get closer to wrapping up here. But again, we could probably talk all day is you fought off this vision or you had this vision for a long time and you kept Chloe Barnes-Henderson (35:06) Mm-hmm. Mm. Leslie Youngblood (35:21) getting, I always like, to me it's like pushed by the universe back towards this idea. It's like, no, you gotta, you know, it's like. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (35:26) Mm-hmm Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (35:29) whether it was, um, must buying Twitter or, you know, um, an acquirer of like another organization that you were at and it made you rethink what you were doing. This was a calling put on your heart and in your spirit to bring this to life. And, uh, and back then, I'm sure even more like, I don't know a school, how the heck would I, what? that's crazy. This, you it's not just, you can get a school house and have your own textbooks like back in the day. Right. And so. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (35:32) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Hahaha you Leslie Youngblood (35:57) how could you possibly know, you know, how to build a rocket ship when you're just starting out as an engineer, but you have a vision or you know, always say like look around every single thing in front of you in our world was because somebody had an idea and a vision for a pencil or a desk for a house that was made of bricks and not wood so it could withstand the elements and that person had no idea what they were doing either. was just nobody knows and I would love to get your take on this too because it Chloe Barnes-Henderson (36:12) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (36:26) something that I think was really instrumental for me in my entrepreneurship journey is when I was still in corporate and you sort of reach this level where I mean, it's not like the top, but it's closer to the top and you're engaging with the people at the top and you realize, oh, they don't know what they're doing either. These people that are supposed to, nobody knows what they're doing either. They're just making the best decision and the best step based on what they know in that moment. And that literally, truly blew my little mind when I was like, oh my God, they don't know. And so I'm like, well, then if they don't know, I'm as smart as them. I'm just as capable as them. Of course I can figure Chloe Barnes-Henderson (36:38) Mm-hmm. Hahaha Leslie Youngblood (37:04) this out right and every single person listening ever that has an idea is capable because it would not be put on your heart if it was not capable for you to bring it to life. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (37:14) Yep, yeah, I agree. I I 100 % agree. I think that there's a there's a I think being an entrepreneur and having some type of like spiritual leaning, grounding belief system is extremely important. I'm a big intuition person and like listening to ⁓ what that tells me. I know that looks different for a wide variety of people, but honestly, there are definitely some days that I'm like, if I didn't have this, I don't really think that we would be moving forward. Like I just know that I'm supposed to be doing it. I know, like I feel very compelled and very calm about what that Leslie Youngblood (37:50) name. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (37:51) is and honestly that's a part of a lot of like where I get my anxiety from when it comes to the business because I'm like I know in my spirit that this is going to happen and that I'm supposed to be doing this so why are all these like obstacles coming my way and I have to remind myself like wait like just because you're supposed to be doing it like doesn't mean that you're not gonna be you know met with resistance and doesn't mean that it's also like gonna be on your timeline so I have to like you know kind of kind of remember that and keep that keep that going but yeah it's a it is Leslie Youngblood (38:00) Mmm. Mmm. I love you, I love you, Chloe Barnes-Henderson (38:21) a journey, so to speak. And it's like mental toughness. I'm like, as an athlete, I'm like, aren't I supposed to be resilient? Like, what's going on here? It's hard. Leslie Youngblood (38:22) Sure? Right? Right? totally. I've apologized to my husband. I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm like this. I wish I could be different. I wish I could be easier. I wish I wasn't like this, but. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (38:39) Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (38:43) But not everybody is the same. Everybody is different. And so, and that's what is so wonderful and magical about this crazy journey of life. And to be able to have something that you are being redirected. The more you fight it, the more you're redirected to it and to so just give in knowing it's not going to be easy because nothing is. And there's lessons that we have to learn to become that. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (38:46) now. Leslie Youngblood (39:06) highest version of ourselves too, that the Chloe that is opening those doors and cutting that ribbon at Athletic Academy in 2028 has learned so many valuable lessons between the Chloe that I'm sitting with and talking to today. And that is really amazing to think about, but it's also scary and hard. She's like, well, can't it just happen now? Like why must I go through that? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (39:06) Mm-hmm. I wish. I wish, but that is genuinely the vision that I can see and that I have dreamed and that is the piece of, it's not anything else. It's literally me in front of the building with a ribbon, cutting the ribbon. I cannot see anything else except that particular piece. So I know it'll happen. And I will say what you just mentioned actually sparked something kind of back to the advice piece. So I apologize for skipping, but I know inevitably one of the larger pieces Leslie Youngblood (39:40) Yeah. Yeah. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (39:56) it always comes back from an entrepreneurship perspective is like no idea is really net new, right? Like so there will probably be someone that like listens to this podcast and is like, I could have done this or I know someone that's doing like this and this and this and this. So my advice and something that we've done is like also use AI and technology to be able to completely fine tune like your unique skill set and your niche. Like where do you sit and like what makes you different from other places Leslie Youngblood (40:02) you Chloe Barnes-Henderson (40:25) Again, would not have had access to all of this information had it not been for technology. But like I know our sweet spot, we will never be an 80 acre campus comparable to like an IMG. Nor do we want to be. Like that's not really where we want to sit. We want to focus on like unique, individualized, one-on-one comprehensive education for the world's, know, next elite athletes and the world's next front office executives. And we want to use AI to be able to do that, to not only just support them in that way, Leslie Youngblood (40:26) Mmm. right. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (40:54) but to also help with NIL and other pieces like that. And I know unequivocally based on our research, like no one has that. No one does that. So it's also a part of like that piece from an entrepreneurship perspective is that there you have to get very, very clear about like what your differentiator is because there will be a million people. And again, maybe it's just the woman. mean, it's probably not just the woman piece, but I can't tell you the amount of men that have came up to me or like, oh, I tried to start a school once or oh, like I know about NIL. Leslie Youngblood (41:02) Mm-hmm. Mmm. I don't know. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (41:24) I'm like, have you ever played sports, sir? No. have you ever worked in college athletics or the global advertising agency or a major worldwide social media brand? No, but sure. Like you, you tell me. So I guess my point, my point being also be able to use technology to like have the data and your talking points so you can clearly articulate like what makes you different and why your approach is like going to work is also extremely important. Leslie Youngblood (41:26) you Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Late? you Hmm. Yeah, that's such fantastic advice too, that you may be saying, I don't know, what makes me special? What makes me different? Well, you can sit down with the interactive chat bot and it will help you figure that out. And that's something that's never existed before. And then you go and you implement that and you see if it works. And then if it doesn't, or you got to tweak it, then you go back in. I mean, again, I also think too it can be really difficult when something doesn't work right away. Or you're like, and then I... Chloe Barnes-Henderson (42:01) But you Mm-hmm. Leslie Youngblood (42:16) that didn't work so I failed, it's not going to work. No, that just means you have to tweak and pivot. you're tuning in that radio station and if you get a clear signal the very first time, my God, amazing, right? You're a shooting star. But most of the time it's all iterations, whether it's a product or a school or a service or your brand. I think sometimes as women we can put too much of, take it too personally high. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (42:28) Yeah. Leslie Youngblood (42:41) where men is like, well, that didn't work, I'm gonna change it. Or that doesn't mean I suck, it just means that idea wasn't the right one. And so I just always try to encourage women and myself primarily as well, right? Because it can be difficult, you could be such a good hype woman, objective for your friends and family and coworkers and teammates, but then when it comes to yourself, we can be so hard on ourselves as well. But just to try to keep that in mind too, it's just evolving and learning and those steps are going to reveal themselves one at a time for you. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (42:44) Mm-hmm. Yeah, same. Mm-hmm. Yeah, one at a time and at the right time. You just have to pay attention and to listen. But it's funny, as I'm reflecting on this, even of course I picked an industry in which that's the job to be able to evolve and to change. Even if I quote unquote got something right, there would always be a part of the school or the academy, whether it's from our curriculum or how we engage with students or families, et cetera, that would need to change and adjust based on the world that we live in. Leslie Youngblood (43:11) Mm-hmm. Bye. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (43:35) that there's ever like, this is like such a me thing to do to pick something that there is like no end. It just kind of keeps, you know, just kind of like keeps going and evolving and you give it your best shot. But I do think that is one of the things I'm most excited about with the Academy is having worked in education for so long as an administrator, as a professor, even being as an athlete, et cetera. We're entering this age to where a lot of those models are no longer Leslie Youngblood (43:40) Thank you. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (44:04) serving students and so to think about kind of being in this next like wave of education that is evolving that is up-to-date that is able to meet students where they're at in real time and not operating on like a two to three year lag behind you know current trends and whatnot is actually like very very exciting. Leslie Youngblood (44:24) Oh my gosh, it's revolutionary, Chloe. I have no doubt how goosebumps, truly. And so in all of that, tell us that type of legacy or what kind of legacy you hope the Academy leaves for Detroit and then also for education as a whole. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (44:39) Mmm. Yeah, my favorite question. I want Detroit from the help of, or I want Athletic Academy in Detroit to be seen as the sports and entertainment capital of the Midwest. I want Athletic Academy to be the hub where students who have an interest in sports go. I want Detroit to be able to leverage and to be able to create a sustainable pipeline of talent for their own premier sports organizations and businesses and entertainment firms, etc. By being able to work from a very young age and to like help coach and develop and mentor our students. Like I want to be able to create a strategic and long lasting pipeline for them because I truly believe in the power of sport, not just for our athletes, but for what it can do to heal people, to bring communities together. It is a great equalizer. I think when we look at, you know, the times that we're living in from a political perspective, there are very few things that can bring people together at any given point in time and sports are one of those things. And I think being able to Leslie Youngblood (45:45) Mm-hmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (45:48) Create an educational system where students are not only engaged and interested in the things that they're learning but can also help, know identify and and facilitate Long-term career plans and growth and a city that needs it and can benefit from it and can bring so much joy To other people I think is really really important and I would say the academy in general like when I'm Doing our donor briefings and I'm having you know, and I'm conversations like this or different partnership overviews or what have you like the line that like keeps sticking out to me is that I always want I never want students to feel like they have to lose hall or leave home to be granted access to opportunity I don't think it's right that students should have to fly to Florida and pay a hundred plus thousand dollars Leslie Youngblood (46:29) Hmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (46:35) hundred hundred thousand dollars to go to an IMD or other places to be able to have access to things. Like I don't think your zip code should determine what opportunities you're given in life, specifically in the sports space. So for us, like we want to be the hub for Midwest students to not have to leave community to be able to achieve excellence. And so that's a legacy that we want to be able to build and want to be able to start in Detroit. Leslie Youngblood (47:02) I love that so, so much. And so when you picture that student who walks through the doors two and a half years from now, what do you hope they say about the space you created at Athletic Academy, Chloe? Chloe Barnes-Henderson (47:15) I hope they say, ⁓ this was created for me. Like this was done for me. This was has, you know, fun things like a smoothie bar and the nutrition fuel station. It has practical things like top of the line, you know, athletic training and equipment and sports performance areas for athletes. It has an auditorium for our, you know, our students that have an interest in the arts. It has a fashion design studio for our students. who want to, you know, draft the next like athletic shoe design. has, you know, one of my favorite pieces of the renderings that we put together. It has a marketplace where entrepreneurs, student entrepreneurs can actually showcase their products and be able to sell them to the community. Like I want them to understand that every single part of the school was built with them in mind and not in what we think our traditional school should Leslie Youngblood (48:11) Mmm. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (48:12) look like. This will not be an institution that just has a row of classrooms that are like stacked with desks that you can barely move in. Like I don't, I want our students to feel seen and appreciated and to feel as if they have a space where they can feel safe, where they can feel challenged, and where they can grow. Leslie Youngblood (48:33) love that and I'm sure and I know everybody listening is loving that I know everybody that has a part of this with you sees it and believes it and loves it deeply as well. Thank you so much, Chloe. Before we wrap up today, I would love for you to share where our listeners can follow up with you and become a part of the Athletic Academy journey. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (48:55) Yeah, so they can find us a few different ways. ⁓ Our website is www.athleticacademy.org or they can also follow us on LinkedIn as well. have our own page. But honestly, the quickest and easiest way to get updated on all things is to go to our website and sign up for our Athletic Academy Insider. That's where we'll be updating folks on timelines around our application, you can also find a link to volunteer through that as well or if there's an interest in partnership, that's great too. And then if all else fails, if you really want to get a hold of someone, you can always find me and send me a DM on LinkedIn. I am available and like I said, I'm always open to a connection, to an article, to any type of resource that folks are willing to provide. If any part of what I said resonates, I would love to hear from you. Leslie Youngblood (49:50) my goodness. And we will also drop all of those links in the show notes for everybody listening. Chloe, such an honor. What you are doing is just special beyond words. I could not thank you enough for joining us today and sharing this incredible journey that you are on to bring this important education academy to Detroit. And the impact that you are having on the city as well is just, you know, just Beyond words, thank you. Thank you so much. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (50:18) Well, thank you for having me. And like I said, this is the first one that we've done since launching the Academy. So this will live in my vault of like special memories and opportunities. Yeah, it takes a special person to be able to see the importance of something before something is physically built. Like we do not have our physical school yet. We're still trying to raise money. But why I bring that up is because it's hard to believe in something when it's not there yet. So I appreciate folks like yourself who see what we're trying to do and are willing to make Leslie Youngblood (50:43) Yeah. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (50:47) introductions and connections and lend platforms like this to be able to talk more broadly about the work that we're doing in Detroit and to be able to try to galvanize as many people to help us bring it to life as possible. So thank you for the opportunity and the space to share. Leslie Youngblood (51:01) My pleasure. the first of many podcasts, the first of many interviews, I will be able to put, that's like my claim will be like, she was on Serious Lady Business, where I was looking her go. Like I'm, I feel even extra special. So thank you so much for everything, Chloe. And we will all be following along. And I just can't wait to see everything that you do moving forward. Chloe Barnes-Henderson (51:23) Thank you, Leslie, I appreciate you and I will talk to you soon. Cheers. Leslie Youngblood (51:23) years. Cheers. Thank you. Leslie Youngblood (51:30) Detroit doesn't just make things, it makes leaders. And today's conversation is proof that when women build here, they build with grit, vision, and heart. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who believes in supporting women founders, especially right here in Detroit. And make sure to follow Serious Lady Business for more conversations with the women shaping our city and redefining success on their own terms. Until next time. Keep building, keep leading, and keep doing serious lady business.