After college Kysha Frazier, one of Grand Rapids' bright young corporate and community leaders, left the cornfields of Iowa for the shores of Lake Michigan. She talks about why she made the move, what would attract other talented workers like her to do the same, and the deeper meaning of her daughter’s recycling habit.
You hail from Waterloo, Iowa. What brought you to Grand Rapids, MI?
A job. I didn’t want to work at John Deere.
That contradicts studies of the new economy that tell us young professionals today choose where they want to live first, then worry about finding a job. Do the researchers have it wrong?
I recently did an informal survey of my friends from Iowa who now live in places like Chicago, Charlotte, and Minneapolis to get at this question. I asked them why they went where they did. Pretty much all of them said "opportunity," and the availability of positions in the type of work they want to do.
Did you find they moved for a specific job? Or was it the perception of more job opportunities?
Like me, the majority of them had a specific job lined up. A couple just went somewhere to see what could or would happen.
What can West Michigan cities do to improve their ability to retain and attract talented young professionals?
The educational system is key, especially for professionals who have young children, or hope to have a family. We're talking about luring educated people, and those people generally want their kids to be educated and do better in life than they did.
What else is a drawing card for new economy workers?
Parks and clean green spaces. I come from a state with lots of land. I like to see green and trees. Chicago is great to visit, but it's not for me.
But what about the argument that these people are attracted to vibrant, intensely urban, 24-hour downtowns?
You can't lump all the millenials into one category. Not everybody in that demographic wants to live downtown. My dream home is on a lake, with lots of open land, and peace and quiet. We live in the suburbs.
You want a city nearby, though, don't you?
I don't want to be out on the farm. But I do want to be secluded, with the ability to easily engage the different cultural events and other things the city has to offer.
Diversity, we're learning, also is key to competitiveness in the global economy. Does West Michigan, in your experience, welcome and reflect a broad range of people and ideas?
That depends on your perspective. I come from a state where industry is mostly farming and 2 percent of the population is people of color. So coming to Grand Rapids, with a wide range of business opportunities and 13 or 14 percent of the community comprised of people of color, that's a major improvement.
Is the region doing enough to promote diversity?
We have some good things going on. The Institute for Healing Racism, for example, is a unique project. But the bottom line is that we must be more open-minded. Talent and creativity comes in a lot of different forms. We would benefit our economy and culture by expanding our more traditional views about how people have to look and act to be successful or important.
You work at Cascade Engineering, a company that's pioneering innovations in green building, wind turbines, and new equipment to secure clean water supplies in developing countries. What's it like working for a firm on the leading edge of the global sustainability movement?
It's good to hear when people say we're leaders. But we're constantly learning and improving. We certainly don’t want people to think we know all the answers. The journey toward sustainability is a long-term process. In many ways we still struggle to articulate the value of pursuing sustainability in terms that are tangible for our employees and customers.
But you're personally spearheading Cascade's newest venture, Quest, which aims to leverage the company's experience and help others develop sustainable business practices. So the company clearly has developed enough expertise to organize a business around it, right?
Cascade continues to get a lot of recognition for our commitment to achieve and promote sustainability. And for the past several years we've been getting a lot of calls to go give speeches, run a workshop, or help establish a program – often times for free – to help people understand the concept. So we realized the opportunity to generate some revenue and wrote up the business plan.
What, specifically, does Quest do?
Quest aims to help change the business culture to embrace sustainable thinking so that the things that companies do ultimately better their employees and our community. We provide consulting and training in the areas of leadership, diversity, safety, environmental sustainability, and corporate culture transformation.
Transforming culture is a big goal. Can you give a real life example of how practicing sustainability has helped Cascade Engineering change the way people think and act?
Our recycling initiative has reduced waste about 80 percent in the past two years. The trash man used to come and empty our dumpsters about twice a week. Now he comes about every quarter. That's not only saves waste, it also saves about $215,000 per year.
But the effect of the program actually has gone beyond the company and into our employee’s homes. I am conscious now about throwing away something as simple as a plastic fork. My daughter's even into it now. If we as a society can stop making trash, we can put real estate used for landfills to better use, like green space.
What, in your view, is the potential to develop new businesses around the philosophy and practice of sustainability?
We've barely scratched the surface in my opinion. At Cascade we've begun building residential wind turbines, and we recently launched a website that enables homeowners to assess the amount of wind blowing through their neighborhood and the amount of energy they use in the home. When you start to think sustainably, we're discovering plenty of possibility for new business ventures.
But the company started out making plastic car parts, right?
We're learning that what we do shouldn’t define who we are. Performing at our fullest potential isn’t associated just with plastic. We don’t know what the next thing will be. But we’re constantly asking 'what types of new products and services can we provide in the area of sustainability.'
What does the Frazier family do for fun?
We have a three and half year old at home. Family time is all the fun we can handle.
This interview was conducted, condensed, and edited by Andy Guy, Rapid Growth's managing editor. Andy, a Grand Rapids resident, also is a project director at the Michigan Land Use Institute and authors a blog titled Great Lakes Guy.
Photographs of Kysha Frazier by Brian Kelly - All Rights Reserved
Brian Kelly is managing photographer of Rapid Growth.