DEEN creates jobs in Detroit's TechTown

metromode, 11/19/2009

Tekisha Lee used to work in advertising for one of the big agencies, handling ads for a major branch of the military.

"I saw an economic opportunity because of the minority market," Lee says. "A lot of the corporations don't pick up the minority brands but I know there are a lot of opportunities there."

That led to the creation of the Diversity Emploment & Education Network Management (DEEN) a year ago. It specializes in multicultural employee candidates and has found a home in Detroit's TechTown business incubator. It now employs five people and 2-3 independent contractors. It hopes to add 15 more next year.

One of its products in development is DiverseNote, which is similar to a combination of Monster.com and LinkedIn for minorities. It is also creating a version of that website, DiverseNote Green, that centers around sustainability-based jobs.

"We want to add a lot of engineering individuals in the alternative energy industry," Lee says.

Source: Tekisha Lee, founder and CEO of Diversity Emploment & Education Network
Writer: Jon Zemke

Diversity , Entrepreneurship , Human Resources , Wayne County

Detroit