Sarah Schmid’s high school and mine were rivals, but I’m not holding it against her. In fact, having a home-grown Michigan journalist take up the reins of Xconomy Detroit is so exciting I’m willing to overlook any number of gridiron defeats and any amount of adolescent cooler-than-thou posturing.
Even more exciting is the fact that Sarah is that rare journalist with both a solid background as a beat reporter and firsthand experience in the industry she’s covering. Sarah earned her stripes first at the Missoula Independent (a small Montana paper that she describes as “fiercely muckraking”) and then at the Lansing State Journal, the hometown paper of our youth. Most recently, she worked in communications for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the state’s business development office, where she got an up-close view of the public and private efforts afoot to grow an innovation-based economy in the state, and particularly in Detroit.
Sarah says that she finds living in Detroit to be fascinating, and we’re pleased that her new gig as the editor of Xconomy Detroit gives her a chance to work there as well, and to get back to her journalistic roots. She has jumped right in this week with stories about Chinese automotive companies that are setting up outposts in Detroit with the hope of picking up some Motor City mojo and about a new investment initiative from the U.S. Small Business Administration and Dow Chemical that will benefit second-stage growth companies in Michigan.
So please join me in welcoming Sarah at [email protected], and in forgiving her for her high school affiliation. And ok, let’s be honest—Sarah’s school was way cooler than mine anyway.
