Empowered Women's Series: Intimate Conversation with Charity Dean

Intimate Conversation with Charity Dean

Charity R. Dean is a Detroit-born entrepreneur, attorney, and community builder who serves as President & CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance, where she leads statewide efforts to strengthen Black-owned businesses through capital access, programming, and policy advocacy. She is also the founder of Rosa Café, a community-rooted coffee brand with three locations across the City of Detroit, named in honor of her great-grandmother, Rosa Malone.

Charity previously served in Mayor Mike Duggan’s cabinet as Detroit’s Director of Civil Rights, Inclusion & Opportunity, where she investigated civil rights violations, oversaw compliance on major development projects, and worked to expand opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses. In 2020, she led the City of Detroit’s small business response to the COVID-19 pandemic—work that revealed deep systemic inequities and helped catalyze the creation of MBBA.

Under Charity’s leadership, MBBA has grown to more than 2,000 members statewide and has connected entrepreneurs to over $13 million in direct funding. She also serves on Prudential Financial’s Blueprints for Black Wealth Advisory Council.

Charity was appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to the Michigan Women’s Commission, where she currently serves as Vice Chair. An attorney by training, she is a member of the Wolverine Bar Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and is an alumna of the Michigan Political Leadership Program.

Her leadership has been recognized by the Michigan Chronicle, where she was first honored as a Women of Excellence awardee and later named a Vanguard Award recipient. She has also received multiple honors from Crain’s Detroit Business, including 40 Under 40, 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan, and Who’s Who in Detroit Business. Charity is also a recipient of the Dave Bing Shining Light Award presented by the Detroit Free Press and was named to Axios Detroit’s Power Players list.

A proud Detroit native, Charity considers her greatest honor being mom to Elijah and Lauren.

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