Community Highlights: Meet Cindy Eggleton of Brilliant Detroit

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Eggleton.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My career has taken several turns over the course of my life. One of my earliest roles was performing brain surgery. It usually surprises people to hear that, though maybe a bit less so when I reveal it was on rats not humans. I have always been inspired by creativity and purpose. For many years I ran a creative agency and enjoyed learning about the vision of the clients and translating that into strategy. I have taken elements of these roles with me. To this day, I lean on the listening skills I learned working with clients at the creative agency and the attention and precision required to perform surgery.

Eventually, I came to work for a local funder as their Senior Director of Community Impact. While there, I was truly able to exercise my passion for developing others and giving back to communities. I oversaw over $60 million in funding for education initiatives. It was amazing to learn about the work our partners were doing with these funds. My time in that role serves as the foundation for my success leading Brilliant Detroit and Brilliant Cities. I learned that when we work together, with each person or organization contributing their expertise, that we can achieve even greater results.

It was my role as Senior Director of Community Impact that ultimately led to me meeting Jim and Carolyn Bellinson, my fellow Brilliant Detroit co-founders. Together, the three of us came up with a new approach to early childhood education that saw community members as co-architects. We knew we needed to meet people where they were at, eliminating as many barriers as possible. It was also clear that to do this with excellence, we would need to rely on the expertise of partners. After research and listening to community leaders, the Brilliant Detroit model was born. Some may look at my career and say she was all over the place, but I firmly believe that where I am today is a product of my varied career.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am grateful to be living in my purpose with Brilliant Detroit and that continues to carry me and us even when we face challenges. Challenges and lessons learned come with the territory for an organization whose model is founded on listening to neighbors and adapting to what makes communities unique. It is both a challenge as well as a beautiful aspect of humanity that we never all seem to agree on anything. Being clear on mission, vision, and values, as well as believing that “feedback is a gift”, has been necessary as we navigate challenges and emerge a stronger and more nimble organization as a result. Some of the challenges we have faced include addressing what happens to children as they age out of our programming, ensuring our staff are prepared to be both deeply relational members of a community and effective coordinators for an early childhood delivery model, and arranging and rearranging our structure as we grow and scale. We have had missteps as we balance an adaptive and research-based model, but our communities know that we are there for them and that we will do the right thing. Sometimes this means turning down tempting opportunities if it means compromising our principles.

We’ve been impressed with Brilliant Detroit, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Brilliant Detroit, and now our burgeoning national expansion under Brilliant Cities, is a neighborhood-powered model ensuring children ages 0-8 are school-ready, healthy, and supported. We do this by transforming houses into community hubs where children and families have what they need to thrive. We provide places of connection in these hubs, where people can gather, feel connected in an increasingly disconnected world, and access a holistic array of research-based programs for the whole family. When we started, our place-based, hyperlocal work was innovative and now we see it as an idea whose time has come, as more organizations are focusing more on place and community voice. We are proud to be a part of a larger movement for Kid Success in place-based ways and do believe that an idea like this can spark into a movement and mean a great deal for our connectedness as people.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Start with a clear objective and make sure that is something that resonates with others. In this world, it is so challenging to do things alone. If you have a powerful mission or product, you will find allies and supporters. Having a “North Star” to turn back to and weigh decisions against is invaluable. It is important to be open minded, but at the end of the day, you need to know why you are doing the work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://brilliantcities.org/detroit/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brilliantcities/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/WBC8enP2E4WTLhpJ/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/83020170
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brilliantcities
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@brilliantcities