Princess Dobbins
As one of the most socially engaged, influential and relevant spiritual leaders of our time, Princess Dobbins has worked tirelessly to elevate and support women in roles of leadership. Her teachings are focused on supporting her sisters in regaining their confidence, walking in their purpose and realizing their God given potential.
Her diligent and steadfast work supports her commitment to women’s empowerment and teaches women how to love, live and succeed gloriously using God’s Word in all things. Princess Dobbins uses her gift to communicate with great energy, passion, humor, warmth and grace, helping each woman connect with spirit, uncover her innate strength and joyously live her divine purpose.
A seasoned Entrepreneur, with successful businesses across the U.S., Princess Dobbins is a well known speaker and business consultant within the City of Detroit. She has excelled in using God’s provisions and wisdom to make sound business decisions and loves teaching others how to do the same. Princess Dobbins' Ministry has ministered all over the state of Michigan, in women's shelters, prisons and even Detroit Public Schools.
Her and her husband Dwight have been joyfully married for 20 years, are blessed with three beautiful children and are co-pastors at New Way Ministries International.
Kim Trent
Native Detroiter Kim Trent has leveraged her long track record as a highly effective activist and communicator to build a stellar reputation for principled community leadership.
Currently serving as senior vice president for corporate and civic engagement for Detroit public affairs firm Compass Strategies, Ms. Trent began her career as an award-winning city hall reporter for The Detroit News. There, she covered the city’s housing department, Detroit City Council and the mayoral administrations of Coleman A. Young and Dennis W. Archer. As a member of Newspaper Guild 22, she left The News in 1995 during the Local’s labor strike against the paper. In 1996, she moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where she earned a graduate diploma in African Studies from the University of Cape Town. She returned to the United States and after a brief stint as a city hall reporter for the Toledo Blade, joined the Washington staff of Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in 1997.
After five years as Congresswoman Kilpatrick’s communications director, Ms. Trent joined the staff of United States Senator Debbie Stabenow as Stabenow’s Detroit regional manager. She was later appointed director of Governor Jennifer M. Granholm’s southeast Michigan office, then a cabinet-level position in state government. Most recently, she served as policy associate for Michigan Future Schools, an Ann Arbor-based think tank that is focused on creating strategies to help Michigan build prosperity in a knowledge-based economy.
Ms. Trent is a committed social activist. In 2006, she served as president of One United Michigan, a statewide campaign to protect affirmative action in Michigan government employment, contracting and public university admissions. While the campaign was unsuccessful, Trent worked to build strong partnerships between corporate and nonprofit leaders, elected officials and other stakeholders that endure even today. In 2015, Trent launched the African American 490 Challenge, a successful campaign to mobilize African American women to raise more than $600,000 to pay for the processing of the city’s abandoned rape kits.
In 2012, more than two million Michigan voters elected Ms. Trent to an eight-year term on the Wayne State University Board of Governors. She currently serves as the board’s chairwoman. Her priority as a board member has been working to improve the university’s anemic six-year graduation rate for African American undergraduate students.
Ms. Trent earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Africana studies and a master’s degree in communication from Wayne State University. She has completed fellowships with the American Political Science Association in Washington D.C. and the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University. She is also a graduate of Leadership Detroit. She is a weekly guest columnist for the Detroit Free Press’ editorial page and is a regular panelist on Detroit NBC affiliate WDIV’s weekday morning show “Live in the D.”
Ms. Trent serves as president of the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation and vice president of Detroit non-profit Connect Detroit. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s National Social Action Commission. She has received many awards, including the State Bar of Michigan’s Liberty Bell Award and the Michigan Democratic Party’s Martin Luther King Leadership Award. She lives in Detroit with her husband, author and communications consultant Ken Coleman, and their son.
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Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield
Mary Sheffield is a native Detroiter with a track record of community service and leadership. She believes in building a stronger future for all Detroiters and restoring Detroit to its rightful place of prominence, globally.
In November of 2013, Mary, at the age of 26, became the youngest person ever elected to the Detroit City Council. She was later selected as the Council President Pro Tempore by her colleagues after being elected to a second term in 2017. President Pro Tempore Sheffield was appointed Chair of Neighborhood and Community Services and initially served on the Planning and Economic Development committee but currently sits on the Budget, Finance and Audit standing committee. Mary is a board member for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, a member of the National Network to Combat Gun Violence, a member of People for the American Way’s (PFAW) Young Elected Officials, a Continuum of Care (for the homeless) board member and a founding member of the newly formed Black Legislative Exchange Council.
At the Council table, Pro Tem Sheffield has made a commitment to fight for the continued growth of Detroit and has remained steadfast in keeping neighborhoods at the center of the conversation. In her short time on the Detroit City Council, she has launched a number of initiatives designed to engage residents and offer a truly representative form of government to the residents of District 5 and Detroit as a whole. Council President Pro Tempore Mary Sheffield is renowned for her monthly Occupy the Corner – Detroit initiative, Homelessness Taskforce, “State of the Youth” Symposiums, Detroit Girls of Destiny mentorship program and her recently announced People’s Bills designed to help low-income and long term Detroiters.
Legislatively, she has sponsored Inclusionary Housing, Notification/Right to First Refusal and Poverty Tax Exemption Ordinances, restored Police Commission powers after emergency management and successfully fought to save the Senior Home Repair Grant program. Pro Tem Sheffield is committed to building a Detroit and attracting new residents and families but wants to also ensure the City remains committed to the residents who stayed through the toughest of times.
Led by faith and driven by her passion for people and justice, City Council President Pro Tempore Mary Sheffield has accepted her calling to be an active participant in Detroit’s Renaissance – lending her voice and expertise to ensuring all Detroiters benefit during Detroit’s resurgence and that the development taking place is sustainable.