Sometimes the big disappointments that shatter a dream turn into life’s biggest opportunities.
That’s what happened to Danielle Hughes.
Like many kids fresh out of college, Hughes leapt at the chance to take that first big job. She completed her studies at the University of Georgia and in January of 2015 and moved to Dothan, Alabama, to become a reporter at a local television station.
Not long into her new career, she experienced a hiccup that not only came as a shock. It would serve as a learning experience – and a big one.
While out on assignment one afternoon, she was pulling away in the station vehicle when she got into a fender bender with the woman in front of her. The woman proceeded to tell Hughes that she had no insurance and, since it was Hughes’ first traffic accident, she had no idea filing a police report right away was customary. Both women felt the minor scratches and dents they had incurred could easily be bumped out by a good mechanic.
Hughes followed up the next day to file the police report properly.
After getting back into the van, she promptly called her station manager to report what had happened. Three days later, however, Hughes found herself pulled into the office of the head of human resources at her television station who delivered the surprising news that Hughes traffic accident had become a sizable liability.
Hughes had left the scene without filing the report, which meant they had no proof as to who had caused the accident. The head of HR told her she had 20 minutes to pack her things and leave the building.
“I was extremely shocked,” says the 26-year-old Detroit native and Southfield Lathrup grad. “I was ridiculously distraught. Here I was so far from home, and I had $1,000 to my name – if that. All I could think was, ‘I am not moving back home to Detroit.’ I would be a failure if I did so.”
Hughes ended up calling her college mentor, Blayne Alexander-Bailey, who worked as an anchor and reporter at an NBC affiliate in Atlanta. She is now an executive at NBC News International in Washington, D.C.
Alexander encouraged Hughes to come stay with her in Atlanta and also said her former news director was looking for reporters there. Hughes packed her things and promptly made the three-hour drive the next day.
“This is within two days of me being fired,” Hughes recalls. To her delight, Alexander’s lead panned out and the news director called the next day.
Alexander had, of course, put in a good word for her, and it turned out that the job was more than reporter. He wanted her to try out as a morning anchor.
“She didn’t even interview me,” she says. “I was 23 and I said, ‘Yes – Yes!’ I had never done it before, but was so excited at the chance.”
First, though, Hughes would have to pass the test – sitting at the news desk for an audition.
Since they needed her there by 6:00 a.m. that meant driving to Augusta in the middle of the night and meeting the co-anchor who was 17 years her senior. Hughes describes her as “super cool and helpful.”
All of a sudden uncertainly set in, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for such a big step.
“I didn’t practice on purpose – I was comfortable being a reporter,” she says. “I missed a couple words and thought, ‘I bombed it.’”
Not.
Two days later Hughes received an email with an offer for the position – starting on air at 4:30 a.m. She accepted and was thrilled, even though it meant changing a lot of her life patterns.
“I had to get up at 2:00 a.m., which meant my bedtime was 6:00 p.m., although I wouldn’t fall asleep until after 8:00,” she says.
A year into settling into her new position, Hughes was once again called into the boss’s office, this time to be told they were making changes and going in a different direction – corporate speak for telling employees they’re losing their job. They told her they needed someone with a little more experience.
“It stung to be let go from two jobs in my field. I didn’t know what I was put here to do,” Hughes says, adding that she started to fall into a depression.
“I really needed to figure out what my next step was. How did I end up here again?” she says.
She talked with her mother, who advised her that what she had gone through would one day be an inspiration to people.
“I was skeptical,” Hughes says, “and at this point didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.”
That was a year ago.
To prevent herself from moving back to Detroit, she applied to 75 jobs in Atlanta – “any type of job I could think of,” she says.
She even applied for positions that college students usually take on. Hughes didn’t hear back from any of them.
Despite her persistence, Hughes thought the dearth of results may be a sign she should move back home, so she did so in August of 2016. It was then that, as often happens, she got another complete surprise. She was nominated for the Forbes “Under 30” list.
“I have no idea who did it,” Hughes says of the nomination, happy nonetheless about the doors it has opened.
Her first thought is the nominator recognized her work on her nonprofit. In April 2015, Brianna Alexander, one of Hughes’ good friends from high school suggested they put on a one-day summit on the power of mentorship for high school kids. The two brought another high school friend on board, pitched the idea to sponsors and Detroit Speaks Inc. was born.
The nonprofit works with low-income high school age teens to increase social awareness and community involvement as well as develop leadership skills.
“It had always been my side project, since none of us were based in Detroit at the time,” she says.
Hughes and Alexander started full force, with online mentoring and coaching and lots of speaking engagements on Hughes’ part – anything to push the Detroit Speaks brand.
“I have a story to tell,” says Hughes.
After her nomination, Hughes’ life took off in even more unexpected ways. She reached out to a friend who was teaching at Renaissance High School, on West Outer Drive in Detroit, to ask if she could speak to the students. They were shocked at her story.
“’None of this makes sense,’ they said. They didn’t understand how someone could be successful and get fired.
I’m sure they thought I was fascinating and ridiculous at the same time,” she says.
Perceptions aside, almost two dozen students came up to Hughes afterward, peppering her with questions and asking for help. The same amount of follow-up emails landed in her inbox the next day.
That turned into the Emerging Leaders Program, a three-month accelerator program launched in 2017 that pairs mentees with mentors.
Since Hughes believes strongly in building upon successes, the next turn of events was only natural.
The friend who brought her in to speak was leaving her job as the dream director at the school. The role adds extra support for the teaching staff to help unlock purpose and possibility.
Her friend was impressed with the way Hughes interacted with the students and said she would put in a good word for her if she was interested. The school soon offered Hughes the job and she is now there four days a week as a life coach and mentor.
The program is run by The Future Project, which works with schools to unlock the potential of young people. Hughes spent three weeks training with the organization last summer learning about its curriculum and how “dream directing” works. When she arrived, she had to deliver a speech on her vision.
“I felt like I had already been a dream director,” she says. “It felt great.”
Now, Hughes aids the whole school through her program.
“The whole point of what we do is to figure out what sets these kids on fire,” she says. “We have workshops where we ask them, do you feel like you are fulfilling a purpose? We do one-on-one coaching and take field trips to places like the DIA. I try to see what the students are interested in and expose them to that.”
After they are done with the program, Hughes’ students then execute their own future project in order to think about what they want their life to look like.
“I tell them to always remain a student. Learning doesn’t stop after you graduate from high school or college,” she says.
At the school, Hughes started a reading group called Girls Supporting Girls.
“I felt the need to have them read a book every month,” she says. “I have a hashtag on Instagram called #What‘sDannyReading? I always tell the girls that readers are leaders.”
In May Hughes will travel to Israel with Forbes for the Under 30 Global Summit. The nine-day trip will entail a week of learning including workshops on leadership and business. From there she’ll spend part of the summer at the Dream Academy in New York for training and then to Nairobi for eight days to teach with a group called Destination Teach, which will place her in a fourth-grade classroom teaching English to children whose native tongue is Swahili.
“Any way I can help these young people, I will,” she says.
She’s been learning Swahili little by little, “but I won’t lie to you, it has been hard. There will be a translator, thankfully.”
As if all this weren’t enough to occupy her time, Hughes is writing a book slated for publication in March 2019. The working title is Always Make Your Bed.
“I picked that title because I always say making your bed sets the tone for the day. As silly as it sounds, it’s a metaphor for life. Once you are consistent with one thing, it finds its way into everything else.”
For more information on, visit www.danielledhughes.com. You can also follow Detroit Speaks on Facebook.
Danielle Hughes helps Detroit young people learn leadership skills, volunteerism at Detroit Speaks added by Cindi Cook on
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