Mark Maynard | Pot and Box

Ponyride… a home for social entrepreneurs sharing knowledge, resources and networks in Detroit’s Corktown

By Mark | March 13, 2014

Opening the summer of 2011, Ponyride, a 30,000 square-foot warehouse in the Corktown area of Detroit, presently serves as home to 25 socially-conscious businesses, ranging from non-profits like Detroit Soup, to for-profit entrepreneurial ventures like Detroit Denim. Following is my conversation with Ponyride’s Executive Director Kate Bordine on how they made it happen, the power […]

Posted in Detroit, entrepreneurism, Local Business | Also tagged 3rd Ward, branding, Brooklyn, business incubators, Cleveland, co-working, Corktown, Detroit Denim, Detroit Harmonie, Detroit Soup, Empowerment Plan, foreclosure, grants, hip hop dancing, Hugh, Indiegogo, Kate Bordine, Knight Foundation, letterpress, local non-profits, makers, metalworking, networking, new models for non-profits, non-profits, Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, Phil Cooley, pop-up retail, recording studio, Slows Bar BQ, Smith Shop, social entrepreneurship, TechShop Detroit, textiles, the lessons of Detroit, triple bottom line, Two James Distillery, volunteering, woodworking | 6 Comments

1,000 seed bombs for Water Street!

By Mark | March 31, 2013

As I was walking my dog around Ypsilanti’s 38-acres of depressingly-barren downtown real estate known as Water Street yesterday morning, it occurred to me that it might be fun to pick a day sometime soon and encourage everyone in Ypsilanti to come out and plant sunflower seeds together. And, in a fit of inspiration, I […]

Posted in Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged brownfield, commons, flowers, gardening, gorilla gardening, guerilla bio-remediation, Lisa Waud, Michigan Avenue, phytoremediation, seed, seed bombing, seedbombs, slingshots, sunflowers, teraforming, toxic waste, trebuchets, Water Street, Water Street Redevelopment Project, wildflowers | 40 Comments

Local entrepreneurs Jean Henry, Lisa Waud and Helen Harding on what it means to be “Small and Mighty”

By Mark | February 19, 2013

We didn’t announce it until this evening, but the October recipient of the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation’s monthly $1,000 cash grant was Small & Mighty, the scrappy, little entrepreneurial support network created in the fall of 2012 by brilliant local shit-stirrers Jean Henry, Helen Harding and the cheese-loving Lisa Waud. What follows is a transcript […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Detroit, entrepreneurism, Local Business, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged A2Awesome, Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce, Blake Reetz, business ethics, business owners who get it, capitalization, Cliff Bell’s, EAT, Helen Harding, Jean Henry, Jefferson Market, Lisa Waud, Michael Shuman, networking, Open City, Small and Mighty, small business, Sweet Heather Anne, The Wedding Party, Think Local First, Young Entrepreneurial People | 25 Comments

David Landrum on the launch of Two James…. the first distillery in Detroit since Prohibition

By Mark | January 31, 2013

As you may have heard, a new distillery will soon be opening in the Corktown section of Detroit, not too far from where our friend Lisa Waud will be opening the new flower shop I told you about a few days ago. From what I’m told, it will be the first legal distillery to operate […]

Posted in Detroit, Food, Local Business, Locally Owned Business | Also tagged absinthe, Acetaldehyde, Acetone, American Liquor Company, bootlegging, bourbon, Cafe Felix, Calvados, Camp James, Canada, Chattanooga, cider vinegar, cocktails, Colorado, Corktown, Corktown 500, David Landrum, David Pickerell, Detroit River, Distilled Spirits Producer, Dry Fly, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurship, Ethanol, Farm to Bottle, Fred McLaren, Frederick Myll Co., George Washington, Hiram Walker, Lake St. Clair, Leopold Brothers, liquor, Lisa Waud, Makers Mark, martinis, Mercury Bar, Methanol, Michigan Avenue, Milk & Honey, Mount Vernon, Peter Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Portland, prohibition, Purple Gang, Robinson and Aronheim, Rodney Dangerfield, rye whiskey, Sasha Petraske, scotch, smuggling, St. Clair River, Stone House, Thornsby, Todd Leopold, Two James Distillery, Volstead Act, Washington State, whiskey | 21 Comments

Lisa Waud on her plans to expand Ann Arbor’s Pot & Box into the thriving entrepreneurial hotbed that is Detroit’s Corktown

By Mark | January 17, 2013

A few days ago, Linete and I foud ourselves in Detroit, without kids, poking around Corktown. The plan was to get something warm to drink at Astro Coffee, but it looked too crowded. Linette peaked in, through one of the fogged-up windows, to see if there was space for me. (She can fit most anywhere. […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, entrepreneurism, Local Business, Locally Owned Business, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged 2520 Michigan Avenue, absinthe, Andy Didorosi, Astro Coffee, Bureau of Urban Living, Canine to Five, City Bird, Claire Nelson, Cliff Bell’s, cocktails, Corktown, Dave Landrum, Detroit, Detroit Bus Company, Detroit Farm and Garden, Detroit gas stations, Downtown Home and Garden, Emily Linn, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurship, Felch Street, flowers, friends who do cooler stuff that I do, Gallery 555, gardening, Green Dot Stables, Hatch Detroit, Helen Harding, Honor & Folly, Hugh, ice cream truck, indy retail, Izzy’s, Jean Henry, Joe Posch, Katherine Yates, Le Petite Zinc, Lisa Waud, Liz Blondy, Mercury Bar, Michigan Avenue, Model D, Mudgie’s Deli, new ideas in retail, Open City Detroit, Paper Street, Pete Bailey, Pop-up for the Holidays, pop-up retail, Popular Mechanics, Rachel Parke, retail in Detroit, Rooselvelt Park, scotch, Slows Bar BQ, Small & Mighty, St. Cece’s, Stagger Lee, The Sugar House, Two James Distillery, urban gardening, Valentine's Day, Xavier’s, YEP, Young Entrepreneurial People | 24 Comments

Tag Archives: Pot and Box

1,000 seed bombs for Water Street!

Local entrepreneurs Jean Henry, Lisa Waud and Helen Harding on what it means to be “Small and Mighty”

David Landrum on the launch of Two James…. the first distillery in Detroit since Prohibition

Lisa Waud on her plans to expand Ann Arbor’s Pot & Box into the thriving entrepreneurial hotbed that is Detroit’s Corktown

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