Next City isn’t just a news website, we are a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire social, economic and environmental change in cities. Part of how we do that is by connecting our readers to urban changemakers and holding an annual Vanguard conference bringing together 40 top young urban leaders.

Name: Jessica Meyer

Current Occupation: Director of Programs, BUILD Institute

Hometown: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Current City: Detroit

Twitter Tag: @StartWithBuild

I drink: Black coffee

I get to work by: Bike

The area I grew up in is: Suburb

What is your favorite city and why? Detroit … HANDS DOWN. A good friend of mine and director of Detroit Experience Factory Jeanette Pierce always says, “Detroit is big enough to matter in the world, but small enough for you to matter in it.” And it’s so true. Individuals can have a huge part in remembering Detroit’s past, actively participating in Detroit’s present, and creating Detroit’s future through being a part of Detroit’s communities. You can’t say that about a lot of major world cities.

What do you do when you are not working? I socialize a lot. There is so much to do in Detroit and so many amazing people that I’m constantly going to five things a night like a neighborhood block party, then a new small business that opened, then the Eastern Market farmers’ market, then an art show. It’s exhausting yet energizing at the same time.

What do you like most about your current job? I can see the impact of the work I’m doing every day. I can physically go into the storefront of small business owners who went through our eight-week business plan development class or see the number of minority-, female-owned businesses growing. We aren’t waiting to see if our work is impacting Detroit in five to 10 years. We know it is right now. It’s incredibly empowering.

Entrepreneurship class at BUILD Institute

What are the hard parts about your job? We’re a staff of two and some seasonal interns so we do a lot with very little. We’re very grassroots and scrappy which makes the job innovative and creative, but can be overwhelming and stressful when you have so much work that needs to be done with very little resources. If I wasn’t so passionate about our mission and the work we’re doing, it’d be easy to feel burnt out.

What makes a successful leader? One of my favorite quotes is: “For the strength of the pack is the wolf. And the strength of the wolf is the pack.” A leader is only as successful as her/his team members, which is why integrating personal development, encouraging transparent communication styles, and actively cultivating a partnership among all folks involved is really important. I actually have a wolf tattooed on me to remind me of it!

What’s your BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)? I have two! The first is to create my own social venture from the ground up. I’ve worked with thousands of people with business ideas, but have never pursued my own idea. Helping others has really empowered me to pursue it. My second goal is to create a loving family of my own. A huge motivation for all the work I do is being a role model I’d be proud to be for my children.

What’s the best professional advice you have received? Seth Godin and Catherine Hoke both talk about the importance of dancing with fear and failing young as an entrepreneur. Imagine if you got straight As your whole life. The fear of the F would prevent you from ever taking a risk. If you’ve been getting quite a few Fs, one more F won’t kill you. It’ll give you more lessons and more information to get to that A. Strive for the Fs. It gets you that much closer to the As. And all it takes is one A to show you that you’re doing it right.

What career advice would you give an emerging urban leader? Focus on your own personal development just as much as your work helping others. If your heart is telling you to go in a different direction but the job you have is “steady and secure and doing good work,” listen to your heart.

Jessica Meyer was named a 2015 American Express Emerging Innovator.