I am an active contributor toward DE&I culture.

The InCommon Magazine brings everyone in the agency together. It also needed someone to help assemble all the creative content. As a result this is what came about after much collaboration and creative direction. The process involved; conceptual thinking for article imagery, template layout, typesetting, royalty-free image search, image compositing and art direction.

Welcome to the relaunch of InCommon, a digital magazine created by and for the Commonwealth community and presented by the DE&I team. In the Language Issue, we celebrate human expression in its many forms and explore all the ways language helps us understand one another. Explore the origins of Metro Detroit street names (and how to pronounce them) and how differences in dialects can get you into some interesting conversations. Discover how words become trends, poetry that conjures memories of distant lands and delicious meals with global flair that are right around the corner.

You’ll also find a thoughtful first-person essay on Colorism and a new video feature that introduces you to some of our colleagues, with a glimpse into things that might not come up in a status meeting. Most of all, we hope you’ll be reminded of the many things we all have InCommon.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard on the InCommon relaunch. Special thanks to the DE&I Committee, Belinda Leworthy and Brinn Phillips for all their support. If you have story ideas or want to be part of the next issue, please send us an email.

Thank you and enjoy!