Most cities host tech events.
Detroit is building a culture.
And culture is infrastructure.
This weekend wasn’t louder.
It was sharper.
You could feel it.
No posturing.
No cosplay innovation.
Just builders. Shipping. Listening. Adjusting.
Larry Brinker didn’t give a quote.
He issued a standard:
“Say what you’re going to do. Do it. Protect the culture at all cost.”
That’s how ecosystems mature.
Darnell Adams reframed the narrative:
“This is a continuous door bringing more and more people to Detroit. The louder we are, the more people understand we aren’t playing around.”
Translation:
Detroit is not emerging.
Detroit is executing.
And Alexa gave the builder’s law:
“Fail fast and shift quickly.”
Because speed is not chaos.
It’s responsiveness.
What changed this weekend?
The room felt inevitable.
Founders weren’t asking if they belong.
They were refining how they win.
Vendors weren’t hoping for exposure.
They were circulating capital inside culture.
The audience wasn’t consuming.
They were calibrating.
This is what happens when belonging evolves into discipline.
When vibes evolve into velocity.
When community evolves into coordinated action.
You don’t build ecosystems with inspiration alone.
You build them with standards.
And the standard just went up.
This wasn’t a recap.
This was a signal.
The operating system upgraded.
Detroit tech culture is no longer proving it exists.
It’s proving it scales.
#BlackTechSaturdays #togetherwecan #BelongingBlueprint #YouBelongHere #BlackHistoryMonth
Vendor Spotlight: Heart of the City Photography 📸✨
Some people take pictures.
Heart of the City Photography helps Detroit remember itself.
Led by Tay Lee, Heart of the City is built on a belief that photography is not just about what happened in the room — it is about what the room meant.
The laugh before the panel starts.
The founder standing a little taller after their headshot.
The hug between two people who finally found community.
The moment a builder realizes they are not alone.
The proof that something powerful happened here.
That is why this spotlight matters.
Because BTS x MoveDetroit is not just another event.
It is an archive in motion.
A gathering of founders, creatives, families, technologists, storytellers, small business owners, civic builders, and dreamers choosing to believe that Detroit can be easier to stay in, easier to return to, and easier to choose.
And somebody has to help us hold that memory with care.
Heart of the City Photography brings the eye, the heart, and the intentionality to capture more than faces.
They capture belonging.
They capture movement.
They capture legacy.
They capture the city becoming more honest about its own beauty.
At BTS, we know documentation is not an afterthought.
It is infrastructure.
Because one day, somebody will look back at these photos and say:
This is what it looked like when Detroit started choosing its builders out loud.
Tomorrow, make sure you show love to Heart of the City Photography.
Take the photo.
Honor the moment.
Let the city see itself.
Saturday, May 16
2–5 PM
BTS x MoveDetroit
Vendor Spotlight: La Shish 🔥
Before there was networking, there was the table.
Before there were business cards, there was food passed between people.
Before there were panels, there were conversations over something warm, flavorful, familiar, and made with care.
That is why La Shish belongs in the center of the BTS x MoveDetroit experience.
Known for the kind of Middle Eastern flavor people come back for — fresh bread, shawarma, kabobs, hummus, salads, and food made with real care — La Shish is bringing more than a meal today..
They are bringing comfort.
They are bringing culture.
They are bringing the reminder that food is one of the oldest forms of belonging.
At BTS, we know culture is not only what happens on stage.
Culture is what we share.
What we taste.
What brings strangers closer.
What turns an event into a gathering.
Come hungry.
Show love.
Support La Shish.
Saturday, May 16
2–5 PM
BTS x MoveDetroit
Come ready to be part of a story about Detroit.
A story about what it means to stay.
What it means to return.
What it means to choose this city — not because the work is easy, but because the future is worth building here.
Today, BTS x MoveDetroit is more than a gathering.
It is an inflection point.
A room full of builders, creatives, founders, visionaries, organizers, artists, neighbors, and dreamers moving together toward one shared belief:
There are no impossible things.
Only really hard things that require a lot of people.
And that is what today is about.
Making it easier for people to see a future in Detroit.
Making it easier for talent to stay rooted here.
Making it easier for those who left to find their way back home.
Making it easier for people across the country to look at Detroit and say, “That is where I want to build.”
We are gathering to create a world where dreams have a home in this city.
And every time this community links up, it becomes something bigger than the room. A memory. A movement. A movie.
Today will be documented.
Today will be felt.
Today will be shared.
Come ready to connect.
Come ready to create.
Come ready to move.
BTS x MoveDetroit
Today | 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Be ready. ❤️
🥳
Black Tech Saturdays is celebrating 3 years at the Move Detroit x BTS event TODAY! We appreciate all of their work in supporting local movers like us ❤️
We'll be at the events today...and you should be too!
#pplmovin #detroit #interviews #blacktechsaturdays #movedetroit
Vendor Spotlight: POGO 🗳️⚡
POGO is showing up with one of the most important kinds of technology:
Technology that helps people participate.
Led by Arabia Simeon, POGO is reimagining how Gen Z and Millennials connect with politics, voting information, and civic life. It is built with the kind of clarity that says democracy should not feel distant, confusing, or impossible to navigate.
That is why this matters at BTS x MoveDetroit.
Because the future of Detroit is not only being built by people with capital.
It is being built by people with voice.
People with information.
People with access.
People with the confidence to move.
POGO represents the kind of civic tech we need more of — tools that help everyday people step into their power and understand that participation is not reserved for insiders.
Tomorrow, stop by POGO.
Learn the platform.
Ask questions.
Think about what it means when technology helps more people move from watching decisions to shaping them.
Saturday, May 16
2–5 PM
BTS x MoveDetroit
@blacktechsaturdays is turning 3 and they’re celebrating with a happy hour you don’t want to miss! 🕺
We Love You Detroit: BTS 3-Year Anniversary Happy Hour
Date: Thursday, May 21
Time: 7:00 PM –11:00 PM
Location: Parlay Detroit— 1260 Washington Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226
Hosted by: @socialnetworkhq
Powered by: Black Tech Saturdays
Sounds by @completd and @lyricleson
Techies, creatives, founders, community builders— let’s have a time! Link to register in @blacktechsaturdays bio!
Black Tech Saturdays just announced their Founders on the Fairway Golf Clinic Series and Fundraiser Outing ⛳️
I had such a positive experience last year, I’d encourage you to come out, get connected and learn the game! Beginners can take advantage of the clinic series starting Sat. June 6 from 9a-noon. ⏰ #golflife #blacktechsaturdays #golfclinic
Cc: @blacktechsaturdays
Vendor Spotlight: Butter & Bliss Co. 🍪✨
Some businesses don’t just sell something sweet.
They create a feeling.
Butter & Bliss Co. is bringing that kind of energy to BTS x MoveDetroit tomorrow — the kind of joy that makes people pause, smile, grab something good, and remember that community is built through details.
That matters.
Because entrepreneurship is not always loud at first. Sometimes it starts with a recipe. A gift. A table. A customer who comes back. A moment where somebody realizes, “I can build something people love.”
At Black Tech Saturdays, we believe that is part of the innovation story too.
Not just the pitch deck.
Not just the prototype.
Not just the big announcement.
But the care.
The consistency.
The flavor.
The feeling.
Tomorrow, make sure you stop by Butter & Bliss Co.
Support the sweetness.
Support the builder.
Support the bliss.
Saturday, May 16
2–5 PM
BTS x MoveDetroit
Vendor Spotlight: Thirsty Lemon 🍋✨
Thirsty Lemon is the kind of brand that makes you understand something powerful:
A simple idea can become a whole experience when the founder puts enough imagination behind it.
Founded by Chy’Ah Smith, Thirsty Lemon has grown from a young founder’s lemonade stand into a premium lemonade and mocktail brand centered on connection, creativity, and a more inclusive social experience.
That is the Detroit founder spirit.
Lemonade becomes a gathering point.
A drink becomes a memory.
A brand becomes a signal that somebody believed in their own taste, their own vision, and their own ability to build something people would come back for.
At BTS x MoveDetroit, we are not just celebrating who can build an app, raise capital, or launch a company.
We are celebrating every founder brave enough to take an idea seriously and turn it into something people can taste, feel, and gather around.
Tomorrow, make sure you stop by Thirsty Lemon.
Sip something fresh.
Support something local.
Celebrate the kind of entrepreneurship that turns thirst into traction.
Saturday, May 16
2–5 PM
BTS x MoveDetroit
There is something powerful about a DJ who does not just play music — she opens portals.
DJ STARDUST is one of those artists.
A Sierra Leonean DJ and producer rooted in Detroit, STARDUST brings a sound that moves across worlds: house, Afrobeat, R&B, techno, dance, diaspora, memory, and motion.
Her gift is atmosphere.
The kind of sound that makes people look around and feel invited.
The kind of rhythm that turns a public space into a gathering.
The kind of energy that reminds us Detroit is not just a city you move through — it is a city that moves through you.
For Black Tech Saturdays, this is the deeper work.
We are always thinking about how belonging is created. Not just through panels, programs, and conversations, but through feeling. Through sound. Through culture. Through the small moments that help people loosen up, lean in, ask questions, meet someone new, and imagine themselves as part of what comes next.
That is why we are so excited to have DJ STARDUST help set the tone for BTS x Move Detroit.
This is Renaissance energy.
A day built around the courage, capacity, and curiosity to create.
The courage to show up.
The capacity to build together.
The curiosity to explore Detroit differently.
Stop by the Broadway People Mover Stop from 2–4 PM to catch DJ STARDUST’s set, then keep the energy going with us from 5–7 PM for the BTS x Move Detroit Afterglow.
Come for the music.
Stay for the movement.
#BlackTechSaturdays #MoveDetroit #DJSTARDUST #DetroitCulture #DetroitDJs
#Detroit we’re back and we want to see you there!
On Friday, June 5th we’re hosting a private pilates class for the ladies @push.pilates ! Come and move your body and meet new people in the city.
On Saturday, June 6th, we’re hosting a mixer and we want to see you there! Come for the wine and charcuterie but stay for the new friends you’ll meet!
🚨 We are offering limited joint tickets for Black Women in STEM who want to hang out with us all weekend!
#stemsoulcial #blackstemprofessionals #blackwomeninstem
