Megan Trischler Helps Make Dreams Come True.

And we’re not just talking about her current position as Program Director for People’s Liberty. Megan brings design thinking and a desire to “make the ordinary extraordinary” to everything she does – and she’s done a lot. From founding the restaurant and cultural hub PieLab in Greensboro, Alabama to starting D:hive, a talent attraction and retention storefront in downtown Detroit, to collaborating on CoSign, an initiative bringing together artists and small business owners to create distinctive storefront signage, Megan brings expansive, creative thinking to everyday cultural and organizational problems.

In her current job as Program Director, Megan oversees the design residency programs for People’s Liberty. Her work is about helping others bring creative solutions to community issues and societal problems. In short, she’s making more of herself and that’s absolutely a good thing.

People’s Liberty is “a philanthropic lab that brings together civic-minded talent to address challenges and uncover opportunities to accelerate the positive transformation of Greater Cincinnati.” This unique model of funding and mentoring individuals, not organizations, taps into ideas and people that traditionally do not have access to this kind of support. People’s Liberty awards various grants and fellowships to individuals and groups impacting their community; you can learn more, and apply for a grant or fellowship, at www.peoplesliberty.org/apply.

Talking Community and Creativity at Rohs Street Cafe

Megan and host Brandon Dawson met on a Sunday afternoon at Rohs Street Café, a hub for students from the University of Cincinnati. It’s owned and operated by University Christian Church with a commitment to both mission of spirit and quality of coffee. Rohs Street was the first fair trade coffeehouse in Cincinnati and has been the starting point for many who have gone on to create businesses of their own (including Les Stoneham, founder of Deeper Roots Coffee, roasters of artisan single origin coffees). Rohs Street consistently serves up some of the highest quality coffee and espresso in a city increasingly known for a high-quality cup of joe.

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Megan Trischler is a designer, a graduate of Detroit’s College of Creative Studies. She originally set out to be a visual artist, but along the way found a passion for what she calls “creative placemaking.” We talked with Megan about her path to this point and how it developed the framework for what she’s doing now, including stints at a couple of design firms, the aforementioned foray into pie-making, and traveling across the US studying innovation in American communities. And we talked about where this work is taking her from here. There’s a lot to be gleaned from this conversation. Perhaps most interesting to us is the wonderful tension between facilitating creative projects for others, and making space for one’s own creative exploits. Megan’s navigating that tension every day, and we’re glad she gave us a peek into her process.