Kyle Smitley is the Founder and Executive Director of Detroit Achievement Academy and Detroit Prep, both of which are small, incredible nonprofit charter school communities opened in 2013 and 2016, respectively. Kyle manages the schools' budgets, partnerships, fundraising, and all things external. Kyle's previous experience is in business, where in 2009 Inc. Magazine named her among the 30 Coolest Entrepreneurs Under 30 and Forbes named her a Top Ten Entrepreneur to watch. She earned her JD in 2019.
Excerpts about Kyle taken from the article: Women SEEN 2023: Kyle Smitley
Kyle graduated from DePauw University in 2007 and moved to San Diego to study for her LSAT. While in San Diego, she launched an eco-friendly children’s clothing company, Barley & Birch. Barley & Birch donated half of its profits to global environmental and social causes. As a result of her success, Smitly was named
"30 Coolest Entrepreneurs Under 30” by Inc. Magazine and a “Top Ten Entrepreneur to Watch” by
Forbes, among several other national recognitions. Along with a select group of entrepreneurs, she was even invited to have lunch with then-President Barack Obama, and then later received another invite to have dinner with the late Steve Jobs at his home. All of this occurred while Kyle was back to her home roots of Ohio, attending law school at The University of Toledo.
Kyle sold Barley & Birch in 2012 and pivoted into the education world. By 2013, Smitley was living in Detroit, and with the help of generous donors — including the “Queen of Pop” and Michigan native Madonna — she had opened
Detroit Achievement Academy, a free public charter school in northwest Detroit that now serves kindergarten through eighth-grade students. The school started with only two kindergarten and two first-grade classes, which Smitley says helped to foster its long-term success.
Smitley later founded a second charter school,
Detroit Prep, in 2016 with co-founder.
In addition to managing the schools’ budgets, partnerships, fundraising, and “all things external” at the two schools, as well as raising her two daughters, Smitley, now 38, also manages her own cookware line.
Louis Kitchenware, a line that was “created out of a desire for everyday cooks to have high-quality products that don’t feel stuffy.” The cookware is made in the U.S. by family-owned companies and meant to celebrate home cooks as being “heroes who deserve great kitchen tools.” Additionally, Louis Kitchenware donates to organizations that advance justice and equity, redistributes profits to companies and organizations owned by people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, provides full sets of kitchenware to families transitioning from being unsheltered into homes, and more.