Our Guides
CHRIS COPACIA
Chris is a Detroit enthusiast and community activist with a commitment to equity and active citizenship. His love for and sense of responsibility to his parents through their health challenges has influenced his continued residence in the small Metro Detroit suburb of Berkley, MI, though he spends a considerable amount of his time and energy in the city proper. He attributes his early love for the city and his exposure to many of Detroit’s assets to his luminescent mother, who worked in New Center Detroit for 38 years until her death from Ovarian Cancer in 2017.
In 2014, he graduated from Wayne State University’s School of Business after transferring from Oakland Community College. From there, he spent 6 years working his way up to directing a small chocolate retail and production business, where he learned about the impacts of small businesses on communities and the challenges that they face. Today he is the Program Manager and tour guide for City Institute. He derives his knowledge of Detroit’s assets, history, and challenges from continued self-education, ongoing engagement as well as his time crafting tours with the organization. Outside of CI, he primarily volunteers with Freedom House Detroit, a shelter and service organization for asylum seekers to Detroit and Canada. He is also an ardent Detroit City FC supporter.
Glen Hendricks
Glen is a native Detroiter who spent the 70s and 80s DJing throughout the city and operating his own record store. Beyond his passion for music, he also has a passion for collecting physical art, which he continues to pursue to this day. Glen received his BA in Secondary Education from Wayne State University and completed the Michigan Professional Emergency Manager Program through the Michigan State Police. Throughout his life, he has held 34 different jobs, including Emergency Medical Technician and Director of Emergency Services at the American Red Cross, to name a couple. Glen has lived through both Detroit’s challenging and greatest moments and is now sharing his experiences as a storyteller with the City Institute.
Kathy Love
Kathy Love was born and raised in a racially mixed Northwest Detroit neighborhood. She graduated from the Detroit Public Schools and then earned a BS in Human Resource Development from the University of Detroit, where she tutored English as a Second Language. Her love of tour guiding began when she and her late mother, Jackie Love, escorted busloads of senior citizens to New York, NY; Washington DC; Chicago; IL and Toronto, Ontario,
Canada for theatre parties. As an usher, Kathy welcomes newcomers to her church, proudly shows off its historical marker, and introduces guests to fellow parishioners. Kathy is a hospital volunteer and a University of Detroit Mercy Commencement Volunteer. She wears her Detroit apparel with pride and enjoys bragging about the City’s rebirth. Like Judge Greg Mathis, she’s from Detroit and proud of where she comes from. She wholeheartedly believes in the Detroit motto, “We hope for better things. It shall arise from the ashes.” In her spare time, Kathy loves to read, drive, travel, speak other languages, and watch international news.
Laurie Sparks
When Laurie’s eldest son moved to Detroit in 2010, it sparked a new hobby. Laurie has lived most of her life in the Metro Detroit area and has special memories of coming downtown, but she became transfixed with all things Detroit—history, architecture, art, old places, new places, home tours, bike tours, restaurants, etc. So much so that she talked her husband into moving downtown, where they have lived since 2016.
Laurie loves showing off the city and takes pride in its great heritage. Her favorite things about Detroit are the people, the grit, and the entrepreneurial spirit.
Sonal Patel
Sonal is a first-generation immigrant and resident Detroiter who advocates for education, equity, and empowerment. Her love for Detroit began during her undergraduate years at Wayne State University, where she met native Detroiters who helped her see the city through new eyes. Sonal’s social and professional experiences helped her develop a deeper understanding of the economic, social, and political impacts of past events on Detroit’s condition. She soon realized that one of the most powerful ways she could influence the city was to reside within its boundaries. In 2004, Sonal moved to Lafayette Park as an experiment and found that she loved the city so much she never left.
After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, Sonal worked on an NIH-funded cancer research project with a local hospital. She then shifted to K12 education, earned a Master of Arts in Teaching degree, and had an extensive career teaching middle school mathematics and science in the city and the suburbs. Sonal now works in medical education at a local university.
Kyle Bartell
Kyle is a Detroit, MI native who grew up on the city's NW side. Bartell attended Wayne State University, where he majored in Urban Studies with a focus on Urban Design + Planning. Kyle is a second-generation entrepreneur who co-founded Sit-On-It Detroit in 2013, and he's the owner-operator of DigiMax Business Corp. Bartell also sits on the boards of First Independence Bank and Community & Home Support. His work centers around business and community-based development, leading initiatives that enhance the overall quality of life in urban environments with an emphasis on good design and best practices through sustainability.
Max Aghili
Max Aghili has been an active member of the City Institute tour team for five years and has conducted just about every tour we offer. He is an enthusiastic member of our tour team who loves to tell the story of Detroit and the suburbs: the history of its people, places, and projects. Book a tour with him, and you will come back again and again for more tours we offer of Detroit downtown, midtown, cultural center, riverfront, neighborhoods, and suburbs. He recently developed and started conducting a tour of Dearborn where he lives which highlights past and present. His favorite tour is Detroit’s Black History by Those That Lived It, which combines historical facts with real-life stories of people that worked and lived in Detroit for over 70 years.
Steve Kaptur
Steve grew up in Plymouth, Michigan, and has always been fascinated by the great history and stories of Detroit. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a BA in Secondary Education specializing in Social Studies and History along with a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and currently teaches seventh and eighth-grade Social Studies at Dearborn Public Schools. He has over ten years of experience as an educator and enjoys supporting his fellow teachers as a content lead and mentor.
Steve has been sharing Detroit’s story with City Institute for over four years and learns something new on every tour. Using his understanding of American history, he has been able to frame the history of Detroit within the greater story of the United States and shares that on his tours while using the city as a classroom. Currently, Steve lives in the Bagley neighborhood with his wife, Victoria and their dog Jefferson and cats Franklin and Ike.
Michael Daniels
Michael Daniels is passionate and committed to Family and Community. Michael retired in 2016 after 30 years in the financial planning industry. Michael brings his indefatigable spirit to everything he does. Michael has been a founder, leader, and friend in every area of his life. He graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1970 and matriculated through the University of Detroit and Wayne State University, studying accounting and finance. He was a founding member of the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter at the University of Detroit. A fun fact about Michael is that he was a Detroit Police Officer from 1972 - 1976. Michael worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, EF Hutton, and Smith Barney; ending his impressive career at Ameriprise in 2016.
Jonathan Peters
Life-long Detroiter, historian, and self-taught architectural enthusiast and photographer. Jonathan has led tours, both on an independent basis and for several local businesses, such as Pure Detroit and Hostel Detroit. He has also worked in retail, mortgage operations, and hospitality. Jonathan is a graduate of Detroit Public Schools and attended Focus: HOPE after graduating high school. He is a general lover of music, and one of his major hobbies is collecting vinyl records.
Achea Gist
Achea has always loved food, design, and Detroit. After getting a degree in Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management, she moved back to Detroit and started an event planning company, Ke Event Designs. Wanting to be a part of something bigger, she began working + volunteering with various community organizations, including Inside Detroit (now City Institute). She started doing tours in 2009 and has been able to explore her city in new ways sharing her love for Detroit with people from all over the world. Kia spends her spare time cooking, decorating, and working on a home accessories line that speaks to her Native American heritage.
Guest Guides
Elton Monroy Duran
Tour - Heart of the Art: Southwest Detroit
Elton Monroy Duran is a Detroit-based visual artist born in Ciudad Sahagun in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. Duran acquired a BFA from the School of Fine Arts at the University of the State of Querétaro (1998-2003). He describes himself as a humanist artist with scientific and sociological approaches, which he seeks to convey through his work. He started the mural and art company Corpus Art Inc. in Detroit in 2015.
