Brittany Claybrooks is a Detroit native with deep roots on the Northend, east side, and Inkster. Although she currently works as a senior advisor for the jobs and economy team in the mayor's office, her story is one of triumph and perseverance.
She began as an at-risk youth expelled from the public school system and a foster care youth. After being admitted into Peterson-Warren Academy, she graduated as salutatorian.
“The older I [became], the more I realized that [the early stages of my life] taught me about not giving up and what it means to be from Detroit, having grit,” said Brittany.
She moved away to attend college and graduated with an associate’s degree from Tallahassee Community College in Florida, then earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M. After graduation, she worked for the State of Florida, the state’s Juvenile Justice Department, and also the Florida Department of Health.
Later, she moved to D.C. to work on Capitol Hill in the Office of Nancy Pelosi, a former speaker of the house. Her next venture landed her with the Young Invincibles, a national non-profit organization that helped to advance the part of the Affordable Care Act that allowed youth to stay on their parents' insurance until 26-years-old.
“Now kids have insurance and former foster youth can stay on Medicaid until they're 26, which was a really big deal at the time,” Brittany shared.
When she realized that the built environment and where people lived played a role in their health outcomes, she went to graduate school for urban planning at New York University. After graduating with a master's in urban planning, she served on the East Orange City Council in New Jersey; a planning director for the City of Plainfield, New Jersey; and the North Jersey Political Director for (now) Senator Andy Kim.
After leaving home for 16 years, she returned to Detroit in 2025 to serve as a caregiver for her father. What started as a summer break to rest for a little while turned into a realization “that it would be an honor to take care of my dad because he gave so much to me and sacrificed so much for me.”
Brittany visited DetroitAtWork.com and searched the jobs portal, which helped her to secure her current role.
“For all the talk about all things being political, I'm returning from a different state having no clue who anybody is in this big bureaucratic ship of a building,” said Brittany. “And here I am. It started with me being on the Detroit at Work website, trying to figure out how I would contribute professionally while also taking on the new transition of being under 35 and serving as a caretaker for my dad.”
She stumbled upon the Detroit at Work website via a Google search.
“For me, it was hard to figure out what was available, what people were looking for, just trying to surf the entire web. So having Detroit at Work’s job database as a single spot to measure yourself up against was helpful,” Brittany revealed.
“Detroit at Work allowed me the opportunity to… settle into my decision to be here in a way that was genuine and private to me, and I could do it at my own pace,” she added. “I found job listings at every part of the spectrum from entry-level and beyond.”
“In this economy, you could be led to believe there's nothing and then you go on the Detroit at Work website and say, ‘Oh, wow… it's a lot of opportunity,’” Brittany shared. "I wondered, ‘Wait a minute. Are they talking about the same economy that I'm hearing on the news?... Detroit At Work has thousands of jobs on their website."