Desma Reid-Coleman is a highly successful Detroit Businesswoman who has owned and operated as many as seven businesses simultaneously since first hanging out her shingle as an entrepreneur on July 1, 1994. Desma currently owns and operates four primary businesses, which include:
- Fashion $en$e Upscale Resale featuring apparel and accessories for the entire family, with specialization in the St. John knit line of clothing
- Lady Valet Concierge and Valet Parking Services for business events, private parties, residential and commercial affairs that also provides coat check, bartending and service personnel
- Quality Professional Services, a human resources consulting, mediation and business development firm
- QPS/BagPort LLC, a luggage cart concession business originating in Germany and ensuing from her prior ownership of the luggage cart concession at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from 1999-2004.
With QPS, Desma is the only minority partner to own such a concession at any major airport in the United States. However, she is currently playing a key role in insuring that she will not remain with that status! She is initiating the DBE involvement of a well established African American businessman in the inaugural luggage cart franchise program at Philadelphia International Airport, the fifth largest commercial airport in the United States.
Long active in the Detroit business community, Desma initiated a monthly networking luncheon (The Sisterhood Collaborative) for four years which connected women together professionally across a wide spectrum. She is active with her alma mater, the University of Michigan, as an Emeritus member of the Center for the Education of Women (CEW) Leadership Advisory Council, and former Vice Chair of the Alumnae council (2005-2007).
Desma is the recipient of numerous community, civic, and institutional awards - DTE Energy Entrepreneurs Award, University of Michigan Distinguished Alumna in 1997, and Small Business Award of Distinction by the Michigan Business and Professional Association just to name a few.
Desma served with distinction as President of the Greater Detroit Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), is the past chair of the NAWBO PAC, and served on the NAWBO National Board of Directors from 2003-2007, concluding with her role as the chair of the 2007 annual Women’s Business Conference in Atlanta, GA. In addition, she has served on over fifty boards such as the Skyline Club Board of Governors (a Clubcorp facility), the National Black MBA Association Detroit Chapter, the National Political Congress of Black Women, Spaulding for Children Adoption and Foster Care Agency, and many more over the past 15 years.
Essence Magazine (September 2007) featured Desma in an article entitled “How I Got Rich” in a Black Women’s Guilde to Accumulating Wealth. In addition, she is featured in a chapter of the June 2007 book The Millionaire Zone by Jennifer Openshaw detailing the ‘life net’ concept of business success.
Desma holds a master’s degree in business management from Central Michigan University and is an avid golfer. However, she is most proud of her role as the mother of four accomplished and wonderful adult children, two sons and two daughters, ages 25-33
