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Michael Graham, 37
Owner & Managing Partner, Lost City Denver
One of Michael Graham’s biggest successes arose from one of his biggest setbacks.
COVID-19 shut down his second Lost City coffee shop about a month after it opened. Within days, Graham and his Lost City co-owners brought together four like-minded organizations to create the Denver Metro Emergency Food Network, dedicated to addressing growing food insecurity.
The basement kitchen of the Capitol Hill location became the staging ground for the more than 300,000 meals delivered to homebound Coloradans. Graham also repurposed his Lost City RiNo location’s outdoor space for a weekly pay-how-you-can farmers market to provide affordable or free food to Denver’s Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods. On weekends, the RiNo location hosts socially distant concerts to benefit local artists and music industry professionals.
“For me, success is creating new ways to bring positive impact to my community,” says Graham, who takes to heart advice he received to “look for the crossroads of totally different disciplines and seemingly disconnected life experiences (to) create original value and impact.”
At his day job at Guidehouse Consulting Engagements, Graham specializes in economic equity issues. His most recent project supports development of training, communications products and innovation analysis around global U.S. efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.
His No. 1 goal: “To never take this wild ride or the people I meet along the way for granted.”
This article is part of the ColoradoBiz’s 2021 Top 25 Young Professionals. Click here to read more about the latest class of up-and-coming movers and shakers.