Ida Byrd-Hill, an urban economist and futurist, is the President of Uplift, Inc. a nonprofit idea incubator that creates ideas to reinvent urban cities. She has piloted both a post-secondary and high school that attracts African American men.She is in the midst of expanding Automation Workz Institute, a game based cybersecurity post-secondary school that won the Cisco Networking Academy Above & Beyond 2019. She piloted Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School, a cyber alternative school that won the Automation Alley Educational Program of the Year 2007. Award. She is the author of 8 books. Ida Byrd-Hill holds a BA Economics, from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; and a MBA from Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University.