Just realized I never formally introduced myself in the "Introduce Yourself" thread. Whoopsy.
It's funny -- I grew up in the bustling river's edge metropolis of Prairie du Rocher, IL, lived in Edwardsville through college, and most recently moved to Chicago. So I've never actually lived in St. Louis. I really don't know if it's because of or in spite of that fact that my St. Louis obsession is so strong. I can say that the second I got out of high school I began working downtown, and until the move to Chicago, have done so consistently through three jobs and two internships.
I went to SIUE and earned my degree in Public Relations. The first "feature story" I wrote as a class assignment was about the DTSLP. I wrote passionately (too much so for a journalism class, I'm afraid) about the revitalization/renovation work being done by the dedicated few in the city, and waxed poetic about a nonexistent project (it may have been a then-unplanned Powell Square -- not sure) making the uplifting climb out of ugly disrepair and into something beautiful. Suffice it to say, I was sold on St. Louis' future.
And that's when my crossroads happened. I could pursue an agency PR job, get a somewhat respectable starting salary, and do the work I had schooled myself to do. Or, conversely, I could dive into the reasonably unknown, with my limited experience, understanding and ideas, and hope I came out on the other side with a career, skill set and knowledge base I would enjoy using and expanding the rest of my life.
Know this -- I'm a very stubborn person. So the decision was fairly easy. I took a job at a litigation support firm (i.e. glorified Kinko's employee) downtown while I searched/waited for the opportunity. At 25 (and almost three years removed from college), I applied for an unpaid internship with the Laclede's Landing Merchants Association. My boss later divulged that one of the biggest reasons she chose me over the college candidates (sorry, college kids), was the way I spoke about the city. She hadn't seen that articulate a passion before for the city. Nor that out-of-the-gate knowledge of Laclede's Landing.
After a summer there where I learned the ins-and-outs of neighborhood planning, and a second internship with Focus St. Louis -- where I learned the ins-and-outs of policy persuasion and community-building, I came back to the Landing as the Executive Assistant and Communications Manager. Through mid-summer of 2011, I had overseen the development of its new website, managed two (came back for three) Big Muddy Blues Festivals and started to become a recognized voice for Laclede's Landing. I saw some venues come and some go, drafted an organizational letter of support for a little group you might know called City to River, and heard the first inklings of a street-leveling project and a sound/design school.
And then I took a new job, this time in Chicago as a Community Development Coordinator for the Old Town Merchants and Residents Association just north of downtown. They took a big leap by hiring someone who wasn't from Chicago, but again, they recognized my enthusiasm and understanding. Consequently, I've thrived as the CDC. Three months in, it's already very different than my time on the Landing. Yes, I'm away from the city and the district that I love, but I am getting some valuable experience for when I come back: my office is much more involved in the public and political process of a vibrant neighborhood and city. I've participated in Density/Development forums, aldermanic projects, streetscaping and right-of-way hearings...all the things that make this guy giddy and goofy.
By the time I'm done here (I'm thinking no later than 30. I'm currently 27), I will have positioned myself to do what I want to do for as long as I want to do it -- be that Directing an existing neighborhood such as the Landing or Patch, Developing a potential new one like Chouteau's Landing, or maybe Managing some single-block revitalization projects like Union Station, the Orpheum or a corner bar. Heck, maybe an Aldermanic bid will be in the cards. The point is, I stubbornly took the leap to do what I want to do and now I'm tantalizingly close to being able to do just that.
I'm often asked why I'm so excited (okay, I'll say it -- in love) with St. Louis, and the answer is always simple. Potential. Chicago's reached it and now has to raise the bar...it makes me happy to see. St. Louis, though, has a way to go...but what an exciting way it could be! You can walk down any street, and with a little imagination, imagine exactly the path to rejuvenation. And from there, you carry that idea on to the next block and the next neighborhood. The potential is there and, thankfully, so now are the imaginative and stubborn people who can shape it.
I love the knowledge, ideas and discussions everyone on NextSTL has provided and continues to provide. I'm learning as much here about the inner workings - big and small - of a city, as at my jobs. It's amazing to me how, in just the ten years since I first wrote that feature for class about a fictional building coming back from the brink, we're seeing it happen -- actually happen! -- more and more every day in St. Louis.
