My Experience
I have more than 17 years of experience building strategic alliances for progressive change in disinvested communities and promoting inclusive growth in the St. Louis Region to minimize social and economic inequities. As Executive Director, St. Louis Promise Zone, and Vice President of Community Investment and Real Estate at the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, I forged and cultivated strong relationships in North St. Louis City and North St. Louis County. In this role, I helped to launch and lead the largest urban Promise Zone, both in population and geography, in the country instituted under President Obama’s administration. I attracted and oversaw the investment of more than $90 million to the St. Louis footprint through direct service provider partnerships and convening of more than 200 community partners and 19 federal agencies in the Promise Zone. The St. Louis Promise Zone catalyzes a more equitable, thriving region through radical collaboration, alignment, and intentional, strategic investment in our most disadvantaged communities.
My Work
In 2020, I co-founded Key Strategic Group (KSG), a consulting firm focused on social systems and impact planning. With decades of experience, the KSG team is uniquely qualified to deliver innovative and sustainable strategies for system change at the intersection of community, academia, business, and government stakeholders.
As VP of Community Investment and Real Estate, I managed the agency’s four small business incubators with more than 100 businesses and 80 clients. I built out small business programming with the Small Business Development and Technology Center. Additionally, I oversaw the redevelopment of $100 million in real estate assets, led an equitable real estate policy implementation strategy, and developed neighborhood engagement frameworks inclusive of community partnerships and residents. This leadership has built credibility amongst residents, corporate leaders, community organizers, educational institutions, nonprofits, and civic leaders through various engagements.
My work has included numerous projects and initiatives that have built regional capacity for achieving just, equitable, and sustainable development at both the programmatic and public policy levels. I was tapped to lead the COVID Small Business Recovery funding for more than 2100 businesses in the St. Louis region, disseminating $30 million in grants and loans to businesses. I raised $3 million from public, private, and philanthropic dollars and oversaw $27 million from St. Louis County's CaresACT funding.
During the civil unrest in Ferguson in 2014, I was an intricate part of the response team as the administrator for a regional collaborative effort to provide a $1.5 million, zero percent interest loan, and neighborhood development strategy along with commercial revitalization programs to impacted businesses. I developed and implemented various business listening sessions, technical workshops, and partnerships to further assist businesses towards sustainability and growth while building social capital through direct interaction with over 200 businesses. Additionally, I served on the Reinvest North County Fund to disseminate $1 million in private grant funding from private corporations to area businesses and school districts.
Before this role, I worked for St. Louis Development Corporation, overseeing various commercial corridor development strategies that led to the creation of various financial incentive districts and neighborhood organizations to provide greater community impact, transformation, and stability. I also underwrote business loans, managed six collaborative lending programs, negotiated contracts, and developed business proposals with local, state, and federal incentives utilizing various programs to spur more than $5 billion in investment.
​
I am a lifelong learner and avid reader, having earned graduate degrees in public policy and business administration, emphasizing finance, and am currently a doctoral candidate of Leadership and Social Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. I serve on a number of local and national executive and community advisory boards, and commissions to promote social justice and equitable economic opportunity both locally and nationally. I have been the recipient of several awards inclusive of 2018 Diversity Leader and 2020 Most Influential Business Leader from the St. Louis Business Journal.
