Explore St. Louis

We teamed up with Explore St. Louis to share some incredibly inspiring stories of 10 individuals in the hospitality industry who built their dreams here. Explore St. Louis is the official destination marketing organization for the region whose efforts impact every hotel, restaurant, shop, and attraction in the area. These small business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders are some of the humans who make us all feel like St. Louis is home. We’ll be sharing their larger stories on the HOSTL page from our 1:1 interviews with them soon! For now, if you haven’t already, meet Tamara, Darin, Barry, Gabriela, Katie, Kwofe, Lindsay, Nick, Nila, & Qui

“As I sat there pouring my heart out, one of my girlfriends turned to me and said, ‘Quit.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, quit? You don’t quit corporate America. Not at the level that I had gotten to. Everyone would think I was nuts.’ She goes, ‘Quit.’ I asked, ‘What would I do if I quit?’ My other girlfriend was laughing and she turned to me and goes, ‘You’re always complaining St. Louis doesn’t have good ice cream. And you love nothing more than to go home — when you are home — and make all these crazy ice creams for parties, for friends, for everything. That’s your passion. Go open an ice cream shop.’ I thought, ‘Hmm, that’s an interesting idea.’ Literally that weekend, we wrote my business plan, put together my PowerPoint deck, ran my financials, and finished my marketing plan. I resigned two weeks later and I’ve never looked back.”

- Tamara Keefe, owner of Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Creamery

“I love St. Louis. St. Louis has afforded me a 22-year career in media on my own terms. That is unheard of in the industry. I would not have been able to do anything I’ve done in my career had I tried it in New York, L.A., or Chicago. I don’t know what the next chapter is. That freaks me out a little bit, but I have to have hope and faith that just like Vital VOICE landed in my lap, something else is going to land in my lap, too. If I don’t have that belief, and I don’t have that faith that the right opportunity will come along, I don’t think that would be very St. Louis.”

- Darin Slyman, former owner and publisher, Vital Voice Magazine and Maximize St. Louis

“The people of St. Louis are very loyal to our area. I noticed quickly that as a resident of St. Louis, you can say all the crap you want about St. Louis. But the moment you meet a non-resident of St. Louis talking crap about St. Louis, it’s on. I don’t care what neighborhood, what area — City or County — I don't care how far away you are, they will fight you to the death on that. Sometimes Chicagoans are like, ‘Cool. I’m from Chicago. Case made. Done. Bye.’ Overall, people have been so welcoming and so interested in me when I meet them. And it’s interesting that people here try to immediately identify you and want to know where you’re from and what your background is. ‘Well, I'm from Chicago. So you can’t ask me what high school I went to.’ Then when I say I’m living Downtown, it throws them a little bit, because they don’t know what to make of me. And I LOVE that.”

- Barry Draper, Director of Partnership, Explore St. Louis

“I wanted to be a part of writing a book about networking because I finally figured out how to do it. And there are still a lot of people who need help understanding the importance of it. At the end of the day, I can't succeed if I don't help other people succeed. That's really what success should be about.”

- Gabriela Ramirez-Arellano, owner of Don Emilianos, podcast host of Auténtico, author, and business counselor at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis

“You visit here and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, St. Louis? I didn’t know you’re like that. You’re lookin’ kind of sexy.’ Then you come back and you’re like, ‘You can buy a three-bedroom house here for about $130,000? I’m there.’”

- Katie Stuckenschneider, Marketing and Digital Media Manager, Forest Park Forever

“When you come to The Muny, the person next to you may look, act, or feel nothing like you. But if something funny happens on stage and you laugh, or something sad happens and you cry at the same time, it’s impossible to not feel that commonality for that split second.”

- Kwofe Coleman, President & CEO, The Muny

“I’m proud of this city and the people in it. I’m proud to buy a coffee from La Mancha, a BLT from Crown Candy, and a lemongrass chicken salad from Sen Thai and know my money is going directly to the person who makes me want to spend time in St. Louis.”

- Lindsay Pattan, Principal & Lead Publicist, PATTAN & CO.

“I was finally getting what I wanted: a blank canvas, a little restaurant with 50 seats, sole proprietorship, creative control, and responsibility for everything. Mom was at City Hall getting permits the day before the soft opening. Dad was doing the accounting, running projections, and making sure we have credit lines. And I just wanted to be part of the young population that makes St. Louis cool to live in.”

- Nick Bognar, owner, Indo - STL

“Rolling Stones and U2 were my first concerts here. There was a country music festival we used to have, too. And we had all the screaming girls here for NSYNC and New Kids on the Block when they were big. It’s been a great experience, and I enjoy seeing what it takes to get things set up behind the scenes for an event.”

- Nila Tuckson, Vice President of Human Resources, Explore St. Louis

“Even though I was born in Vietnam, I’m a St. Louis boy through and through. I grew up in The Hill in the ’80s and ’90s. I’m proud to be a St. Louisan. This is my city. I ain’t going anywhere.”

- Qui Tran, founder of Nudo House STL, and co-owner of Mai Lee Restaurant