The team at Launch St. Louis

Originally serving as the Young Friends of Gilda for Gilda’s Club St. Louis, we created Launch St. Louis to address a need we found prevalent in the St. Louis market – a source for the knowledge, resources and energy needed to create “young friends” groups. Our team was assembled to be extremely diverse – making us a well-rounded advisor. Take a moment to meet Launch St. Louis.

Launch St. Louis Executive Committee

Rashida Dinehart, Chairperson

Rashida Dinehart is proud to call herself a born and raised St. Louisan. She attended the University of Missouri where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree focused in Strategic Communication from the School of Journalism. By day she’s an Account Manager at Brighton Agency, but by night she’s a St. Louis groupie (and also a new mom!) It’s through her work on Launch that she gets to ignite her true passion for this city and affect change in a positive way. Outside of Launch, Rashida enjoys cooking, eating lots of pizza, running and spending as much time as possible with her husband, Ben, their new baby, Dominic and their fur baby, Kona.

 

 Katie Holtgrave, Treasurer

Katie grew up in a small town on the Illinois side but now resides in downtown St. Louis. She works as a forensic accountant at Anders CPAs + Advisors and volunteers her time on a few Young Friends boards including Epworth’s YF board and the Young Friends of Downtown STL, Inc. Katie loves staying connected in the community and likes to check out local restaurants, local music scenes, and everything St. Louis sports. She enjoys being active by playing in soccer and sand volleyball leagues and by exploring new countries, cities, and cultures – making a point to take multiple trips a year.

 

 Elise Hastings, Membership

Elise is Director of Givable, a micro-donation platform that allows you to give just 25¢ a day to charities all over St. Louis. Elise is passionate about merging the innovation sector with the social sector, and loves to talk about ways to help nonprofits become more effective. Before she helped found Givable, she managed a refugee resettlement program in Phoenix, and completed a New Sector Alliance fellowship in San Francisco. You can find her most weekends at the Missouri botanical garden or the STL Zoo.

Launch St. Louis Board

 Emily Gavilsky

Emily Gavilsky is the owner and principal designer of both Emily Anna Events & Renown Rentals. She also holds a license as a Professional Counselor and does work with various nonprofits in St. Louis to help with awareness and fundraising. She consults and does grant writing in the community. In her free time, Emily enjoys traveling and perfecting her calligraphy skills!

 

 Zarrin Lilani

Zarrin currently works in the Business Analytics Supply chain team at Nestlé. Her job is to make sure the Supply Chain folks have all the data they need to make the right business decisions. Zarrin is passionate about urban regeneration and believes that innovation is key to building better and more sustainable cities. Zarrin spent most of her life in London, UK where she was involved in “Croydon Tech City,” a movement to regenerate her London district by attracting tech talent and companies. Zarrin loves living in St. Louis and wanted to give back to the city so she joined Launch at a Committee and then a Board level. She also currently serves as a St. Louis Mosaic ambassador and has a blog on ways to give back and enjoy St. Louis at somethinglou.com.

 

Paul VandenElzen

Paul is a Lead Research Analyst and Project Manager at Avant Marketing Group. In addition to his work with Launch St. Louis, Paul is an avid volunteer and Board member with the Young Friends of the APA. When he is not conducting market research he can be found backpacking, kayaking and camping through-out the Midwest.

 

 Jeanne Kaufmann

Jeanne Kaufmann is the current Wealth Strategist Associate for Northern Trust – St. Louis, where she coordinates the event and marketing efforts for the Missouri region.  Prior to joining Launch St. Louis in 2017, she served on the Education Committee and helped facilitate the Launch St. Louis Blog.  Before taking on her current role, Jeanne spent her career working in non-for-profit administration, with a focus on general management for theaters both in St. Louis and Washington, DC, and is very passionate about getting the next generation involved with causes they believe in.  In her free time, you can find Jeanne hanging with husband Tim and her dog Talullah, laughing over her favorite episode of “Parks & Rec”, and working on her fashion blog, FashionByCommittee.com.

 

 Katie Wall

Katie Wall is proud to call herself a native St. Louisan. Her work in Community Relations at Enterprise Holdings has fueled her passion for St. Louis and the incredible network of nonprofits that call it home. Katie joined Launch as a committee member in the Fall of 2017 to help other young professionals find the causes important to them. Forever on a quest to find the best toasted ravioli in St. Louis, Katie can often be found trying new restaurants throughout the area. She also enjoys Cardinals games, cooking, and evenings on her patio with her fiancé Matt and dog Huckleberry.

 

 Liz Rolf

Liz Rolf is a Public Health Research Coordinator in the James Lab at Washington University School of Medicine, where she analyzes data, builds community networks, and helps design and execute public health interventions. A St. Louis native, Liz joined the 18 Month Partnership Committee in Fall 2016 to help local nonprofits grow and retain their talent pool. In addition to sitting on Launch’s Board, Liz also chairs the Sponsorship Committee of the Humane Society of Missouri’s Young Friends Board and serves on both the YWCA’s Walk-A-Mile Committee and the YWCA Young Ambassadors Recruitment Committee. In her (rare) free time, Liz can usually be found taking a class of some kind, at a local music or art show, or playing with her rescue dogs, Suko and Winston.

 

Launch St. Louis Alumni

Steve Bauer

FleishmanHillard

Ariel Zhang

North Highland Worldwide

Alex Roberts

FleishmanHillard

Jonathan Goldford

Wired Impact

Beth Casagrand

Global Hack

Julie Mann

Operation Food Search

Jill Lewin

Washington University

Michelle Kilper

Mid America CropLife Association

Erin Willmann

Digital Marketing Specialist for Entertainment Cruise Productions

Jon Franko, Founding Board Member

Gorilla 76

Jill Mantey

Communications Consultant

Ashley Turigliatto

Director of Development at Pujols Family Foundation

Joe Sullivan, Founding Board Member

Gorilla 76

Tim McFarlin

Fellow, Legal Method & Communication Program at Elon University School of Law

Kevin Haar, Founding Board Member

Super Bright LEDs

Michelle Sinclair

Appistry

Keith Goltschman

Enterprise Bank & Trust

Whitney Vredenburgh

Valent Corporation

Yvette LeGear Hartsfield, Founding Board Member

St. Andrew’s Charitable Foundation

Michael Hart, Founding Board Member

Isle of Capri Casinos

Jen Crichton, Founding Board Member

Weber Shandwick

Joy Hennessy, Founding Board Member

Thompson Coburn, LLP

Keri Kiblinger

5 Horizons Group

Stephanie Burke

Brown Shoe

Devon Cramer

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Matthew Haywood

Krilogy Financial

Ann Davidson, Founding Board Member

Northwestern University School of Law, Office of Alumni Relations and Development

Michael Lane, Founding Board Member

Protiviti

Kathleen Molamphy, Founding Board Member

Bunge North America, Inc.