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.

Launch St. Louis Board

Steve Bauer

After graduating from Indiana University, Steve lived in Saltillo, Mexico, where he taught English to adults and children at the Instituto Mexicano Americano de Relaciones Culturales (IMARC). As an integrated marketing and social media strategist, Steve helps organize charitable fundraising efforts and community service projects and on behalf of his clients. Steve currently serves as a senior vice president and partner of FleishmanHillard, St. Louis.

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!

Alex Roberts Launch St. Louis

Alex Roberts

Alex is an Account Supervisor at FleishmanHillard, a top global complete communications agency headquartered in downtown St. Louis, where he specializes in media relations. Prior to St. Louis and a career in PR, Alex worked in the television news business, providing the most accurate and always entertaining weather forecasts to Missouri and Iowa residents. Previously, Alex sat on the Gilda’s Club Chicago Associate Board, a cancer support community located in downtown Chicago, organizing and developing their charity running program as well as assisting in club PR and marketing efforts. He has also worked with and supports Movember every November through the beautiful wispy moustache he’ll attempt to grow to help change the face of men’s health. Alex joined Launch St. Louis in the fall of 2014.

Elise Hastings

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.

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.

Ariel Zhang

Ariel has lived around the world but now calls St. Louis home. She currently works as a Management Consultant at North Highland Worldwide and has a Masters degree in Strategic Communications. Prior to joining the Launch board, she served on the 18 month committee working on the partnership with the APA. In her free time, she enjoys staying active by salsa dancing, boxing, and rock climbing to balance her passion for food.

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.

Katie Holtgrave

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.

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.

Kevin Moran

Kevin Moran recently relocated to St. Louis in March of 2018 to start his business. Kevin is the Co-Founder and President of WatchUGot, the first ever social challenge app that allows users to host, view, participate in, and pledge money to your favorite causes. Imagine if the Ice Bucket Challenge, GoFundMe and Instagram had a baby and that is WatchUGot. Kevin is a Mining Engineer by trade who is transitioning into mobile app development with a dream to make a substantial impact on the world of fundraising. Prior to joining the Launch Board, he served as Chairman to the Northern California section of SME for 2 years which consisted of 250 members. When he is not working from home he can be found playing guitar, reading astrophysics books, painting, and cooking.

Launch St. Louis Alumni

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.