FarFetched Collective / Age 27What’s in a Name: When the collective and record label formed two years ago, the idea was to make sounds that had never been heard before—to be totally far-fetched. Though Davis (LooseScrewz) is one half of the hip-hop duo Scripts N Screwz, and Williams raps under the name Thelonius Kryptonite, both say what they’re doing isn’t hip-hop, rap, or rock—although it may tap into all of those things. Similarly, the members cross gender, genre, and race. “I hope that we break down a lot of borders,” says Davis. “That’s the goal, at least, to push boundaries at all times, no matter what it is.”
Annual Endeavors: FarFetched produces showcases every last Thursday of the month at Blank Space on Cherokee Street; organizes the Brave New World music fest; and puts out a compilation every January, dubbed Prologue.
On Creating Genres: In May, Williams and Davis released eklektrip, a project they’d worked on for two years. “I don’t like to call it a hip-hop album, even though I’m rapping a lot,” Williams says. “The genre is eklektrip.” Some songs came together quickly; others took a year. “I didn’t want to make music where the beats say, ‘You know what’s coming next.’”
Gary Martin
FarFetched Collective / Age 27What’s in a Name: When the collective and record label formed two years ago, the idea was to make sounds that had never been heard before—to be totally far-fetched. Though Davis (LooseScrewz) is one half of the hip-hop duo Scripts N Screwz, and Williams raps under the name Thelonius Kryptonite, both say what they’re doing isn’t hip-hop, rap, or rock—although it may tap into all of those things. Similarly, the members cross gender, genre, and race. “I hope that we break down a lot of borders,” says Davis. “That’s the goal, at least, to push boundaries at all times, no matter what it is.”
Annual Endeavors: FarFetched produces showcases every last Thursday of the month at Blank Space on Cherokee Street; organizes the Brave New World music fest; and puts out a compilation every January, dubbed Prologue.
On Creating Genres: In May, Williams and Davis released eklektrip, a project they’d worked on for two years. “I don’t like to call it a hip-hop album, even though I’m rapping a lot,” Williams says. “The genre is eklektrip.” Some songs came together quickly; others took a year. “I didn’t want to make music where the beats say, ‘You know what’s coming next.’”
Kevin A. Roberts
Partner; Wired Impact / Age 27Driving Questions: Goldford launched his company—initially called JG Visual—in August 2009, after graduating from the University of Southern California. He wanted to merge his interest in website design with his passion for helping others, so he formed a Web firm, Wired Impact (
Aaron Richter
Co-Founder, VolunTEEN Nation / Age 21Her Roots: Her dad’s in the military. When she was 12, he deployed, leaving a wife and three young kids back home. As Bernstein’s mother navigated head-of-household duties solo, others spontaneously showed up on the porch. They’d bring dinner in a Pyrex dish, or offer to take Simone and her brother and sister to the movies or the zoo. It made an impression.
The Epiphany: Bernstein wanted to give back by volunteering—but no organizations would have her at first because of the liability of working with a young teen. Determined to make the path easier for others, she and her brother, Jake, founded St. Louis VolunTEEN in 2009. He built the website; she became the public face, forging partnerships with established nonprofits and lecturing at schools. “We started with $48 and an idea and a goal,” she says.
What’s Next: VolunTEEN Nation (
Gary Martin
Architect and Chair of Social Responsibility, HOK / Age 33Her Endeavor: In 2010, Dirsa heard a colleague in HOK’s New York office talk about a program called Social Economic Environmental Design, or SEED. “It’s like LEED, but for social issues,” Dirsa says. Eventually, she says, it snowballed into HOK IMPACT, the firm’s philanthropy effort. As the firm’s chair of social responsibility, Dirsa helps oversee public-interest design projects, volunteerism, and charitable donations.
Her Challenge: “Balancing the needs of the project with the reality of the situation,” says Dirsa. While designing a sustainable orphanage and children’s center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, architects faced limits on the budget, power grid, and water resources. The solution: a design that incorporates wind turbines and solar power, plus its own well water—a model of sustainability in a third-world country.
Her Non-Design Passion: Dirsa’s an avid marathon runner. She’s run two full marathons and four half marathons—the last one when she was 21 weeks pregnant.
Kevin A. Roberts
Legal Strategist and Arts Leader / Age 33Favorite Case: At Armstrong Teasdale, Calvert’s clients have included a seminary, a state trooper’s same-sex partner, a British energy company, and an East Coast developer. But his favorite, “a cause more than a case for me,” was St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, because in winning independence for it, he “got to know the people involved—on both sides—very intimately. People are talking about things that go far beyond the courts. They’re talking about their souls, about the church where their father went, where their grandfather was married, and their need to protect it. That stuff is so much more powerful than any law.”
Why He Won’t Label His Practice: “That kind of dualism never appealed to me. I’ve had defendants who were really plaintiffs and plaintiffs who were really defendants. It all gets jumbled up, and I like that.” He feels the same way about St. Louis—he yearns to ease “the disparity between rich and poor, black and white, immigrants and longtime, multigenerational residents,” so it’s even easier “to interact with people who are not like you, but are just as cool as you.”
Love of the Arts: At Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Calvert majored in clarinet performance. When his son was 2, they built Richard Serra sculptures together, using blankets and pillows. Now Calvert’s president of the board of Prison Performing Arts, because “it asks interesting questions—of the actors and the audience.”
Kevin A. Roberts
Al Jazeera Columnist and Anthropologist / Age 34Her Coup: Kendzior (
Gary Martin
Restaurateur / Age 35The Lure: After discovering the appeal of working at restaurants while attending Saint Louis University (from which he graduated at age 19), Bailey opened Baileys’ Chocolate Bar in 2004, at age 26. Rooster, Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar, Baileys’ Range, and The Fifth Wheel (
Gary Martin
Founder, Perennial / Age 26The Seed: While studying sculpture at Wash. U., Murphy proposed a project that involved repairing and refurbishing bulk trash in U. City and giving it away. Professors and students loved the idea. So did Lisa Harper Chang, then The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts’ resident social worker. She invited Murphy to participate in programming around the Pulitzer’s 2009–10 exhibit “Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark.” After the show ended, Perennial (
Kevin A. Roberts
Alderman, 24th Ward / Age 33What He Champions: Just 30 when elected, Ogilvie worked to reduce the size of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen; touted city-county collaboration and shared services; and pushed through a law to require bike parking and improved pedestrian access.
Methodology: “Just keep pushing for something until it moves,” he says. He’s sharply criticized some developer subsidies—“not even the subsidies, so much as what we get from the developers,” he says, citing Ballpark Village as an example. “The subsidy should mean we’re getting a quality product for the community.”
Why He’s So Candid: “I may not be clever enough to know how to be more discreet,” he says. Others give him more credit. One observer of local politics said, dazed, “He may actually clean up City Hall.”
Kevin A. Roberts
Founder and President, Jane Doe Advocacy Center / Age 27Light-Bulb Moment: While studying for the bar exam with a friend, she had a realization: “St. Louis has over 30 organizations that all focus on the very vague term of domestic violence. I said, ‘Where does somebody go if they’re a victim of nondomestic violence?’” The Jane Doe Advocacy Center (
Kevin A. Roberts
Artist and Co-Founder, Yeyo Arts Collective / Age 30The Artist: The heart of Chambers’ current work is researching her grandmother, Evelyn Haynes, who died when Chambers’ mother was 9 years old. Haynes is buried in one of the oldest African-American cemeteries in the region, Washington Park Cemetery. Chambers has made several trips to find the headstone and documented the process. She’s reclaiming that connection in other ways, too: Her studio’s in St. Louis Place, where her grandmother grew up, and Chambers taught art classes at Vashon High School, which her grandmother attended. “I’m retracking her steps and evaluating my own within that framework,” she says.
The Activist: That same multigenerational approach informs Gya Community Gallery & Fine Craft Shop and Yeyo Arts Collective (
Kevin A. Roberts
Founder, Sprung and Rung / Age 33Why the Focus on Women: In 2010, Kindle opened Rung (
Joshua Black Wilkins
Musician, Bandleader; Historian / Age 30The Glamorous Stuff: Recently, LaFarge (
Kevin A. Roberts
Biotech Inventor and Co-Founder, Retectix / Age 32Aha Moment: Working in a Wash. U. lab, MacEwan thickened nanofibers into a fabric so soft, flexible, and hyperstrong, he immediately knew it had potential. After confirming his hunch with surgeons, he took a break from his joint doctoral program in medicine and biomedical engineering to co-found Retectix (
Overlay
FarFetched Collective / Age 27What’s in a Name: When the collective and record label formed two years ago, the idea was to make sounds that had never been heard before—to be totally far-fetched. Though Davis (LooseScrewz) is one half of the hip-hop duo Scripts N Screwz, and Williams raps under the name Thelonius Kryptonite, both say what they’re doing isn’t hip-hop, rap, or rock—although it may tap into all of those things. Similarly, the members cross gender, genre, and race. “I hope that we break down a lot of borders,” says Davis. “That’s the goal, at least, to push boundaries at all times, no matter what it is.”
Annual Endeavors: FarFetched produces showcases every last Thursday of the month at Blank Space on Cherokee Street; organizes the Brave New World music fest; and puts out a compilation every January, dubbed Prologue.
On Creating Genres: In May, Williams and Davis released eklektrip, a project they’d worked on for two years. “I don’t like to call it a hip-hop album, even though I’m rapping a lot,” Williams says. “The genre is eklektrip.” Some songs came together quickly; others took a year. “I didn’t want to make music where the beats say, ‘You know what’s coming next.’” Gary Martin
Partner; Wired Impact / Age 27Driving Questions: Goldford launched his company—initially called JG Visual—in August 2009, after graduating from the University of Southern California. He wanted to merge his interest in website design with his passion for helping others, so he formed a Web firm, Wired Impact (Kevin A. Roberts
Co-Founder, VolunTEEN Nation / Age 21Her Roots: Her dad’s in the military. When she was 12, he deployed, leaving a wife and three young kids back home. As Bernstein’s mother navigated head-of-household duties solo, others spontaneously showed up on the porch. They’d bring dinner in a Pyrex dish, or offer to take Simone and her brother and sister to the movies or the zoo. It made an impression.
The Epiphany: Bernstein wanted to give back by volunteering—but no organizations would have her at first because of the liability of working with a young teen. Determined to make the path easier for others, she and her brother, Jake, founded St. Louis VolunTEEN in 2009. He built the website; she became the public face, forging partnerships with established nonprofits and lecturing at schools. “We started with $48 and an idea and a goal,” she says.
What’s Next: VolunTEEN Nation (Aaron Richter
Architect and Chair of Social Responsibility, HOK / Age 33Her Endeavor: In 2010, Dirsa heard a colleague in HOK’s New York office talk about a program called Social Economic Environmental Design, or SEED. “It’s like LEED, but for social issues,” Dirsa says. Eventually, she says, it snowballed into HOK IMPACT, the firm’s philanthropy effort. As the firm’s chair of social responsibility, Dirsa helps oversee public-interest design projects, volunteerism, and charitable donations.
Her Challenge: “Balancing the needs of the project with the reality of the situation,” says Dirsa. While designing a sustainable orphanage and children’s center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, architects faced limits on the budget, power grid, and water resources. The solution: a design that incorporates wind turbines and solar power, plus its own well water—a model of sustainability in a third-world country.
Her Non-Design Passion: Dirsa’s an avid marathon runner. She’s run two full marathons and four half marathons—the last one when she was 21 weeks pregnant.Gary Martin
Legal Strategist and Arts Leader / Age 33Favorite Case: At Armstrong Teasdale, Calvert’s clients have included a seminary, a state trooper’s same-sex partner, a British energy company, and an East Coast developer. But his favorite, “a cause more than a case for me,” was St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, because in winning independence for it, he “got to know the people involved—on both sides—very intimately. People are talking about things that go far beyond the courts. They’re talking about their souls, about the church where their father went, where their grandfather was married, and their need to protect it. That stuff is so much more powerful than any law.”
Why He Won’t Label His Practice: “That kind of dualism never appealed to me. I’ve had defendants who were really plaintiffs and plaintiffs who were really defendants. It all gets jumbled up, and I like that.” He feels the same way about St. Louis—he yearns to ease “the disparity between rich and poor, black and white, immigrants and longtime, multigenerational residents,” so it’s even easier “to interact with people who are not like you, but are just as cool as you.”
Love of the Arts: At Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Calvert majored in clarinet performance. When his son was 2, they built Richard Serra sculptures together, using blankets and pillows. Now Calvert’s president of the board of Prison Performing Arts, because “it asks interesting questions—of the actors and the audience.” Kevin A. Roberts
Al Jazeera Columnist and Anthropologist / Age 34Her Coup: Kendzior (Kevin A. Roberts
Restaurateur / Age 35The Lure: After discovering the appeal of working at restaurants while attending Saint Louis University (from which he graduated at age 19), Bailey opened Baileys’ Chocolate Bar in 2004, at age 26. Rooster, Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar, Baileys’ Range, and The Fifth Wheel (Gary Martin
Founder, Perennial / Age 26The Seed: While studying sculpture at Wash. U., Murphy proposed a project that involved repairing and refurbishing bulk trash in U. City and giving it away. Professors and students loved the idea. So did Lisa Harper Chang, then The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts’ resident social worker. She invited Murphy to participate in programming around the Pulitzer’s 2009–10 exhibit “Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark.” After the show ended, Perennial (Gary Martin
Alderman, 24th Ward / Age 33What He Champions: Just 30 when elected, Ogilvie worked to reduce the size of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen; touted city-county collaboration and shared services; and pushed through a law to require bike parking and improved pedestrian access.
Methodology: “Just keep pushing for something until it moves,” he says. He’s sharply criticized some developer subsidies—“not even the subsidies, so much as what we get from the developers,” he says, citing Ballpark Village as an example. “The subsidy should mean we’re getting a quality product for the community.”
Why He’s So Candid: “I may not be clever enough to know how to be more discreet,” he says. Others give him more credit. One observer of local politics said, dazed, “He may actually clean up City Hall.”Kevin A. Roberts
Founder and President, Jane Doe Advocacy Center / Age 27Light-Bulb Moment: While studying for the bar exam with a friend, she had a realization: “St. Louis has over 30 organizations that all focus on the very vague term of domestic violence. I said, ‘Where does somebody go if they’re a victim of nondomestic violence?’” The Jane Doe Advocacy Center (Kevin A. Roberts
Artist and Co-Founder, Yeyo Arts Collective / Age 30The Artist: The heart of Chambers’ current work is researching her grandmother, Evelyn Haynes, who died when Chambers’ mother was 9 years old. Haynes is buried in one of the oldest African-American cemeteries in the region, Washington Park Cemetery. Chambers has made several trips to find the headstone and documented the process. She’s reclaiming that connection in other ways, too: Her studio’s in St. Louis Place, where her grandmother grew up, and Chambers taught art classes at Vashon High School, which her grandmother attended. “I’m retracking her steps and evaluating my own within that framework,” she says.
The Activist: That same multigenerational approach informs Gya Community Gallery & Fine Craft Shop and Yeyo Arts Collective (Kevin A. Roberts
Founder, Sprung and Rung / Age 33Why the Focus on Women: In 2010, Kindle opened Rung (Kevin A. Roberts
Musician, Bandleader; Historian / Age 30The Glamorous Stuff: Recently, LaFarge (Joshua Black Wilkins
Biotech Inventor and Co-Founder, Retectix / Age 32Aha Moment: Working in a Wash. U. lab, MacEwan thickened nanofibers into a fabric so soft, flexible, and hyperstrong, he immediately knew it had potential. After confirming his hunch with surgeons, he took a break from his joint doctoral program in medicine and biomedical engineering to co-found Retectix (Kevin A. Roberts
By Jeannette Cooperman, George Mahe, Jarrett Medlin, and Stefene Russell; Photography by Gary Martin and Kevin A. Roberts
These St. Louisans are shaping laws, altering neighborhoods, improving lives—and they’re all between ages 18 and 35.
