Our theme for April was EMBER. It was chosen by our Poulsbo chapter in Washington and illustrated by Sarah Gordon.

The literal meaning of ember is a small piece of burning or glowing coal or wood in a dying fire. But as a metaphor, it means so much more.

Our Poulsbo chapter had this to say about the significance of this month's theme:

👉“Embers represent the quiet, enduring remnants of fire—what remains after the intensity fades. They carry a smoldering potential, a subtle strength that holds heat long after the flames have gone. As a quieter community outside the city, we may not always burn the brightest, but we never burn out. Our spark lives in reflection, resilience, and the space we have to pause, think, and grow."

Here at St. Louis CreativeMornings we were thrilled to welcome Charlie Farrell of Counterpublic as our guest speaker for April!

📸: Justin Solomon

We met at MADE Makerspace and followed Charlie's talk with a tour of their space.

Charlie is a curator, researcher, and writer based in St. Louis, currently serving as the Assistant Curator of Counterpublic. A firm believer in the transformative power of the arts, she is dedicated to supporting artists through thoughtful scholarship and impactful programming.

Most recently, Charlie was the 2022–2024 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she collaborated across departments on major projects—including curating Wangechi Mutu: My Cave Call and Romare Bearden: Resonances, both opening in 2024.

Her experience also spans institutions like the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Follow Charlie: https://www.instagram.com/artfully.thought/

More about Counterpublic: Located in St. Louis, Counterpublic connects art with lasting impact by bringing together bold ideas and the region’s most pressing challenges through artist_commissions, convenings, editions, and civic_initiatives.
Follow Counterpublic: https://www.instagram.com/counterpublic/

Many thanks to our Partner MADE Makerspace, home to The Front Room Store: MADE Makerspace is where St. Louis creates and connects—offering education, shared resources, and a collaborative community that provides a space to build and belong.
Follow MADE: https://www.instagram.com/made_makerspace/

CreativeMornings St. Louis gathers monthly on the last Friday to connect St. Louis's creative community around a shared theme.

🗓️ Next event: May 29 
🕘 9-10am.
Theme: CREATE. 
Location & Speaker to be announced. 

Everyone is creative.  
Everyone is welcome.
We'll see you there.

Please sign up for our newsletter to get detailed information on what's happening locally.

Follow us on Instagram @cm_stlouis.

If you are interested in volunteering, nominating a speaker, have food/beverage donation ideas, or any other inspirations, please reach out to us via email at stlouis@creativemornings.com.

Our March theme was LOCAL — selected by our Santos chapter in Brazil and beautifully illustrated by Simone Matias.

In Portuguese, local (lo·cal) speaks to being a resident or native of a particular place — but it’s so much more than geography. It’s identity. It’s belonging.

Our Santos chapter shared this reflection on why the theme resonates so deeply:

👉“We are proud to be from Santos. The feeling of loving the city but sometimes moving away. The benefits of belonging somewhere.”

Here in St. Louis we were very excited to welcome Madeline Hissong, co-founder of Damn Fine Hand Pies, as our March speaker for CreativeMornings St. Louis on March 27.
Madeline shared her story as a beautiful reflection of building something meaningful right here in our community.

This is event was graciously sponsored by Tower Grove Park. We are thankful for their beautiful location of The Stupp Center to host our March gathering. 
This location was extra special to our theme LOCAL, as it sits right where Madeline Hissong of Damn Fine Hand Pies began her journey at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market 🥧

More about Damn Fine Hand Pies: 
Baked fresh daily in Shaw STL, MO. The damn finest hand pies, sourdough bread, breakfast, lunch, and coffee in all of St. Louis.

More about Tower Grove Park: a public park and arboretum maintained, operated, and programmed by an independent Board of Commissioners and staff. The Board of Commissioners receive support from memberships, private donations, grants, rental fees, and the city of St. Louis. The Tower Grove Park staff is the only provider of maintenance for the Park.

CreativeMornings St. Louis gathers monthly on the last Friday to connect St. Louis's creative community around a shared theme.

Everyone is creative. 
Everyone is welcome.
We'll see you there.

Please sign up for our newsletter to get detailed information on what's happening locally.

Follow us on Instagram @cm_stlouis.

If you are interested in volunteering, nominating a speaker, have food/beverage donation ideas, or any other inspirations, please reach out to us via email at stlouis@creativemornings.com.

As we head into the holidays and prepare for the dawn of a new year, please join us for an inspiring conversation about innovation with Olivia Bracken, Acupuncturist and Owner of Golden Door in St. Louis. Golden Door is a healing collective that offers acupuncture, chiropractic services, massage therapy, esthetics, therapy/counseling, and health coaching all under one roof.

Step out of the busyness of the season and care for yourself at this special event. We will be meeting at Golden Door to see their space and get to know what they have to offer our community.

Speaker: Olivia Bracken

When: Friday, December 19, 2025, 9-10am

Where: Golden Door, 8920 Manchester Road, Brentwood, MO 63114

Cost: Free

You can find more about Golden Door on their website at www.goldendoorstl.com and on Instagram @goldendoorstl.

Note about accessibility: There are stairs to get to this meeting space. If you have any questions about this please reach out to us at stlouis@creativemornings.com.

Hello, St. Louis!

It has been a few years since CreativeMornings has had a presence in our city. We are making a comeback! 🎉🥳

CreativeMornings is a worldwide organization that offers free monthly breakfast lecture series to communities. See our local chapter page for more information about what is happening in St. Louis and to view previous lectures.

Rachel Helden has signed on as our local host and is excited by how it is all coming together. She grew up in Alton, IL and has since rooted herself in St. Louis. She has faith in our community of creatives here in the Greater St. Louis area and looks forward to bringing another offering of inspirational arts programming to the city.

We are partnering with St. Louis Design Week for our next meeting! CreativeMornings has a monthly theme, this month being SOFT. Danni Eickenhorst of HuSTL Hospitality will be speaking about the softness of recovery after the tornado that we experienced this year. It will be a very special talk. We hope to see you there!

This month's speaker: Danni Eickenhorst
Thu, Oct 16, 2025 • 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM CDT

Work & Leisure
3015 Locust Street, St. Louis, Missouri United States 63103

Register for this event here.

About our speaker

Danni Eickenhorst is a driving force in St. Louis’s hospitality scene as the CEO of HuSTL Hospitality. She is also the visionary co-owner behind beloved establishments including The Fountain on Locust, The Fountain on Delmar, Steve’s Hot Dogs, and Steve’s Meltdown, shaping unique culinary experiences across the city. With a mission to make the St. Louis region a better place for everyone, HuSTL Hospitality is working to reshape hospitality and the communities its invested in.

Also, save the date for our next gathering on Friday, November 7th, 9-10am. Please sign up for our newsletter to get detailed information on what's happening locally. Instagram is a great way to stay connected as well at @cm_stlouis.

If you are interested in volunteering, nominating a speaker, have food/beverage donation ideas, or any other inspirations, please reach out to us via email at stlouis@creativemornings.com.

With Much Gratitude,

Rachel Helden, CreativeMornings St. Louis Chapter Host

Time Well Spent Season 2 is back with interviews from four incredible humans! 

The series explores the question, “How can we be more thoughtful and intentional about how we use our time, and in turn, make space for the things that matter most?” Track your data with Giorgia Lupi, draw your map with Busayo Olupona, and imagine your future with Amit Gupta.

As always - Link below!

https://bit.ly/2QtxZ7N

Upcoming #FreeEvent from XDT. April 22! 

Sign up at the link below! If you haven’t had the chance to check out one of their events- we HIGHLY recommend it. Plus it’s entirely virtual right now.⁠

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/xdt-free-skate-earth-day-2021-tickets-150352760153?ref=eios⁠ 

“Kick it with us at Free Skate! Join others in the world to work out your collaborative problem-solving muscles.⁠ ⁠ Free Skate is an interactive workshop event open to all researchers, designers, engineers, product thinkers, and problem solvers. Come as a team or roll solo (we can match you up with others).⁠ ⁠ Free to all, but space is limited, so sign up now and tell a friend! Bring your favorite beverage and join us for some fun ;)"⁠

 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/xdt-free-skate-earth-day-2021-tickets-150352760153?ref=eios ⁠ 

Meet Our Ripple Illustrator: Masha Manapov⁠
⁠
Masha Manapov, aka Mashkaman is an award-winning illustrator, designer and image maker.⁠
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Born in Baku and raised in Tel Aviv she is currently working from her Bristol based studio on worldwide commissioned projects.⁠
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Her work focuses mainly on print and press media specializing in conceptual, colorful and textured imagery. Throughout her career her flexible style was translated to a diverse range of projects including branding, packaging, editorial, books and marketing campaigns. Her work has been exhibited both locally and internationally and published in various printed and online publications.⁠
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You can learn more about Masha, and check out her work at the link below:

https://creativemornings.com/blog/meet-our-ripple-illustrator-masha-manapov
⁠

Miss Last Month’s Talk on Divergent?

Click the link below to watch Sarah Schlafly talk about how she created her own path in the food industry. Sarah is the CEO of Mighty Cricket, a next generation protein company with a mission to build a clean protein supply to sustain the world.

https://creativemornings.com/talks/sarah-schlafly/1

💫 Our March Theme, Ripple, speaker is  Rachel D'Souza-Siebert, MPPA! Join us Friday, March 26 at 8:30 AM. 💫

Rachel is the Founder + Principal of Gladiator Consulting, a boutique consultancy with a holistic approach to nonprofit capacity building. Through Gladiator, Rachel has combined her knowledge of Organizational Culture & Resource Development with her deep personal commitment to centering community and seeking justice.

Read more about Rachel and register now at the link below. As always, this is a #free event, you just have to register to get the zoom link to join us!

https://creativemornings.com/talks/rachel-d-souza-siebert-354

Registration ends tomorrow! Don’t miss your chance to join us this Friday for our #Divergent talk with Sarah Schlafly!

Sarah Schlafly is the CEO of Mighty Cricket, a next-generation protein company with a mission to build a clean protein supply to sustain the world.

Read more about Sarah, and reserve your FREE ticket at the link below!

https://creativemornings.com/talks/sarah-schlafly

More about Mighty Cricket here:
https://www.mightycricket.co/