Tara Pham smiles before a Sloup event. (Submitted photo)
Some of the St. Louis region’s most creative minds are part of the RBC’s Young Professionals Network Leadership 100. But who are they and how are they helping to shape a stronger St. Louis?
That’s what we’re addressing in our new regular blog series, “Meet the YPN Leadership 100″ as we introduce you to members of our YPN community who are providing exceptional leadership, service, culture and innovation to our area.
This week’s YPN Leadership 100 member is Tara Pham. Tara is an entrepreneur and a member of Brain Drain, a collective of diverse minds dedicated to enhancing the vitality of cities and turning shared experience into shared initiative through creative projects. She graduated with a B.A. in urban planning from Washington University in St. Louis and contributes to many organizations, including Sloup, Mayor Slay’s Vanguard Cabinet, CityArchRiver and the Contemporary Art Museum.
Learn more about Tara in our interview below!
YPN: You wear many hats. How would you introduce yourself to a new YPN member?
Tara: I tend to introduce myself by asking questions to find out more about the person I’m meeting. Typically, I’m interested in where someone lives, what their interests are and where they go for fun. From there, I can explain some of my projects like Sloup (a monthly soup dinner that crowdfunds community initiatives with microgrants) or CityPulse (a technology-based wayfinding system that helps people navigate cities).
What do you enjoy about belonging to organizations like YPN?
I’ve enjoyed being a part of the YPN, the Contemporary Art Museum’s Junior Board, and other institutional organizations because it gives me the opportunity to meet people from all different industry and interests in the region, which I might not find otherwise.
Describe a favorite project that you’re currently working on.
At the moment, I am most excited about CityPulse. It’s a concept I’ve been working on for a year with friends, and it’s definitely a sort of “wild card” idea that’s gotten tremendous traction and will have a huge impact on cities. It would be great for it to launch in St. Louis first — the market for smart city technology is global and may take us all kinds of places. The best part about CityPulse is that it will be very user-driven, so we’ve yet to imagine perhaps its most important future purposes. Much like the hashtag was invented by the user on Twitter, the next big thing that CityPulse can offer is still yet to come.
What are your first few destinations when an out-of-town friend visits?
Cherokee Street, “the parks” (Forest Park and Tower Grove Park), the Riverfront Trail/graffiti wall, City Museum and a few of STL’s amazing restaurants.
What’s one St. Louis tradition that everyone must experience?
It depends on the season. I would say sledding on Art Hill, riding in the monthly FBC full-moon bike rides, or attending the summer Wednesday night Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Why should someone base their business in St. Louis?
St. Louis is a place that offers an incredibly low cost of operations/living, an awesomely high quality of life, and a community that makes it so easy to grow your network in meaningful ways. There is booming small business, while executive-level business people here are accessible and want to help you succeed. Other cities with comparable qualities of life tend to have a much more cut-throat business community where you have to fight to make it and you don’t have time for passion projects.
For more information about Tara’s projects, email her at twpham@gmail.com. Stay tuned for the next installment of “Meet the YPN Leadership 100!”