Meredith Boggess
Photo provided by Meredith Boggess
5(ish) Questions for is a chance to discover and learn about St. Louis Creatives, Community Champions, and, well, just interesting people in and around our city. It's a deep dive into what they love and where their passion lies. It's an opportunity for all of us to see our region from a different perspective. This written interview is a peek into their lives and their outlook on St. Louis.
Meredith Boggess, a committed mother and professional, seeks to create a thriving, engaged online community for people in St. Louis and beyond, while also actively contributing to two organizations she admires: St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and Mission: St. Louis. Inspired by St. Louisans' creativity and collaborative spirit, she aims to support the city's cultural richness and diversity amidst changing landscapes. With a strong belief in collective contributions and collaboration, Meredith is devoted to ensuring that the creative class of St. Louis continues to flourish. She's also an avid consumer of arts, food, books, films, and podcasts, enriching her understanding and conversations in the process.
Hi, Meredith! Tell us a little about yourself…
Personally, Josh and I want to spend the next five years soaking up this awesome stage of parenting as our kids navigate middle school and beyond. Such fun (and scary) times seeing them come into their own as individuals, and despite knowing this is cliché, we’re both aware of how fast the next few years will go. Professionally, I want help John make his vision of a thriving, engaged on-line community a reality—one that provides an opportunity for those in St. Louis and far beyond to connect with each other virtually and participate in crowd-source opportunities to serve others wherever they are. Beyond that, I hope to continue to play an active role in contributing whatever time, talent and treasure I have to two organizations I admire, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and Mission: St. Louis. Their missions are different, but their impact is connected—they each use their gifts to make life in St. Louis richer, more diverse, and more inspiring for us all. St. Louis is a famously generous town, but the pandemic, current economic landscape and lifestyle of supporters have changed the game for nonprofits since my days at Ladue News and it’s critical we do what we can to support organizations we love through this evolution—we need them more than ever!
What inspires you about St. Louis?
Without question, St. Louisans’ creativity and collaborative spirit. Design, film, photography, food, event planning and production, music, theater—the list of creatives whose storytelling work underpins the very things we love about St. Louis amaze me every dang day. I’ve been lucky to work closely with so many of them through the years! But more than individual talent, it’s the willingness of our city’s creative class collaborate for the greater good that keeps me inspired despite the real challenges that exist in our city today. Every good thing I’ve done, experience I’ve had or lesson I’ve learned has come with the help of someone else, and without those opportunities to collaborate I know my path would have been different, and I’m certain that’s true for others. I’m grateful for the many people that invested energy in me over the years, and equally grateful for the chance to invest in others. The more we can embrace and celebrate our collective contributions and seek out opportunities to partner, the better we’ll all be.
What do you do in your spare time?
In addition to keeping the ship afloat at home, I try to consume as much live art, great food, good books and compelling films and podcasts I can. There is a good chance that if you’re in conversation with me, it will start with something like “So I was reading/watching/listening the other day and. . .”
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