Rachel Brandt
Photos provided by Rachel Brandt
Explore Rachel’s Businesses:
The St. Louisian
Facebook
Instagram
The Daily Wild
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.
Introducing Rachel Brandt: a multifaceted powerhouse driven by creativity, community, and well-being. As owner of The St. Louisan, a culture-focused magazine, and St. Louisan Media, LLC, Rachel's work thrives at the intersection of arts, culture, nature, and wellness. This musician, artist, writer, and entrepreneur fosters connections through storytelling and digital content. She's making waves by blending the functions of a traditional media company with the appeal of a social media influencer. An advocate for realness in the digital world, Rachel envisions a future filled with niche audiences, unique experiences, and supportive communities. Despite the demands of her diverse roles, her heart remains firmly planted in St. Louis, where she lives with her family, restoring a 140-year-old home.
Hi, Rachel, tell us a little about yourself!
Hi! I own The St. Louisan a local culture-focused magazine, and a media and marketing business called St. Louisan Media, LLC.
I love to wear a lot of hats, so my background is pretty varied by design. I’m a musician, an artist, and a writer, and I love to create meaningful content that nourishes communities.
I grew up in the country, in a small town just outside St. Louis, and moved into the city to attend Washington University. I’m deeply grateful for my wonderful upbringing and close-knit family. Now, I live in Kirkwood, restoring a 140-year-old home with my husband, three kids, and various beloved pets.
Why do you do the work you do?
I’m passionately interested in the intersection of arts, culture, nature, and wellness. As natural and innate as creativity is, as essential as the environment is, those must then be integral, to our general health and directly connected to our physical well-being. I love exploring that connection.
I’m also deeply interested in creating community whether that be with St. Louisans, small business owners, other mothers, friends, neighbors, etc. That’s why much of my work is in the digital space; social media, content creation, marketing, and journalism. Because storytelling is such a beautiful and natural way to build community and form relationships with new people.
How did you get started?
I studied music and composition in college, as well as photography. While teaching and performing music, I was also writing and taking photos. That led to blogging and working for a few publications in the area. And parallel to that time I’ve always enjoyed and been passionate about volunteering, social programs, and working with people.
During my first jobs out of college, I knew that I’d like to find a way to marry those interests and that I’d like to work for myself. The entrepreneur bug–stemming from the independent musician bug–always pulled at my heart. So after learning a ton at a few awesome companies, then freelancing for a few years, I knew it was time to build my own thing.
What impact are you making, or hope to make?
With The St. Louisan, my hope is three-fold.
Personal: To spark people into action. To motivate and inspire them to get everything they want in life. To give those who may be lost, wanting, depressed, let down, and otherwise defeated a reason to embrace the beauty in little moments. To give people freedom when they don’t believe they can have it or deserve it. To support others in being and presenting themselves, being proud of their lives, and knowing deep in their hearts that they are enough. I’m not afraid to be romantic about it! :)
Community: To connect like-minded people who want to grow, change, inspire, and live rich and enjoyed lives. To aid and facilitate healing and expansive personal and professional journeys. To spread optimism and clarity like wildfire and stomp out pessimism and meanness. To change minds about hate and negativity. To give others, especially women, a community they may not realize exists. To provide entertainment and beautiful atmospheres.
Audience: To share like-minded organizations’ and businesses’ stories with audiences that will help them flourish. To share my knowledge accumulated over years of career experience to build others up. To continue to always be open and learning. To create beautiful relationships and communities through art, entertainment, real content, and intentional connection.
What drives you? What gets you out of bed every morning?
All of the above. And also to support my growing family, ignite my creative spirit, get the absolute most out of life, and build lasting bonds with others.
What are some unique or innovative approaches you take?
I think having a media and publishing company that also functions somewhat like a niche social media “influencer” is unique in this market. Being able to pivot and doing things in a non-traditional way are both skills I’ve learned from so many successful people I’ve worked with in the past.
It’s also served me well to build solid relationships first and do for others before asking them to do for you. I’m much more worried about that than particular business goals. I think with good bonds and earnest kindness, success almost always follows.
How is your industry evolving?
When is it not evolving!? I think digital media is changing every single day. The landscape, the tools, the successful content, and what people want is constantly shifting. It’s wild to see the unbelievable developments in A.I. while at the same time, audiences on social media are yearning for realness.
What are some of your goals for the next year, or the next 5 years?
Since we’ve recently launched St. Louisan Media and our online publication, The St. Louisan, our list of future goals is long. But I’ll say, in the next five years, I’d like to continue to “niche down” with The St. Louisan and keep honing in on our ideal audience. Eventually creating a podcast and youtube channel, a print book or magazine, and boutique events for our community would be wonderful.
I hope to continue to work with brands and businesses that align with our values and help create communities around them that love what they do and support their success.
And I’d like to continue to make art and record an album of my original songs! You know, in all my free time. Ha!
What are some of the most important things that our audience can do to support you?
I’d love to send this question right back to you!
We built The St. Louisan to support small businesses and the incredibly beautiful and diverse creative community in St. Louis. That’s why I absolutely LOVE STL.org. You are masters at telling gorgeous, emotional stories that are honest and inspiring.
Collaborating on projects like this is the only thing I could ask for.
What inspires you about St. Louis?
So many things! The people here are what inspire me the most.
My absolute favorite thing about our city is that it is like a real human being. It has a rich and varied history that is at times beautiful and unbelievably impressive and at times deeply flawed. I am a big believer in the yin/yang…the and/and of life. Great things and hard things can be happening in tandem and one doesn’t necessarily cancel out the other.
St. Louis is human, and its citizens are its consciousness.
And on a much more easy-breezy note: our city’s arts and culture scene is unreal, our cost of living is excellent, the food here is the best in the country and our proximity to incredible nature is wonderful.
What is a favorite neighborhood or favorite thing about the place you live or work?
Oh my gosh, a favorite neighborhood in the St. Louis area is impossible to choose. I have a soft spot for Dogtown and Hi-Pointe because I love the personalities there and how it feels like a close-knit small town. We lived there for five years and the proximity to both highways, Forest Park, amazing restaurants, and coffee shops are really wonderful. The Grove has so many new cool businesses and restaurants and has absolutely transformed in the last ten years. Midtown and Grand Center are doing amazing things for the arts and creative communities. The Central West End remains super cool, and for all the transplants reading this, it feels like Dumbo Brooklyn. And Shaw with MoBot and Tower Grove Park is an amazing place to be on any sunny weekend.
We live in Kirkwood now and I absolutely love the family vibes here for our small kids and Webster Groves. I could go on!
What’s your current cultural obsession?
Health and wellness podcasts, almost to my detriment. Ha! I think they are giving me health anxiety, but I’m obsessed.
A.I. and things like Chat GPT are fascinating. I love watching and working with those new developments. And, obviously, wondering whether those balloons and UFO sitings are truly aliens.
What do you do in your spare time?
Start new businesses. Ha! Spend time with my amazing women and mom friends. Play and write music. My favorite moments are time spent outside with my extended family, and being mindful with my husband and three awesome kids.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Those ridiculous saucy romantic novels with a glass of wine.
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