Whatโ€™s Next For St. Louis With Crystal Martin

CrystalMartin
Crystal Martin is the Education & Community Engagement Manager of LaunchCoderGirl. | Photo courtesy of Crystal Martin

As the St. Louis startup community continues to grow, the voices and concerns of its founders, grassroots organizers and support organizations need to be heard, perhaps now more than ever.

What does St. Louis need to do now to support its startups? Where is it succeeding?

We gathered community members to talk to us about our regionโ€™s current challenges and possible solutions.ย Crystal Martin is theย Education & Community Engagement Manager for LaunchCoderGirl.

What are three issues, gaps or improvements that St. Louisโ€™ startup ecosystem needs to address?

Lack of knowledge about the availability of free learning resources; access to great mentors and a diverse community of role models; rethinking how employers find and hire tech talent.

Which one would you focus on first?

Making sure people know about the awesome affordable educational toolsโ€”both online and in personโ€”available right at their fingertips.

What approach would you take to solving that?

More information sessions and meetups. One of the meetups Iโ€™m most proud of is CoderGirl, a weekly gathering where women study withย each other under the guidance of volunteer mentors.

What is your hope for St. Louisโ€™ startup future?

In the next few years,ย I hope the face of the tech talent pool in St. Louis is more diverse.ย I hope to see a wide variety of people with varying backgrounds and experiences joining the tech community.

What do you love about the current state of STLโ€™s startup scene?

Its accessibility. You know that if you have an idea, there is a community of people somewhere that will at least listen and help you get started making that idea a reality.

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