In line with its mission of igniting young leaders for a stronger charitable community, Launch St. Louis is bringing like-minded entrepreneurs, activists and community builders for the 3rd Annual Gateway to the Future: A St. Louis Young Professionals Summit on Friday, October 9.

Originally serving as the Young Friends of Gilda for Gilda’s Club St. Louis, Launch St. Louis was created to serve as a resource for organizations looking to create “young friends” groups.

The half-day summit taking place at the Missouri History Museum features discussions on issues impacting the region.

“We started the Gateway to the Future Summit because we saw a need to bring together young professionals and start a dialogue about the importance of getting involved and giving back to the community,” said Jill Lewin, Vice Chair of Launch St. Louis.

“All of us on the board were having these one-on-one conversations with young professionals around town who were doing incredible things. We wanted to create a forum where we could bring everyone together in one room and have that conversation on a larger scale. The summit gives young professionals the opportunity to meet each other, to get more involved, and to work together to make our community a better place.”

Featured panelists and speakers at the event include:

SiSi Beltran, Build-A-Bear Workshop
Wes Hoffman, Treehouse Networkshop
Cara Spencer, St. Louis Board of Aldermen
Travis Sheridan, Venture Cafe
Irene Agustin, The Bridge
Edward Domain, Domain Tech Report
Jessie Mueller, RISE Coffee
Kathy Reeves, Enterprise
Paul Sorenson, Grace Hill/GoodMap
Tara Pham, CTY
Wale Soulade, Commerce Bank

Tickets to the event are $25 (available online only in advance) and includes breakfast.
The event runs from 8am-12pm.