PROshop: Following the Road to Success
BY: AMANDA WICHERN
Dorothy said it best when she sang to follow the yellow brick road. The five business professionals featured have done just that with the accomplishment of their careers through the LGBT community. Vital VOICE Magazine is awarding these individuals throughout the St. Louis area into our PROshop.
St. Louis is a city filled with entrepreneurs and business professionals; and the LGBT community and its allies have taken the business world by storm. From the arts to a success in the media world these fabulous individuals aren’t ready to stop following that golden path just yet. We salute those who have supported the rights for the LGBT community and continue to fight within our community.
ALLYSON MACE
A Saucy Success
After working in the restaurant business for about 15 years, Allyson Mace, Sauce Magazine’s co-founder/publisher, noticed something was missing in the St. Louis community. There was no access for St. Louisans to read about the great offerings of the food industry throughout the city.
In 1999 Mace launched the website saucemagazine.com with co-founder Catherine Neville to promote the restaurant world in St. Louis with a restaurant guide. As the followers of saucemagazine.com grew so did the resource.
“We have a lot of great restaurants that I think people are surprised the quality is so high here,” Mace said.
In October 2001 the first print issue of Sauce Magazine was released. But Mace released the issue in order to promote awareness of the website not expecting it to be so successful. Sauce Magazine was in full-force and on the road to expansion.
A publication that started out at 15,000 a month has now grown to 80,000 and is available in over 950 locations within a 50 mile radius. Sauce Magazine is the largest distributed magazine in St. Louis and has held the top spot for many years. Mace’s intense desire to provide for the community and support from her team at Sauce Magazine allows her to take on many tasks of the business including finding new outlets to carry the brand.
“My main goal as the publisher of the magazine is to make sure that the operation of the magazine continues to grow and is working efficiently. I wear many hats here,” Mace said while ironically wearing a black cap with “New York” spelled across the top.
The New York native, who now calls St. Louis home, is looking to expand the business in 2010 and lives her life through the motto of Sauce Magazine, “Dine, drink and live well.”
"I live my life by the quality of life, the quality of food, the quality of friends and having a good work life,” Mace said.
Mace, along with her staff, has distinguished the important rules of running a successful business based on integrity, realizing the difference between editorializing and advertising, building strong relationships with clients and readers, and to always provide a product that is relevant to the community.
“It’s very important that what we write is free of outside influence that way our readers know that it’s true. I’m really big on honesty.”
Not only does Mace cater to the food lovers of St. Louis, but she has taken part in supporting many of the arts in the community. And as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community herself, Mace has provided Sauce Magazine as a media partner for the NOH8 Project St. Louis.
Although Mace has a passion for food, the arts and the LGBT community she also shares a love for her animals which can be found by her side at the office.
Mace lives and breathes food day after day, but she never tires of it. She continues to dine throughout the city.
DUANE REED
Making Magic Happen
Abracadabra! Alakazam! When Duane Reed waves his business wand he makes magic happen in the art world for the LGBT community. The owner and founder of the Duane Reed Gallery has been working in the art profession for about 25 years and continues to pull rabbits out of his hat. Between juggling several shows for future exhibitions in the gallery and keeping the trust of his clients and artists, Duane Reed truly is a magician in the world of art.
“You always want to be able to develop yourself into a presence that you have a magic wand,” said Reed about relationships with both artists and clients.
Reed claims his goal in the art world is to get the attention of art collectors around the world through the exhibitions he so delicately chooses.
“Collectors know that if our gallery has chosen someone specific it must be 
important enough that they should pay attention. That’s the goal. It’s all very magical,” exclaimed Reed.
When Reed was a young boy and the other children were out playing ball he stayed inside looking at art magazines studying the works and identifying them like flashcards. But it wasn’t until studying pre-med in London when he discovered what his true act would entail.
Reed’s opening act began in 1994 with the Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis. The gallery began with exhibits of paintings and photography, but he has expanded his art showings to a different medium throughout the years to glass art.
“Contemporary glass was a new medium that was exploring all kinds of new boundaries and was pushing envelopes,” Reed said. “It hooked me.”
As a gay man, Reed is a supporter and advocate for the LGBT community in St. Louis and active with many projects and charities, including Food Outreach.
“We don’t label ourselves one way or another,” Reed stated. “We are just inclusive."
Reed’s business model revolves around his relationships with his clients and his artists. He gains the clients trust by allowing them to experience every aspect of the industry; from the opening of the boxes when the art-work arrives to viewing the set-up of the shows.
In May 2009 the Duane Reed Gallery moved from its beginning location in Clayton to the Central West End. The current space of the gallery is no stranger to Reed. The space is that of a gallery that Reed once worked for, the Elliot Smith Gallery before becoming an entrepreneur.
“Moving was a celebration because it brought us back into the city. St. Louis has been very good to us and continues to be good to us,” Reed said.
SARAH THOMPSON
And the Emmy Goes to…
When Sarah Thompson was a little girl she never said she was going to grow up to be a successful public relations and media professional in her native St. Louis. But this little girl has become quite the success in The Gateway City.
When she isn’t busy planning her wedding, Sarah Thompson is spending her time publicizing her clients through her entrepreneurial business, Sarah Thompson Productions. Thompson started her own business about a year ago in St. Louis, after working for Twist, LLC, but never believed during her years in college that she would be where she is today as a publicist or have a shelf of Emmy Awards to show for it.
“Once you get into public relations it’s just so fast paced and projects just keep popping up. Before you know it it’s been one year, then two years and I just kept doing it,” Thompson said.
Thompson’s current clients include well-known groups in the St. Louis area such as Gateway to Hope and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Her past clients 
have included COCA and Dance St. Louis—both of which Thompson handled during her years at Twist, LLC.
While Thompson lived in London after getting a graduate degree in history, film and production from the University of Birmingham she worked for the BBC as a researcher and production assistant.
Between photo shoots, television shoots, meetings and everything else it takes to keep her clients happy, Thompson doesn’t allow the overwhelming aspect get to her. It is the core principles and the value of her work that reflects her success as a business professional.
Finding creative work and telling people’s story is what drives Thompson in her work on a day to day basis. She works as a segment producer for HEC-TV’s arts and cultural program “State of the Arts,” produces STL TV’s 30-minute program “City Corner” and also serves as the “Stepping Out” contributor for KMOV’s program “Great Day St. Louis.”
Her busy schedule aside, Thompson remains equally active in giving back to the St. Louis community. She donates pro bono public relation services and consultations to a variety of organizations. She also serves on the board of directors for a non-profit organization, the Independence Center, in the Central West End supporting adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses.
Thompson runs her business on a no judgment basis and strives to take on clients throughout the community.
“I don’t go after one type of business or one type of client,” Thompson said. “It’s more about what I believe are really good projects and what I think will help the community.”
With many accolades under her belt and quite the impressive resume of clients, Thompson has achieved a professional standard for her business in less than a year. It’s sure to say that this business professional is not ready to stop anytime in the near future.
CHRISTOPHER GRANGER
Exploring his Way to the Top
When Christopher Granger isn’t sitting at his favorite coffee shop Foundation Grounds on Manchester or watching “Project Runway” at home on the couch with his life-partner Ben Granger, he is busy perfecting his craft and building his business. Granger began his business, Granger Home 10 years ago. He creates high-end hand woven fabrics out of materials that are all natural and has a great amount of passion for his art work.
What makes Granger’s business unique from other weaving companies is that he uses recycled materials like stainless steel and the newest recycled objects, VHS tapes. He than takes the fabrics he produces and makes elegant one-of-a-kind scarves, neckties and handbags.
The New York native holds a degree in mathematics but has found a way to take numbers to a more creative level.
“I saw weaving and I said to myself, ‘that’s math with pretty yarn’,” Granger said.
Granger’s inspirations for his textile creations come from traveling. Granger seems to find a little something he likes to bring to his work wherever he goes.
Whether it is a color to use through the dying process or a specific texture that moves him he uses nature as his color-wheel.
“I am very much a creature of geography. I become very tied into whatever land I am in,” Granger said.
Granger’s newest addition to his business is using hand-woven fabrics that are created in Nicaragua and Myanmar. His traveling and connections with certain women’s groups in the two countries lead him to a great opportunity for a new addition to his business.
Granger’s merchandise is available in boutiques throughout North America, particularly on the East Coast. In the St. Louis area he sells his merchandise strictly through art shows or through commission based orders. With the average scarf costing about $75 Granger’s designs keep customers coming back for more year after year.
“I have a short attention span and scarves are short, quick and people are wearing them all year round now. It makes me very happy,” Granger said.
While he is very much an environmental activist on the importance of the planet, Granger gives back to the community through donations to the Separation of Church and State and local food pantries.
“I have a point of view. I love the planet and it’s the only one we’ve got,” said Granger.
The Grangers are supporters of the fight for government recognition for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
“It’s not marriage that we are fighting for as a gay couple, I’m fighting for federal government recognition to civil contract. I’m married and nobody owns that word,” said Christopher Granger.
Granger’s art is expressed through his soft sensual sexuality as a gay man. He describes himself as not just an artist but a gay artist.
“I love fabric! Scarves are just little pieces of fabric that people have found useful and that is what I want to keep doing,” Granger said.
TONY BAKER
His Taste is Out of this World
Baker is his name and cooking is his game. Tony Baker, sous chef de cuisine, is the newest addition to the team of chefs at Eclipse in the Moonrise Hotel in the Loop. He joined the cooking team in November 2009 as the late-night dining chef.
Baker’s long-time love with food and cooking has brought the St. Louis native back home to his roots. His passion for food has led him on quite a tasteful business path full of sugar and spice and everything nice. Baker’s forte is with classical French preparation with a contemporary flair.
“I do fancy the classical French preparations. I like to change it up a little bit to make it look more current,” Baker said.
Baker realized he wanted to pursue a career in cooking while in high school. His first job was at a small family run restaurant that was close to home. Baker soon realized it not only was it a nice job because of the convenience factor of being close to home, but he began to have fun with cooking.
“I began to enjoy cooking and could see a lot of potential down the road,” Baker said.
Baker began learning the different aspects that goes into the chef world other than just cooking at an early age. He learned the process of management, the 
organizational skills needed and the financial aspect of it all.
Having never attended a culinary school of any kind Baker has still found his way to success as a professional.
“I am very strong in my abilities,” Baker said about his cooking skills. “I have worked with a lot of people who have gone to school and I have had to re-train them on the practicalities of preparing a meal.”
He has traveled through Europe with a chef from Ireland to learn the ropes of cooking as a fellowship.
Baker’s career was anything but overdone. He went on to becoming an in-home private chef to cooking for royalty and past presidents.
“I hate specifics, but I have worked with some pretty predominant people,” he said.
Baker has brought his smock and cooking utensils and delicious dishes to Eclipse for the late-night menu running from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Drive thru is no longer an option. Baker has written the late-night menu himself and taken it to new heights.
Baker kicks off his new menu at Eclipse on March 1 with options like lamb-chops, pouched duck eggs and much more.
Baker hopes to pursue a restaurant of his own in the future that will gear towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. But for now he is happy with the improvements of the menu and the atmosphere at Eclipse.
“Eclipse is a unique place. It’s a grown-up version of a space atmosphere.”
Strap yourself in for lift off and prepare your palette because it sounds like thanks to Baker we are all in for a tasty ride.
Photography By: RICHARD A. NICHOLS
