In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Dr. Andrea Morris — St. Louis dentist and founder of Remvia — to talk about bruxism, invention, and the leap from a stable career into entrepreneurship.

Clenching and grinding can put up to 300 pounds of pressure on your teeth overnight — enough to fracture them. Dr. Morris lived with it herself, and spent 15 years building a better answer than biting down on plastic forever.

The conversation covers medical innovation, betting on yourself, and how St. Louis's startup community rallies around first-time founders.

This episode's highlights include:

- 300 pounds of pressure: what grinding really does to your teeth and jaw.
- A 2015 letter with one goal: "start a company with this idea."
- A live demo of the device that tells your brain to relax — without sitting on your teeth.
- How Venture Café and T-REX helped a dentist become a founder.
- Her advice for career pivoters: find what you're passionate about and let it lead you.

From a dental school prototype to a patented, FDA-cleared device, Dr. Morris's story shows what happens when passion meets a real need.

Remvia is based at Hilltown Dentistry in Chesterfield and is now training providers nationwide — ask your dentist about it.

🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday 🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST: Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/ Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode? Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Marshall Ray — owner of Faster Fitness, a group personal training studio in Brentwood — to talk about cutting through the hype in fitness and building a career and business that lasts.

Marshall has spent more than 14 years running Faster Fitness and even longer coaching clients one-on-one. He brings a no-nonsense, science-backed take on what actually works, from training frequency to nutrition, plus hard-won lessons on growing (and focusing) a small business.

This conversation covers entrepreneurship, leadership and prioritization, and practical fitness advice for anyone trying to get started or level up.

This episode's highlights include:

- The client who lost 110 pounds, won Teacher of the Year and reunited with her high school sweetheart.
- AI can write a basic program, but it can't replace environment and coaching.
- "What do you want to be known for?" — and the power of stopping what doesn't serve it.
- Advice for new trainers: care about your clients and train people in person.
- Training is offense, nutrition is defense — and meal prep is the highest-impact habit.

Whether you're building a business, starting a fitness routine, or trying to stay focused on what matters, Marshall's message is the same: keep it simple, stay consistent, and focus on the one thing.

Want to train with Marshall's team or set some goals? Find Faster Fitness in Brentwood (search "Faster Fitness" online) and reach out to Marshall on Instagram.

Connect with Marshall Ray

Instagram ▶ @marshall_ray_ff

Faster Fitness ▶ @faster_fitness



🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday
🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON:
Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO
Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST:
Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/
Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode?
Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com
Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Sylvester Chisom — co-founder of the Show Me the World Project — to talk about how a mission-driven coffee company is sending St. Louis students on life-changing trips around the globe.

What starts as a conversation about great coffee turns into a masterclass in social entrepreneurship — from a chance grocery store run on a Costa Rican coffee farm to a brand now sold at farmers markets, cafes, and even the airport across Saint Louis. Sylvester breaks down how he and co-founder Samantha built a business where every bag sold funds a student's first passport stamp.

This episode covers experiential education, social enterprise, and the mindset shifts it takes to scale a mission-driven business — plus the entrepreneurial roots that shaped Sylvester long before Show Me the World existed.

This episode's highlights include:

• A mission-driven coffee company that's sent 150+ St. Louis students abroad — including 30 kids to Colombia this June.

• The grocery store moment that turned coffee into an empowered fundraising tool instead of a handout.

• His mentor's rule for growth: "You don't solve fewer problems — you exchange your problem set."

Whether it's a bag of coffee, a school swap, or a mentor's hard truth about problem-solving, Sylvester's story is a masterclass in building a business that changes lives while it scales.

Want to get involved? Grab a bag of Show Me the World coffee at the Tower Grove Farmers Market, Midtown Cafe, Great American Bagel, or Lambert International Airport — or set up a fundraiser for your own school, team, or organization through the Show Me the Cause platform.

Connect with Sylvester Chisom ▶ https://www.sylvesterchisom.com/
Show Me the World Project ▶ https://showmetheworldproject.org/

🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday 🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON:
Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO
Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST: I
nstagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/
Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode?
Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com
Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Jeshua Pearson — mental health advocate and communications team member at East Side Aligned — to talk about breaking the silence around mental health in the Black community.

Jeshua opens up about a childhood marked by instability in East St. Louis, the years he spent being everyone else's "strong friend" while hiding his own pain, and the 2024 collapse that finally forced him to ask for help. It's a raw, honest conversation about what happens when the mask comes off — and what's possible on the other side.

Jamal and Jeshua dig into the stigma around mental health in Black communities, what it actually takes to rebuild after loss, and how faith, therapy, and community carried Jeshua through his lowest year.

Note: This episode includes candid discussion of mental illness, grief, and personal hardship. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a trusted support system or a mental health professional."

This episode's highlights include:

- Growing up in East St. Louis — gunshots at night, an eviction, and bathing in a small tub with microwaved water.

- The "strong friend" trap: wearing a smile so nobody else has to carry your weight.

- Discovering his dad's bipolar disorder and schizophrenia at 13, the same year his grandparents passed and his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

- Hitting rock bottom in 2024 — eight deaths, a lost apartment, and a job he had to walk away from.

- His three-part lifeline: faith, therapy, and two friends who took him in when he had nowhere to go.


Jeshua's story is proof that healing isn't linear — but faith, community, and the willingness to ask for help can turn your lowest moment into your life's mission.

Want to support the work? East Side Aligned helps kids across Greater East St. Louis thrive — follow along and learn more through the link below.

https://www.eastsidealigned.org/

Connect with Jeshua Pearson Instagram ▶ @jlp_98
East Side Aligned ▶ @eastsidealigned (https://www.instagram.com/eastsidealigned/)

🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday 🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON:
Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO
Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST:
Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/
Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode?
Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com
Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Keisha Mabry — educator, workforce development leader, and certified AI educator — to talk about building a portfolio career rooted in curiosity, obedience to vision, and a refusal to be boxed into one lane.

From an 8th grade science classroom to leading tech workforce development in the AI era, Keisha's path is proof that a career doesn't have to be linear to be intentional. This conversation is packed with practical frameworks for anyone rethinking their next move, wrestling with whether to adopt AI, or trying to figure out how to tell their own "nonlinear" story with confidence.

Among the biggest themes covered: how to build and narrate a portfolio career using tools like the "three-word bio," the Jobs to Be Done framework, and the Business Model Canvas; how to adopt AI without losing your own judgment, empathy, or critical thinking; and how reframing fear as curiosity can change the way women (and everyone else) approach risk in their careers.


This episode's highlights include:

• Keisha's "three-word bio" framework: educator, builder, connector.

• Why she calls her nonlinear path a "portfolio career" — and why more people will follow it.

• Using "Jobs to Be Done" and the Business Model Canvas to pitch your transferable skills.

• A lesson from training 20,000 founders: build a "pain pill," not a "vitamin."

• Her rule for adopting AI: start with your workflow, not the tools.

• Why she closed her event space, Heydays, with no backup plan — and trusted obedience over fear.

• Inside Per Scholas: no-cost, 15-week tech training that's placed hundreds in St. Louis.

• A first look at her AI Summit at Cortex on October 17th.

From the classroom to the boardroom to the tech bootcamp, Keisha's throughline is simple: stay curious, be obedient to the vision, and don't build alone.

If you're curious about a career in tech, Per Scholas St. Louis offers no-cost, 15-week training with job placement support for anyone 18+ with a GED or equivalent — and Keisha's AI Summit at Cortex is coming up on October 17th, with more details to be announced soon.

Connect with Keisha Mabry
Instagram ▶ @keishamabry
LinkedIn ▶ linkedin.com/in/keishamabry
Website ▶ https://keishamabry.com/



🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday

🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON:

Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO

Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST:

Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/

Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode?

Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com

Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Coach Will Franklin — head football coach at University City High School and former NFL player — to talk about resilience, identity, and what it means to come home and give back to the city that raised him.

Will's story is a masterclass in patience and reinvention: a kid from North St. Louis who dreamed of the NFL, sat out a full year of high school ball only to have Mizzou believe in him first, built a historic senior season across three sports, and then had to rebuild his entire sense of self after his NFL career ended. If you've ever wondered what really happens after the spotlight fades — or what it takes to lead young people through their own version of that journey — this conversation hits different.

Throughout the episode, Jamal and Will dig into mentorship and identity beyond sports, the mental toughness required to do the work when no one's watching, and how investing in home — literally and figuratively — can transform a community.

This episode's highlights include:

• Growing up in inner-city St. Louis, discovering basketball and football in the neighborhood, and catching his first real recognition in eighth grade.

• Transferring high schools, sitting out an entire season, and how Mizzou's junior-year scholarship offer became the turning point in his recruitment.

• A historic senior year that took his football team to the semifinals, his basketball team to a 31-0 undefeated state title, and himself to a state track title.

• The mental toughness lesson from track and field about doing the work quietly, with no immediate reward, because "the finish line seems far away."

• Falling into depression after being released from his last NFL team, and the phone call from his friend Tony Ernst that pulled him into coaching.

• Learning to coach the whole person — helping student-athletes figure out who they are outside of the sport before that identity crisis finds them later in life.

• Coming home to St. Louis instead of staying in Phoenix, because giving back to the community that produced him mattered more than a quiet retirement.

• Building the culture at University City High School from 32 players to 86, upgrading facilities, and creating a path for student-athletes to graduate with an associate's degree and walk into college debt-free.

Will and Jamal close it out with real talk on patience — as a first-time head coach, as a parent, and as anyone trying to build something worth building — plus advice for the next generation of coaches on what the job actually demands.

Want to see it in person? University City football's first home game is September 11th at 7:00 PM against Northwest, on a newly upgraded field. Come check out the program Coach Franklin is building.

Connect with Coach Will Franklin LinkedIn ▶ William Franklin

🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday 🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST: Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/ Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode? Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, host Jamal Cornelious sits down with Robert L. Powell III — founder and CEO of the BGG Foundation and former PlayStation employee — to talk about how he's turning gaming from a "hobby" into a real career pathway for St. Louis youth.

Whether you're a gamer, a parent, an educator, or just curious how esports scholarships actually work, this conversation breaks down an industry most people still don't fully understand.

In this episode, Jamal and Robert dig into how gaming can be a vehicle for mentorship, workforce development, and violence prevention — and why Saint Louis has been slow to catch up.

This episode's highlights include:

• Robert's journey from Saint Louis Public Schools and SLU to working at Sony on the PlayStation line, and why he left to start his own foundation.

• How the BGG Foundation runs gaming programs in schools and county libraries to help kids earn esports scholarships.

• The difference between "passive" screen time (doom scrolling) and "active" screen time (competitive gaming) — and why it matters for kids' attention spans and critical thinking.

• Why so few local kids end up on esports rosters at Saint Louis University, Maryville, Lindenwood, and other regional schools, despite those programs existing right in their backyard.

• A preview of the Got Game Tournament on July 25th at the St. Louis County Library's Clark Family Branch, featuring Super Smash Bros, Brawlhalla, and 2XKO, with $500 cash prizes and scholarship opportunities on the line.

• The launch of the Saint Louis Gaming League, a 21-and-up competitive league that faces off against Chicago and Detroit.

• Robert's advice to young people trying to find their path: be bold, follow what you love, and actually tap into your community instead of just watching from the sidelines.

From growing up gaming in his grandmother's basement to building scholarship pipelines for the next generation, this episode is a reminder that community — not competition — is what moves a city forward.

Get involved: visit the BGG Foundation's website to donate, check the esports leaderboards, browse the esports directory, or come out to a tournament or library program.


Connect with Robert L. Powell III
Instagram Personal ▶ @robbruhbruh
Instagram Company BGG Foundation ▶ @bggfndn
Linkedin ▶ https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-l-powell-iii/?skipRedirect=true

🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday
🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST: Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/ Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode? Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/

What does it really take to walk away from the career you thought was your calling? How do you know when passion for your work has quietly turned into burnout? And what can losing 200 pounds and finishing a marathon teach us about what we're actually capable of? 🏃‍♂️💪🌱

In this episode of Gateway to Growth, our host Jim Cornelius sits down with Dr. Jonathan Solomon, Partnership Director at an ed-tech company, to explore what it takes to reinvent yourself — professionally, physically, and personally.

Jonathan's own path winds from growing up between Cleveland, Minnesota, and Los Angeles while he and his sister were in foster care, to becoming a first-generation college student at Langston University, to eventually pivoting out of higher education and into ed-tech for the sake of his own health. He shares how his family's struggle with addiction shaped his early identity around school and learning, and how that same intensity later put him on a path toward burnout.

Throughout the conversation, Jonathan breaks down the self-preservation instinct that pushed him to leave higher ed after nearly a decade, how his wife helped him recognize blind spots he couldn't see in himself, and how losing almost 200 pounds and completing the LA Marathon reshaped his understanding of his own capacity. He also offers candid advice for anyone standing at the edge of their own career pivot.

This episode explores:

• Jonathan's personal story, from foster care in Cleveland to first-generation college student at an HBCU.
• Why he made the leap from higher education student affairs into ed-tech.
• The self-preservation instinct behind walking away from a “calling.”
• How his wife helped him recognize burnout blind spots he couldn't see himself.
• Losing nearly 200 pounds and completing the LA Marathon while cramping from mile 8.
• Building men's mental health community through Yoga With Your Bros and the Run Crew.
• Why he chose Saint Louis, and how he built (and was built into) community there.
• Practical advice for anyone considering a career pivot, and sitting with fear instead of waiting for it to pass.

Whether you're navigating your own burnout, weighing a career pivot, or just need a reminder that you're capable of more than you think, this conversation is a powerful look at what it means to bet on yourself.

Instagram & TikTok ▶ @dr.jsolo

🎙 New episodes of Gateway to Growth drop bi-weekly on Monday

🔔 Subscribe for future episodes exploring leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and career growth.

🎧 LISTEN ON:

Apple Podcasts ▶ https://apple.co/36ycuuO

Spotify ▶ https://spoti.fi/3svGoqS

🔗 CONNECT WITH STL BUCKET LIST:

Instagram ▶ https://www.instagram.com/stlbucketlist/

Website ▶ https://stlbucketlist.com/

🤝 WORK WITH STL BUCKET LIST

Interested in partnering or sponsoring an episode?

Email ▶ show@stlbucketlist.com

Website ▶ https://www.bucketlistcreative.com/