Natalie Self, MSW, SHRM-CP is the Senior Vice President of Equitable Economic Impact at the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis, Missouri. In this role, Natalie builds strategies, capacity and partnerships to ensure Cortex leverages its 200 acre innovation community to narrow the racial wealth gap in the St. Louis region. Natalie brings an extensive background in building more equitable economies through cross-sector collective leadership, national grant-making and entrepreneurship support. Natalie’s previous roles include Executive Director of STEMSTL, a regional coalition that builds more clear, rigorous and equitable STEM learning; Program Officer in Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where she managed the Inclusion Open grant portfolio, Program Manager at BioSTL, where she was responsible for the operations and evaluation of the BioSTL Inclusion Initiative. Natalie is also the founder of the St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective. Natalie is proud mom of 7 year old Lucy Mae, with whom she loves to read, paint and go on hikes.

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