Register for the 2025 Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon

Join the Missouri Athletic Club in celebrating this year's four honorees from the community, along with one Rising Star. Each honoree has demonstrated tremendous vision and mentorship in business, civic, and philanthropic endeavors. Register on the MAC app or call 314-539-4470.

Missouri Athletic Club Connections highlights the foremost private club in St. Louis known for attracting exceptional people and enriching lives for generations.

Transcript

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Welcome to Missouri Athletic Club Connections, a podcast highlighting Missouri's only premier athletic club, the MAC is recognized as the foremost private club in Saint Louis, known for attracting exceptional people and enriching lives for generations. I'm Lauren Hieger, MAC member and co-chair of the Women of Distinction Award Luncheon. The MAC’s Women's Initiative Group is hosting the Women of Distinction Award Luncheon this year. This year the theme is Women of Purpose and Impact. Presented by Mosby Building Arts. And it's going to happen in just a few short days on October 3rd. And today, we're very honored because we get to hear from one of this year's honorees. So joining us now is Karen Goering. Well, thank you, Karen, so much for joining us on the podcast today. We're very excited to hear from you and some of your experiences. First, can you tell me a little bit about your background? Certainly. I have been in Saint Louis since 1979, and I came to Saint Louis to go to graduate school at Washington University. And the following year I started working at the Missouri Historical Society. I've had the incredible good fortune to do something that most people don't have the opportunity to do. And I've spent 45 years with the institution and in many ways have grown up with the institution. But it was always new challenges. And as a consequence, I always had new opportunities and went from starting out as a curator to going into management of the institution and became project director for a number of things, such as the renovation and expansion of the former United Hebrew Temple into our library and research center. A few years later, I had the opportunity to expand the History Museum, in Forest Park, and then most recently, the renovation and reimagining of Soldiers Memorial downtown. I've had other incredible opportunities like leading the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council and having the opportunity to work with history with tribal nations and others along the trail. And what has brought all of those things into focus for me was the opportunity to work on Saint Louis history and help people in this region, as well as visitors, understand the significance of this place. Yeah, as you mentioned, 45 years in one place, we really don't hear about that very often. What kind of led you into this specific career? Was it history that drew you to it? It it was history. And I've always been interested in history. I did my graduate work in urban history and urban planning and all of that very nicely came together with the career that I was able to enjoy. And I've had the opportunity to work, for example, with the Forest Park Master Plan and with implementation of that as well as and working with like the Landmarks Association. It's been a very nice way to bring together urban planning, politics, history and the significance of place. Yet it's so fascinating in that you have been able to see so many different parts of it coming together. And what would you say you love most about what you were able to do every day? Probably what I love most about my job has been the fact that we've been able to focus on what makes Saint Louis unique. And I think the historical society has the responsibility as well as the challenge of making sure that people have the opportunity to learn about the the metropolitan region, to understand the beautiful things that have happened, as well as the struggles and the challenges. But also, you have to know something about a place to care about it. And Saint Louis, for whatever reason, inappropriately, in my mind, has a bit of an inferiority complex, and it should not. Saint Louis has produced such incredible people over the past 260 some years. And the and organizations and events and activities and people need to know about those. And if people learn about the deep heritage and history of this region, I think that they will care about it and work together to try to improve the metropolitan area. Yeah. And if somebody wants to get involved and learn more, what would you recommend to them? The I would encourage them to get involved with local organizations and I will do a plug for Thursday nights at the museum because every Thursday night we have some sort of activity at the the History Museum. We always say it's going to be the most interesting night of your week. And the some nights it's a concert, some nights it's lectures, some nights it's programing. We have a lot of panel discussions on different topics. We even had a program a year or two ago on the history of wrestling at the Chase, where they set up in the auditorium a wrestling match and the But there's always ways to look at different issues, you know, in Saint Louis history. And we try to bring in people with different perspectives so that, you know, sometimes people just come for a specific program, but other times they just come because they know it will be something interesting. And it's a good way to get involved and meet people. They all start with a one hour kind of happy hour opportunity to meet with different partners from the community, have something to eat, to drink if you want. And then a program an hour later. And so that is a great introduction for someone that's interested in learning more about the area. Yeah, and I didn't expect wrestling to be one of the topics, but I know we have some wrestling fans here at the MAC, so it sounds like a great thing to sign up for and go see every Thursday night. Every Thursday night, Every Thursday night. Well, we are very honored to have you at the MAC. We're going to be recognizing you on Friday, October 3rd, as part of our women of distinction luncheon. When you heard that you were going to be one of our honorees, what did that mean to you? I was very honored to be selected. And the I think that it was particularly meaningful to me because of the work that we've done, you know, with the Saint Louis community. And this is a recognition of of that of the work that I do, the work that my colleagues do. The president of the Historical Society always talks about introducing Saint Louisans to a Saint Louis they've never met. And the anything that we can do to introduce not only people who were born here or recently moved to Saint Louis or who are just passing through to the the rich history of this region, I think is is significant. Yeah. And you really mentioned something that's very important to me, too. I don't know if everyone realizes, but yes, the MAC hosts this luncheon, but it is not MAC - all MAC women. It is women from our community. It's women from Saint Louis. It's women who've made a huge impact, whether that's, you know, their professional life, their personal life, that what they're giving back to their community. And I think we're going to see a little bit of all of that come Friday, October 3rd, which is going to be really exciting to share the stories, share your story. What I'm really excited about is after we tape this podcast here, we're going to have a kind of a meet and greet with all the honorees and our planning committee, and that has become my favorite night of the year because we get a little bit more intimate discussions to learn more about your background and to learn about how you become the person you are today. Happy to hear that so much of that is Saint Louis history, community involvement for you as well. Have you ever had the chance to attend our luncheon in the past? I have. I've had the opportunity to attend several different ones. I've had friends that have been honorees in the past and one colleague that was honored maybe five years ago. And the they're very inspirational. The it's always interesting to learn about what others are doing, you know, within the community. And it's something that I think people tend to to really enjoy and learn something from the the presentations and just getting to know different people. Exactly. And I feel like we are helping everyone build a network that you can always reach out to. I know the first time after I left, I had taken some notes from almost every woman who spoke and I thought, I have to come back to this again. I need to I need to hear these stories. And then the next year I joined the planning committee and continued to plan. But another story, too. I had brought a group of friends last year to attend and we happened to be out to dinner, same group of friends, and we're walking back to our table. And I said hi to one of last year's honorees and my friend stopped and said, ‘oh you are’ and said her name. And she looked at her and said, Yeah. And I said, oh did you know each other? And she said she was one of the women of distinction honorees. And I said, Yes, you remembered. And she said, of course I remember. So if you were to give some advice to a first time attendee, someone who maybe hasn't come, what would what advice would you give them today? I think just taking the opportunity to introduce themselves and to to meet others, the it's not only the people who are being honored, but the people who are attending are deeply committed to making a difference. And these are, as you mentioned, networking. These are great people to know. Absolutely. I'm very honored to have met the women I've met so far. And the great thing is we don't just stop the luncheon and say, everybody go home. We allow everyone to come to the Jack Buck Grille afterwards, spend some time, mingle with people. So it really does allow you to get that networking opportunity and if that's what you would like to do. Is there anything else you would like to say to other women maybe aspiring to be a future women of distinction or just continue in their career path similar to something that you've done? I think it's just important to, you know, follow your heart and be passionate about what your you're doing. And the I know that sometimes people want to plan, you know like a career path, and that's fine. But I think loving what you do is far more important. And the, you know, if you’re passionate about what you're doing, things work out. Excellent advice. I think so many situations, even for me personally, the job I'm currently doing today didn't exist when I started at the company, so how could I have planned my career for a job that didn't exist? But it definitely incorporates the things I'm passionate about, so I think it's a wonderful advice to give. Thank you very much, Karen. We are very excited to hear more from you and we're going to hear from the other three honorees and our rising star. That's on Friday, October 3rd. So we hope to see you all there. Thank you all for tuning in for another amazing episode of the Missouri Athletic Club Connections. Stay connected with us through the events calendar, the Mac app and social media, and we'll see you soon.