The STL Bucket List Show

On this episode of the STL Bucket List Show, we sit down with Ono Ikanone, the chef and owner behind Levels, an authentic Nigerian restaurant in the heart of downtown St. Louis on Washington Ave. Ono Ikanone moved from Nigeria to St. Louis at 14, the youngest in a family that already had deep roots in the city. He figured out American life on his own, from traffic tickets to property taxes. He also learned to cook by calling his mom back home and following her recipes. What started as cooking...

On this episode of the STL Bucket List Show, we sit down with Mark Sawyier, the founder behind GiftBetter. He’s reinventing the gift card so that every dollar stays in the community, one local business at a time. Mark came from New York City to go to WashU and started his first business from his dorm room. He stayed in St. Louis for 20 years of building companies, including a digital marketing agency and the employee engagement platform Bonfire. When Bonfire’s clients kept asking for local g...

On this episode of the STL Bucket List Show, we sit down with Charles Whitt, co-founder of the Mound City Film Festival — a free, full-day celebration of Saint Louis and the Midwest, one film, band, and bite at a time. What started last year as a monthly Mountainfilm series at Four Hands Brewing Co. downtown, created to celebrate Open Space STL's 60th anniversary, is now taking over Atomic by Jamo in The Grove on Saturday, November 7th. Charles walks us through the day, from live art demos c...

On this episode of the STL Bucket List Show, we sit down with Jordan Franks, the founder behind Taste of Jack's — a fresh, small-batch St. Louis salsa brand — and brand ambassador Spring, one jar at a time. Jordan's salsa started as a COVID-era afternoon snack that suddenly clicked as a retail product, landing first at The Annex in Webster Groves and Fresh Thyme at City Foundry before growing to farmers markets, Food Truck Friday, and all 26 Dierbergs locations. He walks through the lineup —...

On this episode of the STL Bucket List Show, we sit down with Mike Seper, Director of Innovation and IP at UMSL, and Mark Munsell of GeoSTL, the minds behind the first-ever Missouri Innovation Week, happening October 13–17. Mark spent 25 years at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency working on some of the world's hardest problems. Now he's leading the new Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center, named after the nine St. Louis civic leaders who bet on a young aviator in 1927. The two w...