Joey Saunders

By WEPOWER | May 3, 2019

Director of Policy & Systems Change

Joey leads the Tomorrow Builders Fellowship. He is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, educator, and policy wonk committed to creating meaningful, equitable change in his home state, Missouri. He has written for the Kansas City Star, is a winner of Shark Tank:Teacher Edition, and served as a policy fellow to Kansas City Mayor Sly James. Known to his former students as “Mr. Joey,” he served as a Teach For America corps member in one of Missouri’s communities most harmed by poverty and racism. He obtained his bachelor degree at Arizona State University and his master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.

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Charli Cooksey

By WEPOWER | May 1, 2019

Founder & CEO

Charli is a St. Louis native who returned home in 2009 to serve as a middle school English educator through Teach For America after completing her undergraduate studies at Prairie View A&M University. In 2011, Charli co-founded an educational access venture called inspireSTL. During Charli’s tenure, each senior class of inspireSTL Scholars celebrated 100% high school graduation and four-year college acceptance rates. inspireSTL has inducted seven classes of scholars, and it is on track to serve approximately 400 scholars annually. Charli went on to serve as an Executive-in-Residence at the United Way with a focus on education innovation. Prior to WEPOWER, she served as the Interim Executive Director/Lead Catalyst of Forward Through Ferguson.

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