Dutchtown Main Streets Board of Directors

Dutchtown Main Streets strives to have a board as robust and diverse as the community we serve. Our board includes business owners, homeowners, renters, and other community stakeholders who care deeply about our shared core values: community empowerment, diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.

Board members serve three-year terms with the possibility of two consecutive terms and then a mandatory break from board service.

Dutchtown Main Streets is always looking for future board members, at-large committee chairs, and general volunteers. Contact us if you’re interested in joining us.

LaTasha Smith

President

Meet LaTasha Smith, a committed educator and mother of five. With fourteen years of experience as an educator, she now serves as an administrator at a local school. She and her husband purchased their dream home in Dutchtown in 2017 and soon opened Cross Grand, a multimedia company that aims to uplift the community. LaTasha has since been actively involved in Dutchtown’s development, and she currently serves as the President of Dutchtown Main Streets. Her devotion to creating a diverse, safe, and equitable community is unmatched.

Adina O’Neal

Vice President

Adina joined the Dutchtown Main Streets Board in 2020. She was elected as the Board Vice President in 2023. Adina brings nearly two decades of nonprofit management, community organizing, and leadership to our team. 

Adina works to drive systemic change that affects the lives and opportunities of community members and empowers others to share their stories and make their dreams a reality. She promotes equity by connecting people and building bridges across barriers. Her ability to identify organizational needs and develop strategic plans that drive change, along with her deep love for people and her commitment to making a difference in communities, are the foundation of her work. She believes our communities can be a place that is defined by equality and empowerment for everyone.

In a professional space, she works alongside non-profits, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to help them share their stories with the world.

Volunteerism is a pillar of Adina’s personal values. She is a founding member of Faith for Justice, the Board Chair of the Saint Louis Women’s March, and a Community Organizer for numerous festivals and events in Saint Louis. Adina enjoys traveling, supporting local businesses and restaurants, attending live musical performances and community events, and chilling with her friends. She loves hosting gatherings at her home on Virginia Avenue in Dutchtown.

John Duffy-Burke

Secretary

John Duffy-Burke serves as the Secretary for the Dutchtown Main Streets Board of Directors. He is a Dutchtown resident of over five years. When not running his home repair business, John enjoys walks with his dogs in Marquette Park and dreams of becoming a neighborhood futsal champion.

John Chen

Director

John Chen is a successful social entrepreneur, management engineering consultant, and restaurateur based in Dutchtown, St. Louis. He has always been fascinated by architecture and technology, which led him to found SolutionWorks Investments, a residential real estate and mixed-use microdeveloper in the Dutchtown area. He also founded a cloud computing solution for healthcare systems, which he has run for 17 years.

In addition, John co-founded Urban Eats, a food incubator and neighborhood food hall that supports underserved food entrepreneurs. His latest venture is the Neighborhood Innovation Center (NICstl), a 501c(3) social impact organization that empowers microentrepreneurs by connecting them to valuable resources, such as mentorship, training programs, and affordable workspace.

John enjoys Blues and Jazz music outside of work and is an avid Lindy Hop and Swing dancer.

Jarred Irby

Director

Jarred is a St. Louis native who has convinced his wife to be in St. Louis but has not convinced her to root for the Cardinals. He enjoys playing Futsal at the beautiful court at Marquette Park and going to the pool for movie nights with his family. Jarred works for Lutheran Development Group as the Manager of Community Engagement.

Ben Robinson

Director

Ben Robinson has been a part of the Dutchtown neighborhood since the late ’90s. With deep community ties, Ben has been able to promote positive change and community empowerment through the lens of inclusion. As a Dutchtown native, Ben loves seeing the different walks of life that make up this beautiful neighborhood. Many significant attributes of Dutchtown have naturally inspired him to become a voice for the people, a beacon of hope, and to remain where it all started. 

Elysia Russell

Director

Elysia was born and raised in St. Louis with a passion for the environment and sustainability and serves as the Director of Sustainability for the City of St. Louis.  Elysia has been proud to call Dutchtown home for nearly a decade now and is happy to be a part of such a strong community dedicated to making the neighborhood a more beautiful and safe place to live and play. 

Nate Lindsey

Vacancy Litigation Specialist

Nate Lindsey has been a Dutchtown neighbor since 2015. He now lives on Meramec with his wife, Staci, and two boys, Thaddeus and Francis. He is a civil litigator by trade and loves to expand his work helping small businesses, especially those in Dutchtown. His family attends St. Anthony of Padua, just down the street from their home. His favorite part of Dutchtown is being within a couple of minutes’ walk to church, Marquette Park, the small businesses on Meramec and Virginia, and all his fantastic neighbors in between.