What happens when you treat curiosity like a business plan and community like your bottom line? Maxine Clark—founder of Build-A-Bear and the force behind St. Louis’s Delmar Divine—talks about creating brands that hold people, not just products. We explore the question that keeps opening doors for her: “How can I help?” and the multiplier that guides her work—1+1=100.
We don’t run the play-by-play; we sit with the pivots: listening to children, translating insight into action, and building places where families can access programs, housing, and services. The Build-A-Bear founder followed her curiosity into community transformation—asking better questions, listening to kids, and building spaces where opportunity lives. She also teases a new project, Trick or Tree STL—a Halloween donation-box drive inviting kids to help replant tornado-lost trees. If you care about entrepreneurship with a human heartbeat, this one’s for you.
Learn more about the work Maxine is doing, her projects and connect with her here:
Maxine Clark on LinkedIn
Trick or Tree STL – This Halloween, kids across St. Louis will collect cash donations to help replant thousands of trees lost in the May 16, 2025
tornado. Trick or Tree teaches kids ecology, philanthropy, and community
pride while restoring our region’s green canopy. As they grow, so will the trees,creating a legacy in their own hometown.
BluePrint4 – Our vision is to ensure St. Louis families have easy access to information about high-quality learning opportunities and the support necessary for their children to attend.
Delmar Divine – Delmar DivINe maximizes the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of the nonprofit sector in the St. Louis region, especially among health, education and human service organizations, while simultaneously being a catalyst for the transformation of neighborhoods in North St. Louis City.
Clark Fox Family Foundation – Founded in 2004, the Clark-Fox Family Foundation supports the growth and prosperity of the St. Louis metropolitan region through research, program development and investments in PK-12, higher education, public health, immigration, social justice and racial equity, community leadership, and entrepreneurship. The Foundation prioritizes programs and investments that empower the end user and leverage each other for broader access and greater impact for our children and community.
Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.
New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.
For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit
xo, Danielle
