Richard Beemer earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Saint Louis University and after spending a year working in finance, he joined Teach for America to be at the frontlines of addressing educational inequity. He will be teaching at Carr Lane VPA Middle School starting in the fall of 2020. Through a wide array of experiences from independent startups, corporate finance, and now the under-resourced classroom, Richard has seen both the empowering potential of entrepreneurship, the disparity-producing effects of capitalism, and the revolution in education needed to shape a more equitable society. Dedicated to St. Louis, he looks forward to identifying ways in which he can address economic inequality through education in the city he calls home. Richard is proud of his Honduran heritage and had transformative experiences while living in his mother’s homeland and in other areas of South America, which inform his equity lens. Selected to participate as a 2019-2020 St. Louis fellow of the Aspen Young Leaders Fellowship (AYLF) program at The Aspen Institute.