Tara St . Clair
Program Director , Encova Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship , WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics
LORI KERSEY TRACY A . TOLER PHOTOGRAPHY
St . Clair stands inside the newly renovated Monongalia County Justice Center .
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ?
BOOK : “ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer ’ s Stone ”
SMALL LOCAL RESTAURANT : Black Sheep
TV SHOW : “ Friends ”
SEASON : Summer
As the shy , middle sister among two brothers growing up , Parkersburg , WV , native Tara St . Clair learned valuable leadership skills when she became a cheerleader at age seven .
“ Cheerleading gave me the confidence to have a voice and the tools to work successfully in a team ,” says St . Clair , now the program director of the Encova Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the West Virginia University ( WVU ) John Chambers College of Business and Economics .
“ From an early age , I understood hard work . My mom worked tirelessly to support our family . She led by example , never complaining . She always put everyone else ’ s needs ahead of her own ,” she says .
In her current role , St . Clair loves helping WVU fulfill its mission of outreach and serving the state of West Virginia .
“ I love creating programming and watching young people have a real impact on my home state ,” she says .
For St . Clair , her biggest motivations are people and their stories .
“ Watching a student grow through the process of the programming we provide and seeing actual learning happen is a beautiful thing ,” she says . “ You can see when the lightbulb goes off .”
Throughout her career , St . Clair has felt fortunate to work with many influential people . She has looked up to many strong women , including Liz Vitullo , Ph . D .; Carrie White , Ph . D .; and Lauren Prinzo .
“ Liz , Carrie and Lauren have been great examples of what strong women can do ,” St . Clair says . “ They are kind , brilliant and fierce . These are the type of women who are the first to volunteer to help and the last to take credit . I will forever be grateful for their mentorship and friendship throughout my career .”
A meeting with Bill Woodrum at Marshall University ’ s Robert C . Byrd Institute led to St . Clair ’ s greatest career successes — co-founding the West Virginia
Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and Bridging Innovation Week .
“ Bill told me about how he had been cultivating a group around the idea of entrepreneurship ,” she says . “ I told him I was working on something similar . We decided we would join forces and cochair a statewide network .”
With that , the West Virginia Entrepreneurship Ecosystem was born .
Woodrum and St . Clair wanted to implement monthly meetings and plan an entrepreneurship ecosystem conference . They worked tirelessly for months to raise money and build a robust schedule of speakers with the goal of launching in April 2020 . Due to COVID-19 , they held the first official West Virginia Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Virtual Symposium series in November 2020 . That first event taught Woodrum and St . Clair that they could make the event even bigger .
Enter Bridging Innovation — a weeklong series of events from across the state aimed at promoting and fostering entrepreneurship in West Virginia . A total of 1,000 people attended the 11 events during its inaugural week in April 2022 . The events led to $ 120,000 in private investment going to 30 businesses .
Beginning at a young age , St . Clair recognized the importance of community service . In high school and college , she was involved with Relay for Life , an organization with a cause that ’ s near and dear to her heart as the daughter of a breast cancer survivor . After college , she became involved in Walk a Mile in Her Shoes , an event through the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center .
Through it all , St . Clair chooses to live and work in West Virginia because of the sense of community , grit and sense of hope .
“ There ’ s something special about the people here ,” she says . •
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