Liz Herman had experience delivering pizzas and generally enjoyed meeting people. So her new job as an Uber driver seemed like a perfect fit.
"It's a great way to make extra money, it's a great way to meet people," Herman told Five on Your Side. "A great way to make extra money in your spare time and it's a great company to work for."
Herman is just one of thousands in St. Louis earning cash in a job that didn't exist in St. Louis, or really anywhere, just five years ago.
Fourteen other local women report to work at Prosper Women Entrepreneurs every morning, a company that opened for business in 2014. Prosper has both a for-profit and non-profit side which boosts local women-owned start-ups.
"We mentor women," says Prosper founder, Jennifer Ehlen. "Basically our mission is growth for women entrepreneurs. And advance their companies and help them achieve economic prosperity."
Ehlen established Prosper after a recent American Express ranking put St. Louis dead last on a list of the top majori cities for women-owned companies.
James Dice is the Director of Energy Analytics for Sitton, a company headquartered in O'Fallon, Illinois. It's not a job you likely heard about at career-day when you were in high school.
"I usually just totally generalize and tell people I'm a mechanical engineer," says Dice, a Saint Louis University graduate. "I help building owners reduce their energy consumption."
With today's so-called 'smart buildings', every light switch and water spout has a digital gauge of some kind. James Dice spends his days crunching mountains of data for places like Saint Louis university, BJC, and Wash University.
"It's like 'Moneyball' for company's energy and water usage," Dice explains.
