Every Christmas Eve, the Westbrook children have a slumber party in one of their rooms. Two of them sleep on the floor, and the lucky one gets to sleep in their own bed.
“We’ve done that forever,” said Erinn Westbrook. “Even though we are almost all in our 20s now, I don’t think we’ll ever grow out of that. It’s become a very special part of our holidays, and I always look forward to it.”
Erinn, 24, is an actress on the TV sitcom Mr. Box Office and lives in Hollywood. Her sister Lauren, 27, is a senior marketing executive for Bigelow Tea in Connecticut, and she also runs her own consulting firm called Westbrook Strategies. And her brother Brent, 19, is a college sophomore in economics at Harvard University in Boston.
Their parents, Kelvin Westbrook and Valerie Bell, are an influential duo in St. Louis.
The family leads high-impact lives in different parts of the country, but for the holidays they happily relax together and indulge in their favorite holiday traditions – picking out a live Christmas tree, watching movies, having Christmas dinner at the St. Louis Club, going to church and then taking trips to New York after Christmas.
And as a family, they share another important tradition – a passion for education. Every member of the family has attended Harvard University. Both Lauren and Erinn graduated with their bachelor’s degrees, and Brent is now acing his classes. Kelvin and Valerie earned law degrees from Harvard, and that’s how they met.
Kelvin, president and CEO of the consulting firm KRW Advisors, is originally from Tacoma, Washington. Valerie grew up in Brooklyn. They decided to move to St. Louis because Kelvin wanted an opportunity to start a business. He co-founded the cable and telecommunications provider Millennium Digital Media, LLC, where he served as president and CEO from 1997 to 2006. Westbrook serves on the corporate boards of ADM, Commerce Bank (St. Louis) and Stifel Financial Corp., among others.
When they moved to St. Louis 18 years ago, the children were 9, 6 and 1.
“With no support system, I made a decision to be the prime caregiver at home,” Valerie said. “With the many blessings we had with education, we knew there was no way I was going to just sit. I began volunteering my time in very substantial ways.”
Soon after arriving in St. Louis, Dr. William Danforth, chancellor emeritus of Washington University, asked Valerie to be an attorney in the St. Louis Public Schools desegregation case.
“It enabled me to really work on an issue that is my biggest passion,” she said.
Since then, her volunteering has not slowed. At one time, Valerie was involved in 14 nonprofits, including leading the board of trustees at John Burroughs School where all of their children attended. She has also been active with the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable, Focus St. Louis, St. Louis Science Center, Deaconess Foundation and Grace Hill Settlement House.
Passion for education and health
“We quickly identified that our passions galvanized around education and health care,” said Kelvin, who is St. Louis Children’s Hospital board chair and a board director for BJC HealthCare.
And their community involvement aligned nicely with their personal credo: To whom much is given, much is expected.
“Access to quality education and quality health care – if you could provide those two things, opportunities for individuals are pretty limitless,” Kelvin said. “The higher the education, the better people’s health tends to be.”
Kelvin has served on health-care boards for 15 years. Many people ask Kelvin and Valerie why they get so involved in these issues.
“When I look at those three people, I recognize how good God has been to us,” Valerie said of their children.
“Seeing what they are capable because they had opportunities, it really resonates with Kelvin and I that everyone deserves opportunity. For many folks in St. Louis, that’s not the case. Between Kelvin and myself, we have a real strong incentive because we realize how much we’ve been blessed.”
All of the children have found ways to volunteer and make a difference in their communities. Brent just became the leader of a student group that mentors children in disadvantaged New York schools.
“We grew up around two community leaders who have done so much,” Erinn said. “We have all taken distinct paths, but we’ve all thrived because of the backbone our parents have given us. We are able to do anything.”
Second home in New York
Growing up, the children weren’t allowed to watch television during the week, so they could focus on studying. They had jobs in high school and were encouraged to save money. And every summer, the children and Valerie would pack up and go to New York, where they have a second home. During high school and college, all the children landed summer internships in New York, which set them apart from their peers.
“They did incredible things here in St. Louis during the school year, and then they would go to New York and max it out,” Valerie said.
Kelvin said interning in New York expanded their sense of possibility – along with their perspective of how much hard work it takes to reach those opportunities.
“Once we got to college, it was a blast because you felt like you really earned it,” Lauren said. “You knew how to manage your time. For all of us, being involved and being social was easy because we knew how to do our homework and get it done.”
Among the siblings, they always challenge, push and congratulate each other when things go well.
“That’s been consistent our whole lives,” Brent said. “When I was five, Erinn created a school for me called ‘Jump Ahead’ school. When I was in kindergarten, she had me doing second and third grade homework that she had completed. She was also teaching me how to use computers.”
“I would call him for dinner,” Valerie said, “and he would say, ‘I can’t Mom. I have to finish my homework, Erinn’s Jump Ahead homework.”
“There were rewards,” Erinn said. “Snacks and computer time.”
What makes Kelvin and Valerie most proud is that their children are able to not only support each other but their peers and communities as well.
“It’s not about them,” Valerie said. “They have found ways to share with others.”
