Meet Candace Williams: The Current President of the St. Louis Woman's Exchange

Candace Williams is a 43-year-old mother of two who is a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley and in her spare time is president of the St. Louis Woman’s Exchange.

That kind of lineup hardly leaves time for breathing. “My husband (Clint) and I both work as financial advisors at Morgan Stanley Financial Services; we work it 24/7,” she said with a laugh. “We are business partners and life partners,” she said.

Her 13-year-old son goes to John Burroughs and 10-year-old son attends Reed School in the Ladue School District.

She has a deep fondness for her hometown of New Orleans, and tries to get back there often.

These days, Williams has guided the St, Louis Woman’s Exchange through unchartered waters as they make the big, bold move into the Colonial MarketPlace in Ladue.

She spent an awful lot of time crunching the numbers, doing the behind-the-scenes work to make the move possible. She had to come up with figures like “how much more do we have to sell each day to cover our costs of making this move.”

Every Thursday, she volunteers to be in the tea room, usually working as a hostess, but helps out behind counter when they are particularly busy. “My husband is just as involved as I am. Our kids play sports, and we are involved everyday in their activities.”

Originally, Williams came to St. Louis to manage the expansive Mark Shale men’s store on the northern end of the Galleria. Eventually, that business failed.

These days, she is busy making business calls, driving car pool for her children and running the volunteer board of the exchange. That’s no easy task. Everyone who volunteers serves on the board.  “We are a little different in our terminology,” she said. “We have 125 volunteers who give over 5,000 volunteer hours each year.”

In addition to that, she is head of the 18 member executive board which meets once a month. ”This is just an amazing group of women who work many hours for the exchange.”

So don’t bother asking Candace Williams where she went to high school, because she didn’t go here. But for a transplanted resident of Ladue, she sure gets a lot done in a 24-hour span. That’s all possible if you don’t spend too much time sleeping.