TEDx ‘breaks through’ in Wyandotte County
August 11, 2015 | Andrea Essner
This year, TEDxWyandotte seeks to break down barriers in their urban community.
Wyandotte County, Kan., a community known for its diversity and urban challenges, is currently in a state of transition. The county as a whole is working towards neighborhood and school improvements, ultimately hoping to claim a new position in the Kansas City metropolitan.
TEDxWyandotte, set for Sept. 15 at Kansas City Kansas Community College, is responding to the transitions by welcoming local speakers involved in the county’s changes to come share their stories about “Breaking Through.”
Here’s a bit about each of the speakers:
- Vi Tran is a local artist who believes that art can affect social change through “The empathetic power of storytelling.” Born outside of Sai Gon, Vietnam, Tran began his artistic journey as a performer in refugee camps. After resettling with his family in Garden City, Kan., Tran continued to tell his story and ultimately chronicled his family’s escape from refugee camps in a performance memoir called The Butcher’s Son.
- Annette LeZotte is an art historian and serves as director of Kauffman Museum. LeZotte will speak about the Kauffman Museum exhibit “Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations.”
- Hong Hong Hui is a first-year doctorate music student at University of Missouri-Kansas City. She grew up in Hong Kong playing piano, violin and pipa, a traditional Chinese string instrument that has inspired her throughout her life. In her presentation “My pipa speaks for me,” Hong Hong will discuss how the instrument brings Chinese and American cultures closer.
- Shannon Oleen’s work is founded on the belief that hard work, the right attitude and passion will prompt you to achieve your dreams. This belief has led her to NFL cheerleading, living on a canoe and working with a myriad of well-known TV personalities, such as Anne Burrell of the Food Network. Oleen hopes to inspire audiences to seize their dreams in her presentation “The millennial divide.”
Featured Business
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
PrairieFood grows power of its micro-carbon ag solution with a pipeline of human connection
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. LAWRENCE — Entrepreneurship is all about networking, Robert Herrington said. “You never know where a pivot or direction is going to come from,” said Herrington, an early member of the Pipeline…
C2FO marks $300B in funding for businesses as entrepreneurs navigate ongoing credit crunch
Rapid marketplace expansion in the first half of 2023 helped push Leawood-based C2FO — the world’s on-demand working capital platform — past the $300-billion mark in total funding to its customers. This record funding amount reflects invoices paid an average of 31 days early via C2FO’s platform. C2FO gets vital, low-cost capital into customers’ hands…
Froyo with a ’tini twist: Entrepreneur collaboration serves alcoholic frozen yogurt in KC
Kansas City is excited by the new flavor combinations popping up as two entrepreneurs give customers a taste of collaboration, said Isaac Collins, teasing a line of alcoholic frozen yogurt that’s already hitting cups in the metro. Through a partnership with KC-based Brain Freeze Mobile Daiquiri, Collins’ Yogurtini locations have begun a series of happy…
How Meshuggah Bagels ‘built a bakery without a recipe’ — now expanding to Liberty, Lawrence
Pete Linde tested 72 bagel recipes before hitting perfection with number 73, said Janna Linde. She knows because she tried every single test bagel. “Pete worked on that recipe for about a year. He had a notebook and took notes on every little tweak and modification he made. I’d see the big hand mixer come…