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Lilly Long and Ryan Wing, The Sundry

On the menu: The Sundry tastes expansion with move to Plexpod

By Tommy Felts / September 8, 2017

Moving The Sundry this month to Plexpod reflects the evolution and future of where people live and work, Ryan Wing said. And, of course, how they eat. A leader in Kansas City’s sustainable food movement, The Sundry plans to relocate its store from the Crossroads to a 3,300-square-foot space at Plexpod Westport Commons. It’s the…

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Leaders say Kansas City is prime for Amazon HQ2

By Tommy Felts / September 8, 2017

In the wake of news Amazon is planning a second, U.S. headquarters, a group of Kansas City organizations is tossing Kansas City’s proverbial hat in the e-commerce giant’s shopping cart. Amazon announced Thursday it plans to invest more than $5 billion in a new headquarters that could create as many as 50,000 jobs in which…

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Aleh Manchuliantsau and Anastasia Tkacheva, Planetarians

Techstars Spotlight: Planetarians’ hunger for tasty snacks blooms with Sunflower State secret ingredient

By Tommy Felts / September 8, 2017

It’s a simple solution: Eat your fruits and vegetables. Treating diseases caused by poor diet costs the United States about $1.4 trillion each year, Aleh Manchuliantsau said. “Fiber and plant protein have been shown to prevent diabetes, heart disease and obesity,” said Manchuliantsau, co-founder and CEO of Planetarians. “But despite the effort to get kids…

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Spanish-language business law class targets KC resource gap

By Tommy Felts / September 7, 2017

¡Llamando a todos los emprendedores! Language isn’t a barrier to entrepreneurial spirit, Adrienne Haynes said, and it shouldn’t prevent Kansas Citians from finding business success just because they don’t understand the nuances of startup lingo or legal processes. “Whether you’re a black- or brown-owned company, whether you’re woman-owned, whether Spanish is your primary language, or…

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Tech startup TVWIZZ puts channel choice in consumers’ hands

By Tommy Felts / September 7, 2017

You’ve heard it before: Millennials are killing the cable TV industry. With millions of young people “cord cutting” in lieu of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, traditional cable viewership has dropped by more than 40 percent, according to Nielson. For many, it comes down to price, said Michael Hockey, founder of TVWIZZ, a free,…

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Diana Kander

KCultivator Q&A: Diana Kander on Pitbull, honey badgers, stand-up material

By Tommy Felts / September 7, 2017

Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Check out our features on Victor & Penny’s Erin McGrane, SEED Law’s Adrienne Haynes, Code Koalas’ Robert Manigold,  Prep-KC CEO Susan Wally and community builder Donald Carter. Early in her career as an innovation coach, Diana…

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April Boyd-Noronha

April Boyd-Noronha: 9 takeaways from KU’s GenCyber Summer Camp

By Tommy Felts / September 7, 2017

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. I’m the product of two retired educators in the Kansas City metro area, so I know that learning is a lifelong process. The summertime, for many educators, is the perfect time for professional development. I applaud the efforts of the University of Kansas’…

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Startup transforms students into teachers for educators’ diversity training

By Tommy Felts / September 6, 2017

Conversations about race, power, privilege and oppression are being had across the country every day. And Kiara Butler believes there is no better group to lead these discussions than young people, she said. “Students are already having these conversations every day,” said Butler, co-founder and CEO of Diversity Talks. “It’s the adults that don’t necessarily…

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TradeLanes

Sprint Accelerator alum trades Miami HQ for KC

By Tommy Felts / September 6, 2017

TradeLanes’ move from Miami to the Midwest is about proximity. “In Kansas City, we’re closer to customers and closer to everyone on our list of prospective customers,” TradeLanes co-founder Vijay Harrell said. “The closer we are to our customers, the faster we can learn, spot their problems and then solve them.” The global trade firm,…

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Eviction in Kansas City

With 42 KC evictions per day, civic hackers pinpoint action with data

By Tommy Felts / September 5, 2017

Kansas City can be a leader on housing justice, Tara Raghuveer said. The details are in the data. Examining a Jackson County data set that included 173,720 eviction records spanning 17 years, Raghuveer, a Harvard-educated researcher and Shawnee Mission East High School graduate, confirmed a leading predictor of eviction in Kansas City: race. “It disproportionately…

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