Minority-Led

Cherry on top: 9-year-old baking entrepreneur cuts check to pay off KC students’ negative lunch balances

By Tommy Felts / June 19, 2019

Baking is the perfect recipe for spreading joy — owning a small business should be too, said 9-year-old Ire Cherry, recalling the moment she stood before administrators at University Academy in Kansas City, holding a check wider than she is tall. “My mom and her sister were talking about people in Virginia who couldn’t pay their…

Pride outside: How the outdoor industry is missing out with a $1 trillion LGBTQ+ blind spot

By Tommy Felts / June 18, 2019

“You can’t be what you can’t see,” said adventurer and speaker Mikah Meyer, quoting activist Marian Wright Edelman last week in Kansas City. Representation of LGBTQ+ consumers and entrepreneurs formed a thematic trail throughout the recent Mid-America Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce awards luncheon where Meyer made keynote remarks. His borrowed quote also reflected…

nbkc launches Entrepreneur in Residence incubator: ‘I have a whole company behind me’

By Tommy Felts / June 18, 2019

Less than a year after its inaugural Fountain City Fintech accelerator debuted, nbkc bank has launched a new incubator program designed to tackle common banking industry problems with start-up-style ideation, problem solving, and tenacity, said Megan Darnell. The goal: building new companies along the way, the nbkc program manager said. “Kansas City has every single…

Jolie Justus’ open letter to startups: In many ways, the city has failed you — let’s do better together

By Tommy Felts / June 14, 2019

[Editor’s note: Startland News invited Kansas City mayoral candidates Jolie Justus and Quinton Lucas to compose open letters to address their potential constituents in KC’s entrepreneur community of startups, makers, creatives and risk-takers. Justus’ response is below. Lucas did not participate. The vote is set for Tuesday, June 18.] I trust this community to see…

Forget the war on drugs — Marijuana is a war on chronic pain, says founder in ProjectUK cohort

By Tommy Felts / June 13, 2019

Don’t look at marijuana through a societal lens, said Jessica Sanders. Instead view the natural substance as a potential life-saving measure. “My mother had multiple sclerosis and seeing her suffer really changed a lot about me,” explained Sanders, founder of Lisa’s Gifts — a high-quality THC extraction facility named after Sanders’ mom, expected to provide and…