Minority-Led

Olathe restaurateur brings comfort food home from the Mediterranean (starting with falafel bowls)

By Tommy Felts / February 17, 2025

Summer Salem looked around her city for an authentic Mediterranean restaurant and found a gap in the Olathe marketplace. So a year ago she began planning one of her own. She teamed with her husband, Abraham, who also is a partner in a downtown Kansas City Mediterranean restaurant. But the recipes would be Summer’s own.…

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How this founder’s hobby (plus a little trouble) became Oak Park retail incubator’s biggest success story 

By Tommy Felts / February 14, 2025

“Big Chunky Blankets” — soft as a baby’s cheek and custom knitted in any color of the rainbow — folded into the foundation of what would become Maryann Nzioki Hult’s resilient, nearly pandemic-proof foray into entrepreneurship. They put local Tabu Knits on the online map of must-have-items, and then became the seed of two Johnson…

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Founder Problems: Podcast captures the ‘messy middle’ you don’t see on entrepreneurs’ highlight reels

By Tommy Felts / February 13, 2025

A new Kansas City-based podcast is skipping over the fairy tale stories of founding a startup; instead diving straight into the messy parts, the hosts shared. Founder Problems — hosted by local entrepreneurs Sarah Schumacher, Zach Oshinbanjo, and Lee Zuvanich — is embracing the aspects of starting and running a business that no one wants…

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Street art to stage: KC fashion designer styles iconic Jim Crow-era musical comedy without missing a beat

By Tommy Felts / February 11, 2025

Designing for theater gives Whitney Manney the opportunity to be as big and loud as she wants, the street bespoke creator said. A new musical production of “Hairspray” puts Manney’s bold aesthetic through a new lens — and alongside a timely story of acceptance, diversity, and the power of music. “There is no such thing…

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Cultura con carácter: How JEFES inks DINKC’s hometown team with drops of KC Latino hustle

By Tommy Felts / February 7, 2025

Laedan “DINKC” Galicia draws a fine line between his creative mediums: skin, pen, fabric, and paint — now from a artists hub in Kansas City’s Columbus Park neighborhood. From his signature tattoo style to his JEFES clothing line, DINKC’s bold perspective is leaving a mark on Kansas City culture (and the Super Bowl). “With JEFES, I…

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