Profiles

Carolyne Gakuria, ScheduleMe

Tired of waiting at the barber shop? An AI-infused platform grown at UMKC could trim time

Born in the barber’s chair, Kansas City-based ScheduleMe could take more than a little off the top for service-based retailers. The startup plans to use artificial intelligence to groom the haphazard scheduling process entirely, its co-founders said. “We discovered that [our barbershop] was having issues with scheduling. What we wanted to do was try to…

Peter, Audrey and Donna Yadrich, 2010

AudreySpirit fashions clothing to help chronically ill child patients feel like themselves again

AudreySpirit is designed to bring dignity to chronically sick children, said Donna Yadrich, detailing a specially created clothing line that doesn’t sacrifice practicality. “When my daughter Audrey was in the [Intensive Care Unit] the last time, I was looking at her arms and she just had so many wires and everything coming out of her…

KCultivator Q&A: Chad Feather ventured to China and back, stayed for KC kindness, community

Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The KCultivator Series is sponsored by Plexpod, a progressive coworking platform offering next generation workspace for entrepreneurs, startups, and growth-stage companies of all sizes. Age doesn’t define entrepreneurial talent and Chad Feather is proof, he said…

Andrea Savage, Salem Habte, Mark Babcock, Alec Rodgers, and Ali Brandolino, UMKC Enactus

UMKC Enactus team kicks open front door to Kansas City innovation scene with final four win

As the number of teams left standing in the Enactus U.S. nationals started to dwindle, members of the competitive entrepreneurial development program’s team at the University of Missouri-Kansas City rode a pulsating wave of excitement and emotion, recalled Ali Brandolino. “I started crying,” added Brandolino, UMKC Enactus vice president of operations. “It was the most…

Rhonda Dolan, Udo

Rhonda Dolan, on-demand personal assistant Udo honored as Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year

A lunchtime affair at the 2019 Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Awards quickly turned from celebratory mingling to shock and awe for Rhonda Dolan. “For [the Chamber] to recognize my efforts over the last year, which have been pretty intense, means a lot,” said Dolan, founder and CEO of Udo, reflecting on her…