Profiles

Sherri Corwin, Mixed Mutt Creamery

Midtown ice cream shop for pups churns out treats, therapeutic ‘doggo date’ spot for pets, people

By Tommy Felts / August 27, 2021

Bad days especially call for ice cream, Sherri Corwin said, recalling one of her favorite self-care rituals and the way it became her freshly creamed, Midtown-scooped startup — a venture that’s left tails across the metro wagging for waffle cones.  “People really do love their pets,” said Corwin, who in February opened Mixed Mutt Creamery —…

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Faye Steiner-Woods, Red Hare Leather

How an artisan leatherworker in KC’s historic northeast is making space for more than a hobby

By Tommy Felts / August 27, 2021

Faye Steiner-Woods returned from a trip to Brooklyn, New York, inspired — eager to prove quality doesn’t have to mean expensive when creativity is used as currency.  “I wanted to purchase this really expensive, $50 keychain, and it just seemed ridiculous,” Steiner-Woods laughed, recalling their impulse to buy — and the origins of a business venture,…

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Quest Moffat, Kadogo

Serial tech entrepreneur, ecosystem builder develops app to help turn everyday purchases into charitable donations

By Tommy Felts / August 26, 2021

Editor’s note: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a financial supporter of Startland News. This story was produced independently by Startland News’s nonprofit newsroom. [divide] Operating a nonprofit taught Quest Moffat that it’s easier to raise programming dollars than it is to raise operating dollars — and a lack of the latter brings unexpected stressors,…

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Nina Whitmore, Kanvess Clothing

Why Nina Whitmore left Corporate America to fight fast fashion (The answer is pretty black and white)

By Tommy Felts / August 26, 2021

When Nina Whitmore was in elementary school, she always wore culottes — flowy cropped pants that are now back in style. They were easiest for her mother to sew, even though Whitmore would have preferred to wear jeans like the other kids, she said. Her interest in fashion began as a tween, when she paged…

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TJ Roberts, Kinship Cafe

Why KCK’s ‘dopest, 7-fingered, adopted, biracial business owner’ is serving kinship, coffee at his new cafe

By Tommy Felts / August 18, 2021

When a new coffee shop in KCK’s Strawberry Hill neighborhood opens this fall, the space is expected to feature more than just specialty roasts — with financial literacy programming, community workouts and hip hop yoga sessions on the menu. “It’s never been about, ‘How can I make the most money the fastest?’” said TJ Roberts,…

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