Profiles

Sarah and Spencer Martin, VanLifeKC

KCK couple fuels road adventures as camper van rentals speed up, interest in RV life surges

By Tommy Felts / April 29, 2021

Adventurers Spencer and Sarah Martin dreamed of owning a camper van for several years, they shared, but expenses and full-time jobs came as roadblocks. “I’m a science educator, and she’s a school nurse,” noted Spencer Martin. “Camper vans are expensive and then sit unused for a majority of the year, so it had always been…

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Brendan Curran, Three KC, Joearthur Gatestack

Spot of tee: How a KC teacher scored big when Ted Lasso sported a ‘Joearthur Gatestack’ shirt

By Tommy Felts / April 29, 2021

The story behind a Kansas City-designed T-shirt celebrating local barbecue culture has more meat to it than any given ’que joint’s combo platter, Brendan Curran said.  “We met playing basketball in the eighth grade,” Curran, founder of local apparel company, Three KC, said of his childhood friend, Jason Sudeikis, Overland Park-native, actor, comedian, and current…

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How the first-ever movie sold on NFT is rigging KC-made ‘Lotawana’ for blockchain history

By Tommy Felts / April 26, 2021

An independent film shot on Missouri’s Lake Lotawana is earning premier attention — becoming the world’s first piece of cinema to sell on the blockchain, potentially overhauling the way Hollywood connects with moviegoers, its creators said.  “One thing that I’m very passionate about in life is cinema,” said Trevor Hawkins, the Emmy-winning local filmmaker who wrote…

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Liliane Lemani, African Designs by Liliane and Amisi

The Toolbox aims to bridge cultural entrepreneur gap in WyCo; opening new resource center Thursday

By Tommy Felts / April 26, 2021

Editor’s note: This story is sponsored and was produced by Forward Cities, a non-financial partner of Startland News and a national nonprofit that is managing the implementation of the ESHIP Communities program as a grantee of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Any opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author. [divide] Pedro Morales,…

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Jayaun Smith and Steven Blakley, Sauced

Get sauced: Meet the hungry duo at the forefront of KC’s premier urban lunch counter

By Tommy Felts / April 24, 2021

Jayaun Smith spent his free time as a kid watching “Iron Chef America” and creating his own unique recipes with what was available, he shared — noting it didn’t take him long to fall in love with cooking. “I spent a lot of time alone growing up,” recalled the 25-year-old chef, who now leads the…

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