Profiles

Tiffany and Brian Kim, My Play Cafe

Toddlers and baristas: MY Play Cafe bets on playground coffee shop concept in Lee’s Summit

By Tommy Felts / August 18, 2020

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, Tiffany Kim said, recalling a trip to Las Vegas that inspired her to roll the entrepreneurial dice back home in Kansas City — despite a raging pandemic.  “I call it the most relaxing day of my motherhood career,” laughed Tiffany, co-founder of Lee’s Summit-based MY Play Cafe, recalling…

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Isaac Collins, Yogurtini Overland Park

Entrepreneur opening third store: Don’t let ‘buy local’ be a fad; we’re investing it all in our businesses

By Tommy Felts / August 18, 2020

Conversations and social media advocacy pivot quickly, acknowledged Isaac Collins, but “shop local” should be more than just the flavor of the week as COVID-19 serves a full menu of challenges for small business owners. “The Amazons, the Walmarts, the Targets of the world, they are going to be OK,” said Collins, a serial entrepreneur…

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Rachel Cohen, My Bear Jeff

My Bear Jeff unboxes mission to soothe childhood trauma, begins delivering teddy bear relief

By Tommy Felts / August 4, 2020

Inspired to deliver peace to trauma-affected children, My Bear Jeff officially launched its teddy bear relief effort in late July after a successful kickstarter campaign, said Rachel Cohen. “The support we’ve had is so insane and absolutely wild — like this community and my friends and family saw this vision and were like, ‘Yes, let’s…

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Love Spot KC

Fashion (role) models: How Love Spot KC’s simple statement tees inspire more than words

By Tommy Felts / July 31, 2020

One of Kansas City’s latest apparel companies isn’t just another T-shirt shop — it’s a Black-owned, woman-owned empowerment engine that even a global pandemic hasn’t shaken, said Courtnee White.  “A business that is showing diversity in women, I think that’s a huge thing,” White, owner of the Love Spot KC, said of the brand’s mission to…

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Oz Qureshi and Carlos Alonzo, Minddrive

Student who helped pioneer Minddrive paves way for Honeywell’s first Latinx engineering scholarship

By Tommy Felts / July 30, 2020

Perseverance and transparency fueled Minddrive alum Carlos Alonzo’s award as the first recipient of Honeywell’s new four-year $20,000 Latinx engineering scholarship with guaranteed job placement upon graduation, said Oz Qureshi. Alonzo first applied for Honeywell’s engineering scholarship that has historically been allocated to African-American students and in partnership with the Black Achievers Society, said Qureshi,…

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