Profiles

True State redefines cannabis for daily life: There’s more to ‘hemp’ than CBD, says Michael Wilson

By Tommy Felts / July 21, 2020

Opportunities are high — but True State customers won’t be, joked Michael Wilson, announcing the launch of a new hemp-based brand and the one-time luxury watchmaker’s return to the world of consumer goods. “We’re trying to get to the point where people look at the word ‘hemp’ and they stop thinking about marijuana and realize that…

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‘Humans are the real technology,’ mother-daughter holistic health duo says 

By Tommy Felts / July 21, 2020

Balancing health tech with holistic and Taoist perspectives keeps the most important startup element — humans — top of mind, said Stacy Tucker. “Being in the tech space, we have these amazing advances in medical technology, yet we have gotten further and further away from humans as the real technology,” said Tucker, co-founder of Kansas…

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Sa’mya Lewis and Amari Lewis, A Higher Promise

Start with heart: Sisters’ yard signs offer a ‘stepping stone’ to support Black lives

By Tommy Felts / July 20, 2020

Amari and Sa’mya Lewis’ young entrepreneurial venture — a yard sign featuring a simple black heart — first spread in a predominantly white Johnson County neighborhood, the teenage sisters said. Amid ongoing national discourse over the “Black Lives Matter” movement, in which the meaning of those three words often is debated, the sign makers have…

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Lisa Ragan family, Safely Delicious

OP-baked Safely Delicious takes big bites of allergy-free snack market amid pandemic

By Tommy Felts / July 17, 2020

Some of the most unconventional entrepreneur stories offer the sweetest flavors, said Lisa Ragan, detailing how diet restrictions and divorce combined to drive her deliciously disruptive Overland Park-based company forward. “You can’t have one foot in, one foot out,” Ragan, founder of Safely Delicious, said of what it’s taken to scale the allergy-friendly snack line…

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Grab me a stick of butter too? How a KC-built group shopping app could eliminate needless grocery runs

By Tommy Felts / July 17, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic clearly isn’t going anywhere until the arguing stops, said Jason Wadsworth.  “Mask-wearing has become political and that’s just so disheartening,” said Wadsworth, vice president of engineering at MobileUp Software. “These times are unprecedented and I really hope that as a community, we can stop arguing and just come together to work it…

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