Profiles
Art teacher-turned-maker: You don’t need to be in a museum to be a ‘real artist’ (or full-time to be an entrepreneur)
Amid the hustle and bustle of raising a young family and teaching elementary school art, Sara Kharatyan sneaks away to her kiln. It’s her quiet place; a spot just for her, tucked away in her Parkville home. And what started as a hobby is now padding her family’s bank account in unexpected ways. “The business…
Double exposure: How quick action streamed a stellar survival story for sister-led film studio
When Kansas City’s event scene went dark in the early days of the pandemic, Stellar Image Studios seized a lights-camera-action opportunity to add new value to a suddenly virtual world, said Jasmine Baudler. “I encourage people not to cancel their virtual events or their fundraisers or galas because — even though it’s hard — it’s…
DashNow pivot from QR tech to text trigger helps keep JoCo startup, hundreds of restaurants serving
In an entrepreneurial landscape chewed up by social distancing, it’s feast or famine for local restaurants — but DashNow has a recipe for recovery, said Brett Karlin. “The value is being able to work with these local businesses. To help them out, to provide a product that they need to help keep their doors open,” added…
Ronawk cultivates first funding round, fight against COVID-19 from new Olathe lab
As COVID-19 continues to wage war on the world, researchers in an Olathe-based lab are generating trillions of human cells that could be used to cure the ever-lingering virus. “It eliminates a lot of the work that’s needed,” A.J. Mellott, president and co-founder of Ronawk, said of the health tech startup’s premiere product — Tissue Blocks…
Peek inside Tesseract HQ: Robotics startup builds future in real time (with humans on the brain)
As an intentionally lowered screen begins to lift on Tesseract Ventures, once-seemingly-wild ideas that lived only in tech inventor John Boucard’s head are being realized. With them, the future of work is taking shape — 3D-printed piece by 3D-printed piece — hardwired in the suburbs of Kansas City. “We were a bit mysterious in the…
