Woman-led

Brian Roberts, The Black Pantry, right, showing artwork to the store's first-ever customer Thursday

She started by getting Black art into Black spaces; now Natasha Ria El-Scari wants all of KC to know what they’ve been missing

By Tommy Felts / March 21, 2023

A Renaissance woman, Natasha Ria El-Scari — gallerist, curator, poet, spoken word performer, educator, and life coach — has surrounded herself with art throughout her life. However, as the Kansas City native watched her hometown’s art scene flourish and thrive, she noticed not everyone was included. “As the city started to change, and the Crossroads…

Read More >

Travel on tap: How a KC couple built a self-serve port for international wine lovers north of the river

By Tommy Felts / March 17, 2023

Grab your wine passport, Russ Johnson said, because this self-serve wine bar allows customers to taste the world one sip at a time. And the technology that makes the business possible? Johnson — a software developer-turned-entrepreneur — built it himself. “Our brand is really focused on going on a vacation and having this world experience —…

Read More >

Don’t like cookies? Your new favorite weirdough baker hungrily accepts the challenge

By Tommy Felts / March 17, 2023

Tierney Larson is on a mission to bake the perfect cookies for those like herself with a not-so-sweet tooth, the Outliers Baked Goods owner shared. Each month, the self-taught baker and New York native experiments, developing four new adventurous flavors to please the taste buds of the outliers or weirdoughs of the dessert community —…

Read More >

Shocked by a discovery while pregnant, this entrepreneur vowed to make self-care products from ingredients safe enough to eat

By Tommy Felts / March 17, 2023

‘I might as well make my own’ Jess Winns, founder of Ari Rose Body Care, had always been pretty conscious of what she and her three daughters put into and onto their bodies, she said. However, as she researched more about holistic wellness while pregnant with her second daughter, Winns read about how more than…

Read More >
Karis Harrington, right, chief of business development at Kansas City G.I.F.T.

GIFT launches We Are Black pitch competition with 10 entrepreneurs vying for $60K

By Tommy Felts / March 16, 2023

Editor’s note: Kansas City G.I.F.T. is a non-financial partner of Startland News. Ten Black-owned Kansas City businesses are expected to pitch March 24 for their share of $60,000 at what organizers hope will become an annual event that helps to close the funding gap for entrepreneurs of color. The We Are Black pitch competition is…

Read More >