Woman-led

Fahteema Parrish, Parrish & Sons Construction

Watch: Meet the band of local contractors behind the development of Troost Village 

By Tommy Felts / August 12, 2021

Editor’s note: The following story includes the second video in a four-part series taking a look under the hard hats at the Troost Village development, a $162 million project on Troost Avenue, the city’s longtime racial dividing line. Videos in this series are expected to debut on Startland News as the project unfolds. Click here…

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How library advocates turned the page after COVID with a ‘tidal wave’ of online sales

By Tommy Felts / August 12, 2021

Editor’s note: The following story is sponsored by Academy Bank, a Kansas City based community bank, and is part of a series of features spotlighting some of the bank’s startup and small business partners. Even a storied community resource relies on innovation for its survival, said Shanta Dickerson, noting classic trust and accountability also have…

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Brit Estes, Jhy Coulter, and Jones Goldman, Devoured

Devoured chef designs oven-baked backyard pizza concept for pop-ups and beyond

By Tommy Felts / August 10, 2021

An unexpected medley of events helped Jhy Coulter realize her career as a designer needed to end for her creativity to truly shine — through food, the emerging Kansas City chef shared. “Designing for others with all these limitations was just not fulfilling for me,” said Coulter, founder of Devoured — a pop-up pizzeria known…

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Susana Bruhn, GUILDit

Advocate envisions Plexpod ‘art village’ rebuilding KC culture at the intersection of art, business

By Tommy Felts / August 6, 2021

An arts advocate in Kansas City hopes to partner with one of the metro’s leading community coworking spaces to create a haven for nearly 1,300 art entrepreneurs. GUILDit announced Thursday plans to develop an art village within Plexpod Westport Commons — featuring coworking, studios, a theater, and gallery — with a goal to rebuild art…

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Erin Luttrell, Eclairs de la Lune

Legacy-filled eclair shop launches with crowds, pastry case lined with custom, unexpected treats

By Tommy Felts / August 6, 2021

Chef Erin Luttrell recalls tales of lines out the door and around the block at her great-grandparents’ bakery in the 1920s — the inspiration behind her newly opened sweets shop on the historic Independence Square. “During the grain strike, people couldn’t get flour or bread or products to bake at home for their families, so they…

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