Woman-led

Why are college students dropping out? EdSights targets higher ed retention rates

By Tommy Felts / June 21, 2019

Only 56 percent of students who began college in 2012 actually graduated within the next six years, said startup founders Claudia Recchi and Carolina Recchi. The sisters’ own struggles as first-generation U.S. college students reinforced the challenge posed by such statistics, they said, prompting them to found EdSights, a startup using artificial intelligence to collect…

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Cherry on top: 9-year-old baking entrepreneur cuts check to pay off KC students’ negative lunch balances

By Tommy Felts / June 19, 2019

Baking is the perfect recipe for spreading joy — owning a small business should be too, said 9-year-old Ire Cherry, recalling the moment she stood before administrators at University Academy in Kansas City, holding a check wider than she is tall. “My mom and her sister were talking about people in Virginia who couldn’t pay their…

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Kauffman Foundation’s Erin Jenkins bounces between contrasting cultures, startup life

By Tommy Felts / June 19, 2019

Editor’s note: This content was sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation but independently produced by Startland News. [divide] Curiosity took Erin Jenkins to Japan. Curiosity brought her home. In between, she embedded herself in the worlds of intercultural entrepreneurism and startup life — her journey aligning itself with an opportunity to serve as a program…

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Jolie Justus’ open letter to startups: In many ways, the city has failed you — let’s do better together

By Tommy Felts / June 14, 2019

[Editor’s note: Startland News invited Kansas City mayoral candidates Jolie Justus and Quinton Lucas to compose open letters to address their potential constituents in KC’s entrepreneur community of startups, makers, creatives and risk-takers. Justus’ response is below. Lucas did not participate. The vote is set for Tuesday, June 18.] [divide] I trust this community to…

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Growing into WallyGro: I knew I couldn’t let leaving Rawxies ruin me, says Callie England

By Tommy Felts / June 14, 2019

Entrepreneurship is a drug and Callie England couldn’t neglect the euphoric high she felt with each hit. “I wasn’t even thinking and that first year was so painful … yet it was so, just like, glorious … You don’t really remember anything until after the fact, but you’re like, man, that was great,”  England, founder…

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