Woman-led

‘The people demand mustard’: This stained glass artist dipped into corn dogs (and hungry shoppers ate it up)

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro.  LAWRENCE — Selling holiday shoppers on stained glass corn dogs was unexpectedly easy, said Darleen Schillaci; adding mustard and keeping up with buyers’ appetite, however, proved the meatiest challenge. The…

Small biz makers worry Trump tariffs could be ‘recipe for recession’; Economists, farmers share concerns about trade war

An enthusiastic smile spreads across Katie Mabry Van Dieren’s face as three small groups of new customers flow into her Brookside Plaza shop — a space filled as high as the Shop Local KC owner can reach with colorful, off-beat, and functional goods and gifts from Kansas City makers. “We smelled something wonderful from outside…

Potato Potatas grows the business of comfort food from the ground up (and in a pot pie)

Two years ago, Trine’ce Brown took note of restaurant chains like Chipotle and Qdoba, and wondered why there wasn’t already a fast-casual potato bar concept. She decided to start her own — but taking small steps, first working out of a Northland kitchen commissary, the Culinary Center at the Mid-Continent Public Library, starting in May….

Why Kansas City’s startup community should rally behind local news

Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Stephanie Campbell is CEO of The Beacon, a nonprofit news organization covering Missouri and Kansas, and a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and Missouri Business Alert. Tulsa just landed…

Kansas secures $8.2M for digital equity plans; part of Biden’s ‘Internet for all’ initiative

New grant funding is expected to boost efforts to empower Kansans and Sunflower State communities with the digital tools and skills necessary to meaningfully benefit from high-speed Internet service. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on Wednesday announced funding pathways for Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, allowing the…