‘Do I have to introduce myself?’ Meet Startland News’ new managing editor

Allow me to introduce … myself. My name is Kat Hungerford, Startland News’ new managing editor.

As I type this, I’m sitting at a trendy desk in Village Square Coworking Studio at the heart of the Kansas City Startup Village, and I’m still astonished that I somehow wandered into what I’m quickly discovering is that elusive “dream job” everyone talks about.

But let’s back up a little. I’m told this is supposed to be an actual introduction, and not just me announcing how delighted I am to be the Startland News Managing Editor.

I arrived at adulthood as a native of nowhere, having moved all over the Midwest throughout childhood. At the University of Kansas, I earned a degree from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and managed to keep the same mailing address for longer than ever before. In those four years, I unearthed a passion for design, which together with my shiny-new degree helped me land a job at MB Piland Advertising & Marketing out of Topeka, Kan.

One move to Phoenix later, and I found myself switching gears into the insurance industry. The dust and dirt of the desert never quite felt like home, so at the first opportunity I flew the coop back to Kansas.

A trail of decades-old contacts put me in front of Adam Arredondo of CEED, and eventually our very own Startland News Editor-in-Chief, Bobby Burch.

Despite having an intense interest in innovation and the impacts of creative brainpower on business, prior to meeting with Adam and Bobby, I had absolutely no knowledge of or exposure to the startup community (local or otherwise).

During that first meeting, there was a tangible passion and energy in the air about the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. I had a sense that the answer to my question of “What’s going on in Kansas City?” was “something big.”

I want to know what that something is, and I want to be a part of it. What began as an inquiry has turned into an action-packed job: as Managing Editor, I am Startland News’ official People Wrangler, responsible for keeping track of deadlines and coordinating engaging content.

Like many of the entrepreneurs and startups we write about, I find myself cobbling together an odd set of skills and experiences to work toward making a success of something I’ve never done before.

Startland News needs to grow beyond news reporting to start a conversation that explores not only the successes, but also the challenges, growing pains and even failures of our community. To that end, we hope to expand our guest columnist pool to include boots-on-the-ground entrepreneurs, thought leaders and industry experts.

If you want to have a voice in the conversation, you can learn more about becoming a Startland News guest columnist.

I look forward to meeting many of you as I take the reins as Managing Editor. If you’d like to make that meeting happen sooner rather than later, drop by Village Square or give me a call to say hello. We can grab a coffee while you fill me in on the latest of what’s happening in your corner of Kansas City. My coworkers tell me I’m an introvert, which I have a feeling is something I should work on.

Say hello to Kat at kat@startlandnews.com