Elyssa Bezner
Reporter
Recent Articles by Elyssa Bezner
Teens’ marketing startup TRNDSTTRS aims to amplify its own business influence
Staying young and hungry is everything, said the teenage entrepreneurs at TRNDSTTRS Media. With a team of ten 18- to 19-year-old go-getters, the tech-based firm focuses on providing affordable, in-depth marketing service to small and mid-sized companies. They use their age as an advantage rather than seeing it as an obstacle, said Jake Bjorseth, founder…
Happy Food gathers ingredients for nationwide grocery platform, meal-locating app
Happy Food Co. has grown beyond distributing flavorful meal kits through small, standalone coolers at Kansas City-area Price Chopper and Hen House locations, said chef and co-founder Kiersten Firquain. The 2017 Startland Under the Radar startup has now developed a software platform — in partnership with retailers nationwide and 75 local vendors — to enable grocers…
Porch Light Plans hopes to bring durable, affordable home design to the masses
Modern homes should be durable and well-designed enough to last hundreds of years, said Katie Hoke. Lawrence-based Porch Light Plans combines sleek aesthetics with thicker insulation and fewer windows to achieve a contemporary housing option with the potential to slash utility bills in half, said Hoke co-founder of the boutique architectural design firm. “If every…
WYCO sunglasses customizes KC cool for a brightly-colored nationwide vision
Kasey Skala frames WYCO as a Kansas City brand ready to look beyond county or state boundaries, he said. “I think it’s great that we started here in the Midwest. We’re proud of being a Midwest brand, growing it here and taking [advantage of] what Kansas City has to offer,” said Skala, WYCO chief marketing…
Fishing Caddy inventor pours family business into new product: Anywhere Cup Holder
Joe Pippins’ latest invention — the Anywhere Cup Holder — can support as much as 50 pounds in a single cup, he said. It’s a solution that serves the needs of everyone from mechanics and fishing enthusiasts to gardeners and people who entertain in their homes, said Pippins, founder of Live Holdings, which produces the…
HechoKC cast in hand-made image of Chicano artist’s culture, family, community
Witnessing — and participating in — Kansas City’s renaissance has been amazing, said Luis Garcia, the longtime artist behind HechoKC. The Crossroads used to be a ghost town, said Garcia, who has been part of the KC scene since his years at the Kansas City Art Institute. He developed SPYN Studio, a branding and design…
YEP KC teen serves hope through enterprising volleyball benefit for men’s shelter
When 17-year-old Catherine Franano learned the mattresses at Kansas City Rescue Mission were old and too worn for comfortable use, the Pembroke High School senior leapt into action, she said. “Some of these people … like they’ve just had so many awful things happen to them, but not having anywhere to sleep?” Catherine said. “How…
Manual entrepreneurship, refuge: ‘Farming is just the vehicle,’ says BoysGrow founder
“What’s the word?” “Respect!” shouted the teenage farmhands at BoysGrow, a two-year program dedicated to teaching entrepreneurship to urban youth through agriculture and farming. The 10-acre BoysGrow farm outside Grandview plays host to 30 to 40 boys, ranging in age from 15 to 17. They work, eat and learn on the nonprofit farm three days…
LaunchCode partners like VML turn apprentices into professional programmers
Tech fields provide a never-ending learning experience, said Mohammad Rasoulipour, a creative technologist at VML. With a background in design, Rasoulipour turned to LaunchCode to get a leg up in the web design world, try something new — and land a job a premier marketing and advertising firm like VML. LaunchCode, a free tech training program,…
Accelerate Tech Learning targets the (urban) core of KC’s programmer shortage
Training would-be programmers from Kansas City’s urban core isn’t about getting rich, said Joshua Clark, co-founder of Accelerate Tech Learning. But unfortunately that means it can be tricky to get underestimated students the costly education to become a certified developer in the world of information technology, added Mauri Trent, Accelerate Tech’s executive vice president of…