Nikki Overfelt Chifalu

Recent Articles by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu

Score a high-end ‘Kingdom Coat’ in time for KC’s love story with the Chiefs; popup sews in fashion designer’s own lifelong fandom

Kansas City fashion designer Christian Michael Shuster’s latest collection is skipping the runway and hitting the gridiron, he shared. The lead designer and president of the christianMICHAEL fashion label — known for his outerwear and signature diamond-quilted fabric — has kicked off his “Kingdom Coats” collection just in time for the NFL playoffs and the…

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2025 Startups to Watch: Good Oak scales social venture to boost biodiversity in farming, herd ag industry toward change

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its 10th year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2025’s companies….

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2025 Startups to Watch: Hilltop Technologies targets cybersecurity for Main Street (with help from next-gen talent)

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its 10th year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2025’s companies….

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2025 Startups to Watch: Icorium matches a complex environmental threat with Kansas-powered innovation

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its 10th year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2025’s companies….

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2025 Startups to Watch: Marma pushes women’s nutrition to the forefront, birthing resources on demand

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its 10th year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2025’s companies….

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2025 Startups to Watch: Noonan scores under par success with digital caddie as golf market earns deepage

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its 10th year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2025’s companies….

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Power player-turned-poet Pasquale Trozzolo’s new move: Write words worth a thousand pictures

Thirty-five years after starting his own network of strategic marketing firms, Pasquale Trozzolo teases that his longtime communications journey was just the first chapter ahead of what’s to come — as one of the boldest names in Kansas City’s print history takes on a title that he admits still feels a little strange: poet. The…

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Tech takes active-shooter training beyond paper targets as deadly real-world threats rise

COLUMBIA, Missouri — A startup’s portable target system could transform the way law enforcement agencies train for active-shooter scenarios, said Kris Knutson, a former IT consultant propelled into the govtech market amid a rise in real-world threats. Shot Bot — patented by Knutson in 2019 — provides realistic, adaptable, and comprehensive training experiences, the Missouri…

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‘Big Flour’ can’t recreate this stone-milled secret ingredient: the Kansas-grown artisan wheat in your favorite KC bakeries

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.  NEW CAMBRIA, Kansas — Artisan flour sourced from a network of Kansas growers not only takes any batch of baking up a notch, said Ben Mantooth; it makes a better…

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Early success gave this young entrepreneur the credibility to bridge community, business gaps

At 21, Jonathan Pitallo is already an entrepreneur, real estate agent, and investor, he shared, but community engagement might be his biggest passion, he said. The Kansas City, Kansas, resident and Belton native founded Vive Promo and Print, is an agent at EXP Realty, and owns three properties, but he’s also an ambassador for the…

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