Minority-Led Stories
‘Not an over-glorified hobby’: Comic book creator designs app to help vendors find conventions, sketch path to profitability
Juaquan Herron spent countless hours actively searching for comic conventions to share and sell his work — often feeling frustrated after learning about conventions too late, he recalled. “Especially starting out in the industry, I didn’t have many friends and wasn’t finding out about vending opportunities,” said Herron, who founded 2923 Comics and created the…
KC to DC: Students roll out legislation to ban secondhand smoke in vehicles; ‘Quit Kids Smoking’ nationwide
Editor’s note: Startland is the parent organization of Startland News, though this report was produced independently by Startland News’ non-profit newsroom. Click here to read more about Startland’s education and real-world learning work. Four teenagers from high schools across Kansas City have banded together in hopes of passing legislation to prohibit smoking products that contain…
Liberation through innovation: Why KC Girls Prep focuses on history, culture to empower students
Striving to create feminist, anti-racist leaders does not come with a checklist, said Tara Haskins — rather it takes creative thinking and the willingness to go beyond established norms. “To be anti-racist is to first acknowledge history and the stories we tell,” said Haskins, who serves as the founding school leader at KC Girls Preparatory…
Bamboo Penny’s plants KC Thai in Leawood, plating culture alongside pineapple fried rice
Fearlessness is on the menu for Chef Penny Mufuka, a 25-year veteran of the stovetop, bringing to boil plans for a second Johnson County-cooked restaurant in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It makes me sweat everyday,” Mufuka laughed, musing the decision she made with husband and co-owner, Doug Mufuka, to open Bamboo Penny’s in…
Tangible ‘teleportation’: Shawnee Mission East grad re-envisions how humans communicate over distance
Serving as a caregiver to his late mother during her battle with cancer prepared Akshay Dinakar for the next step in his journey as an entrepreneur, he said. “I learned how to do everything — constantly be on call; be able to suit up faster than a fireman and drive to the hospital at a…
