Minority-Led Stories

Wesley Hamilton, Disabled But Not Really

Wesley Hamilton withdraws from partners he says didn’t value BLM, planning standalone gym for adaptive athletes  

Withdrawing from professional partnerships that don’t align with his values — specifically the Black Lives Matter movement — will be a struggle, Wesley Hamilton admitted, but adaptive athletes already know the heavy lift of overcoming challenges in life. “I need to make sure that I am not only bringing value to my community, but that…

Miguel Johns, KingFit

KingFit acquisition fuels expansion plans in Mexico, focuses bilingual health tech startup

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. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. WICHITA…

AbdulRasheed Yahaya, Unified Esports Association

Esports group acquires Local Legends, signaling gaming growth in flyover country

A pipeline for Plains states gamers has been opened with the acquisition of Local Legends Gaming by the Unified Esports Association (UEA).  “We’ve been working Esports together for about a year and a half and kind of just realized that we have the exact same goals,” AbdulRasheed Yahaya, founder of Local Legends, said of the…

Jonathan "JP" Platz and Vu Radley, MADE MOBB

MADE to order: How KC’s top streetwear brand plans to fund therapy sessions for ‘our brothers and sisters’

No health, no hustle, said Vu Radley, detailing MADE MOBB’s recently launched effort to fund free therapy sessions for members of the Black community. “Mental health isn’t something that’s talked about a lot within minority groups. For me, growing up, it wasn’t,” said Radley, co-founder of MADE, emphasizing newly heightened stress and super-charged anxiety for…

Westport facing dwindling foot traffic: Online sales will only get us so far, resilient entrepreneur says

Matt Bramlette is stretched thin, bouncing between his two retail shops as Westport storefronts struggle to reopen after a pandemic-induced shutdown, protests that disrupted business and other unexpected challenges. “We rely on tourists and foot traffic — two things that are few and far between right now,” said Bramlette, owner of brick-and-mortar Mid Coast Modern and…