Minority-Led Stories

Blockchain KC event aims to put Kansas City on the map for crypto thought leadership

Kansas City is running low on blockchain-fueled innovation, said Shekhar Gupta. “I want to see Kansas City as one of the top places where people think about blockchain,” said Gupta, chief technology officer of Overland Park-based SaaS firm Asuun, and organizer of the inaugural Blockchain KC conference. “I have a big map on my wall…

Nipsey Hussle Kansas City

‘Heartbreaking but empowering’: Nipsey Hussle’s life, death inspire entrepreneurs to action

The Marathon will continue, Wesley Hamilton said, echoing tens of thousands of mourners now pledging to keep alive the transcendent entrepreneurial spirit of rapper-turned-community leader Nipsey Hussle. Hamilton, founder and executive director of the KC-based nonprofit The Disabled But Not Really Foundation, was among a dozen or more Kansas City entrepreneurs in Los Angeles Thursday…

Kyle Smith, Determination, Incorporated

Inmate to business founder: Determination, Incorporated adds partner with lived experience

Determination, Incorporated’s new partner in compassion places a new lens on the impact the prison-to-founder non-profit could have, said Kyle Smith. “I’ve gotten this non-profit this far, but I can’t do it alone,” said Smith, founder of Determination, Incorporated, which uses entrepreneurship to curate new opportunities for formerly incarcerated people, on the addition of his…

Doob 3D

Doob 3D aims to capitalize on ‘mecca for foot traffic’ with Country Club Plaza pop-up shop

If you build it, they will come. More than a quote from the 1989 blockbuster, “Field of Dreams” — the seven word mantra is what’s pushing Doob 3D to embrace the curve balls of exposing Kansas City to new technology and pinch hit with a new pop-up location on the Country Club Plaza, said Nick Nikkhah….

Reggie Gray, Black Privilege, KCSourceLink video

WATCH: Faces of KC entrepreneurship find strength in numbers, community resources

A new video from KCSourceLink highlights the faces of Kansas City entrepreneurship — featuring makers, innovators, tech founders and social entrepreneurs — and their connection to the resource network and ecosystem infrastructure in Kansas City. “It takes very special people to be able to put everything on the line,” says Reggie Gray, executive director of Black…