Woman-led Stories

Marsha Willis joins Facebook accelerator to boost 30K-strong community of Black-owned businesses, supporters

Marsha Willis’ decade-long journey of supporting Kansas City-based, Black-owned businesses is headed to the next level — thanks to a funding infusion from Facebook and Willis’ own focused commitment to providing elevated experiences to the online community she’s built. “Our focus is to create a centralized place where we can share resources and education for…

10 finalists vying for ‘Fan Favorite’ in AltCap Your Biz competition; Here’s how to vote

AltCap’s marquee GEWKC competition for emerging entrepreneurs is returning in November, but fans of the businesses can cast votes now to determine a $2,500 “fan favorite” winner at the coming pitch event. Ten finalists for the AltCap Your Biz competition were announced this week. The live pitch day is set for Nov. 17 at iWerx…

Miss KC’s Parade of Hearts? You’re in luck: Popular citywide art returning in 2023, 2024

Kansas City’s “Parade of Hearts” is set to return in 2023 — and 2024 — after the wildly popular, city-spanning art installation, regional pride campaign and fundraiser placed more than 150 unique artist-created hearts throughout the metro. The publicly displayed art pieces quickly became destination points across the city with Kansas Citians and visitors embarking…

‘Cure-all’ for your hunger: Chefs offer tastes of what’s to come at KC’s newest food hall 

A Kansas City-simmered food hall concept is expected to unveil its long-awaited dining experience next month in the lightwell building downtown — pairing two well-seasoned culinary minds with appetites for inventive tastes. Officially dubbed the Strang Chef Collective at lightwell, the chef-driven venture will feature a duo of restaurant concepts — Verde and Panacea —…

LaunchKC finalists: Meet 13 tech startups vying for six $50K grants in rebooted competition

A revived LaunchKC grants competition is set to return in mid-November with more than a dozen companies vying for $300,000 in non-dilutive funding. Finalists were announced Friday. The 13 Kansas City companies selected to compete Nov. 15 were narrowed from more than 90 applicants, said Becca Castro, strategic initiatives manager at the Economic Development Corporation…