Woman-led Stories

Penny Dale-McCant and Myron McCant, KD Academy

$4M dream childcare center opened on Prospect as planned; why the 24/7 KD Academy is struggling to fill its beds

Penny Dale-McCant built a childcare model — and a $4 million expansion of her KD Academy brand with her husband, Myron McCant — unlike anything else in the region, she said. Today, however, the center serves only a third of its intended capacity: a product of pandemic trends that have limited staffing. “I’m just proud…

Dreamgirl hits the start button at SXSW; why the KC band tells its peers to break out of the Midwest

Editor’s note: The following story is part of Startland News’ coverage of the SXSW conference in Austin. Click here to read more stories from the 2022 trip. AUSTIN — Dreamgirl describes itself as a family — a bit dysfunctional at times, but nonetheless family, members of the Kansas City-based band shared, laughing the morning before their…

Alex Krause Matlack, Sit Foundry

Sit Foundry takes a stand for ‘lost art’ of upholstery amid fast furniture’s climate threat

Alex Krause Matlack is bringing what she teaches in the classroom to Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as she pursues Sit Foundry — an all-inclusive reupholstery design studio.  “In the first week of my Intro to Entrepreneurship class, I tell my students to go out into the world and take notice of the problems they face….

Callie England

Callie England’s latest venture has no name or website; When odds are you’ll die next week, you learn to prioritize, she says

Sometimes hypothetical questions become all too real, said Callie England, a serial entrepreneur who frequently posed a speculative query to herself and clients: “If you were going to die next week, what decisions would you make?”  It was a question she was forced to answer honestly in July 2021, when the veteran Kansas City startup…

2534 Prospect Avenue, a city-owned space housing WeCode KC

She’s bringing tech to urban core teens; why KCMO says Tammy Buckner needs to pay ‘fair market value’ or get out

One of KC’s leading Black women in tech leased a vacant city building for $1 and made $20K+ in improvements for her workforce development program — now the city wants to sell it, kicking WeCode KC to the curb A local nonprofit is asking for community support as the KCMO city council makes a move…