Woman-led Stories

Nomi Smith and Luke Landau, PMI Rate Pro

2021 Startups to Watch: PMI Rate Pro ensures efficiency for mortgage loan officers as market expands

Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2021’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch — presented by sponsors Husch Blackwell and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Three years into working as a mortgage loan officer,…

Shari Coulter Ford, Tohi Ventures

Fund Me, KC: Tohi Ventures pours pandemic lemons into healthy drink donation effort

Startland News is continuing its “Fund Me, KC” series to highlight area entrepreneurs’ efforts to accelerate their businesses or lend a helping hand to others. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs — like Shari Coulter Ford’s campaign to donate healthy drinks to food banks — to share their crowdfunding stories to gain a little help…

Deborah Giudicessi, DIY Woodshop

‘Business is pointless unless you’re helping others’: Makerspace connects community through woodworking

Building and creating with one’s own hands is an experience unlike any other, said Deborah Giudicessi.  “There’s that sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with building something,” said Giudicessi, founder of The DIY Woodshop in Olathe. “And learning how to create, it triggers this thought process that teaches you how to analyze and how…

Dr. Allison Edwards and Jay Austin

Rethinking healthcare: How a doctor and activist brought more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests to KC’s most vulnerable

A primary care physician with an innovative take on healthcare and a passionate activist with an extensive background in video production might seem like an unlikely duo, said Dr. Allison Edwards. But she and serial creative Jay Austin united their strengths during the pandemic to help underserved communities in Kansas City gain access to critical…

Nine Zero One Igloo Bar at The Fontaine Hotel

Nine Zero One Igloo Bar: KC’s hottest new nightspot offers an escape on ice (but the clock is ticking)

The City of Fountains is frozen over atop The Fontaine Hotel, transformed into an aurora borealis-inspired vision of Scandinavian Iceland for a limited run pop-up — Nine Zero One Igloo Bar.  “This project has been over a year in the making,” explained Jenna Phillips, the hotel’s associate director of sales and marketing, quick to add…