Tag: Reggie Gray

‘I have to make it’: Fanny Ruiz de Chavez refused service to failure; 16 months later, she’s still cooking

By Tommy Felts / June 10, 2021

 Story and photos by Channa Steinmetz, Startland News | Video by Catherine Hoffman, Flatland Sitting in fear was quickly off the menu for Fanny Ruiz de Chavez — told less than two months after her Lee’s Summit restaurant’s 2020 grand opening that she’d need to close down because of COVID-19 restrictions, she recalled.  “I…

First down for Healthy Hip Hop: Roy Scott teams with Champ for game-changing reboot

By Tommy Felts / August 14, 2018

If it’s making money, don’t give up on it, said Roy Scott, rapper-turned-founder of Healthy Hip Hop. A new partnership with Champ System — a growing Kansas City sports apparel company with a popular hip hop-inspired mascot — will keep the performance- and tech-based startup in school gymnasiums and beyond as Scott’s company continues a…

Emerging from failure: Doughnut Lounge founder gets raw among startup peers (IXKC photos)

By Tommy Felts / August 2, 2018

Jake Randall’s “crazy dream” — a collision of craft, creativity and conversation contained in Westport’s Doughnut Lounge — was gone in a matter of 24 hours, he said. “I found out on Monday. And we closed on Tuesday,” Randall told a crowd of startup community peers this week at Startland’s Innovation Exchange. “I was embarrassed.…

KCultivator Q&A: Reggie Gray finds magic in connecting entrepreneurs with Black Privilege, no excuses

By Tommy Felts / June 15, 2018

Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The KCultivator Series is sponsored by WeWork Corrigan Station, a modern twist on Kansas City office space. He’s left his “Magic Man” persona behind, but Reggie Gray can’t quite shake the performer inside him, he said. “Whenever I…

AY Young pivots Battery Tour to music festival benefitting those without power

By Tommy Felts / May 17, 2018

With an ear-to-ear grin and his infectious laugh, AY Young admits he’s perhaps an unlikely rapper. Back from taking a shot at stardom in California, the Kansas City-born Eagle Scout-turned-college basketball player-turned performer is plugging into the entrepreneur community in hopes of more efficiently powering the Battery Tour. “We’re essentially using the universal language of…

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