Target

Kenyata Gant, Pink Lipps Cosmetics

Pink Lipps hits Target, putting KC cosmetics line in 41 retail markets where Black shoppers bring green

There’s no glossing over it, Kenyata Gant said. Black-owned businesses are thriving in the Midwest — and big box retailers are taking notice.  “I couldn’t believe it,” recalled Gant, owner of Pink Lipps Cosmetics, announcing the Kansas City-based cosmetics startup’s acceptance into 41 nationwide Target stores.  “I would always say how I would love to…

Brandon Love, Crumble

Health scare forced KC’s colorful wax guru to get serious: ‘This is Crumble growing up with me’

Brandon Love is keeping his iconic, brightly-colored hair, but melting away distractions that could be holding back his already wildly successful, but evolving lifestyle brand, Crumble Co., he said. The first to go: Some of the eye-catching candle and wax product names that first caught customers’ attention because of their tongue-in-cheek innuendos and four-letter words,…

Joel Johnson, Mixtape

Target deals new verse to KC-born Mixtape card game; players could pick founder’s next tune

Mixtape allows players of the KC-made card game to “hide behind the song,” connecting without fear of vulnerability, said creator Joel Johnson. That appeal recently helped push the cross-generational, multi-genre product onto Target shelves across the country. Players draw cards with such scenario questions as, “What song or band changed the way you think about…

Jeff Jones, H&R Block

H&R Block must reconnect with startup energy, innovation, CEO Jeff Jones says

Jeff Jones’ journey to Kansas City — winding through hangouts with popstar Justin Timberlake, dinner with Oprah, and a stint driving one of the world’s most dominant sharing economy companies — has been transformative, the H&R Block CEO said. And if the homegrown corporate juggernaut he now leads is to meet its stretch potential, the…