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MANHATTAN, KS – In a collaborative effort aimed at nurturing local entrepreneurship, $350,000 in new capital is now at the fingertips of area entrepreneurs for the upcoming year. This financial boost comes through the launch of two entrepreneurial funding programs—the Elevate Micro-Loan Program and the NetWork Kansas Empower Fund. A consortium of key entrepreneurial ecosystem partners, including the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, Spark, Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills, K-State Innovation Partners, the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, and NetWork Kansas, have joined forces to make this initiative a reality.
To complement these new initiatives, the Manhattan region also benefits from existing NetWork Kansas E-Community and GrowKS loan programs, ensuring a comprehensive suite of resources for local businesses. Interested entrepreneurs can find detailed information and check eligibility on the Spark website at funding.sparkmhk.com, where an online Inquiry Form is available to start the process.
During #NationalVeteransMonth, we feature stories and interviews with Veteran entrepreneurs from across the Greater Manhattan and Flint Hills region. The following interview features Shawnette and Darryl Williams, Army Veterans and owners of Positively Soap and Candle Co., located in Manhattan. Customers can locate their safe, premium and ethnical products on their website, and at a number of retail locations throughout the Flint Hills. Read their Veteran entrepreneur story here.
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Flint Hills Business Launch proudly presents the Fall 2023 class of current and future entrepreneurs who have successfully completed Spark’s core business fundamental class, a 9-week program. The graduation ceremony and pitch competition, featuring 15 participating entrepreneurs and 12 businesses, took place Thursday, November 9, 2023, at the Union Pacific Depot in downtown Manhattan.
This season’s cohort was comprised of entrepreneurs from across Pottawatomie, Riley, and Geary counties in Kansas, who engaged in the twice-annual, virtual class designed for entrepreneurs who are pre-launch through the first three years of operations. The class was facilitated by serial entrepreneur, owner of MHK Caravan Co and K-State Entrepreneurship Instructor, Tara Geiber.
Get to know Nikita Razo, serial entrepreneur and owner of Manhattan’s only rage room. Nikita was motivated to open a rage room in Manhattan when she heard people complaining that there aren’t enough adult activities in Manhattan. “So I decided, why not help with that and bring something a little more outside the box into town. So far people are loving it and having so much fun smashing things and throwing paint around.” Read her Office Space Rage Room business story here.
On Thursday, April 27th, Spark presented the Spring 2023 class of Flint Hills Business Launch. After an intense 8-week, virtual course, 14 entrepreneurs representing 11 businesses received certificates of graduation, and nine participated in a pitch competition with a $1000 award.
Flint Hills Business Launch, an 8-week immersive course designed for entrepreneurs in their first three years of operations, kicked off this March with 15 participating businesses from Pottawatomie, Riley and Geary counties in Kansas. The course curriculum is built on the nationally-recognized, Kauffman FastTrac, with additional support for participating business owners in the form of small group discussions, expert Q&A, mentor matching and additional visibility and preparation for capital for their business during and after the course.
In this series, get to know the participating entrepreneurs committing to start and grow their businesses on strong foundations in the Spring 2023 Flint Hills Business Launch course.
Mentoria discovered doula work in a roundabout way, after suffering from postpartum depression after the labor and delivery of her daughter, who is now five years old. On her healing journey, she searched for specific stories and representation from other Black women who had experienced and healed from postpartum mental health disorders. The stories she found were only mildly relatable, and Mentoria observed there was a massive gap in not only support and representation for Black mothers. Mentoria’s own path toward healing took multiple turns before she really found her way, and she hopes to be an educating advocate who can help mothers, especially Black women, avoid her painful journey.
Despite experiencing prolonged, severe postpartum depression symptoms after the birth of her daughter, she was reluctant to seek treatment beyond medications. But it was the representation of other Black women in the medical field that led her to take the steps she truly needed to take.
When Jessica Andrews, owner of J’s Makeup Artistry, reached out to Hy-Vee in October 2022 to ask them about carrying her skincare and makeup line in their store, she got an answer she didn’t expect. “I went to Hy-Vee here in Manhattan, and I said, ‘What do I need to get into your store?’ I told them what I did, along with my credentials,” she explained. “And they said, ‘Jessica, we would love to have you in our store.’ I said, ‘Really, that easy?’ and they said, ‘It is that easy’,” she recalls.
For Jessica, an entrepreneur who was used to working hard for her dreams, it had not always been easy. Growing up, Jessica spent a lot of time with her father, going to the gym and doing other activities with him. Although she thought of herself as a ‘tomboy’, she also had an early interest in the beauty industry. “I always wanted to be a model, but then I ended up doing makeup instead,” says Jessica.
It was at home with family in Kansas City, Kansas, that JahVelle Rhone, musician, content creator and entrepreneur, first discovered his love of music. “It all started in the basement of my childhood home, where my dad used to play the guitar after church, and my brothers and I would dance for hours upon hours to his music.“ JahVelle recalls, “I knew that I would love nothing more than to be a musician because that day, the joy we felt in that basement and listening to the sounds of the soulful music had to be supernatural.”
Known to over 1 Million followers on social media as JRSaxophonic, the intersection of JahVelle’s talent as a saxophone player and digital media creator has taken him around the country and through doors he only dreamed were possible a few short years ago. Recognized for his soulful, smooth sounds across multiple social media platforms, JahVelle insists, “My staple would be to inspire, to bring joy and cultivate a soulful wave in music through love, positively, and empowerment.” He adds, “And my only rule is to keep it smooth.”.
To meet the critical need for business education and enhance the long-term success of emerging businesses in the Greater Manhattan region, Spark, a Manhattan, Kansas-based entrepreneur support organization, will host its fifth entrepreneur education cohort starting March 2023. The course, titled Flint Hills Business Launch, is an 8-week, immersive experience designed to provide foundational business education to entrepreneurs who are pre-launch through the first three years of operations.
The online course is hosted for two hours, one week night a week for eight weeks, and includes Q&A with regional service providers, small group breakout discussion and teaching on business fundamentals, as well as in person events, mentorship and peer support. Class size is kept small to optimize engagement and facilitator to student ratios.
The all-natural, fresh-squeezed lemonade made by 11-year-old Tre Glasper and his family in a Manhattan commercial kitchen is making its way to Kansas City thanks to a tart partnership with one of the Midwest’s leading grocery chains.
Tre typically sells about 100 bottles of Tre’s Squeeze — an amount that takes two to three hours to produce and package — a week in Manhattan, he said. The lemonade often sells out quickly at the Manhattan Hy-Vee, where the boy’s product has been stocked and sold for the past year, added his mother, Sheila Ellis-Glasper. After restocking, 100 to 150 bottles often sell out over the course of a weekend.
Just over 20 years ago, Kamala “Khae” Collins discovered her unique path to entrepreneurship as she looked for ways to “make people feel good” beyond her work as a nurse. She discovered her love of long-lasting candles was an experience many of her friends and family shared with her, and a business was born: Pampered Senses Candles.
With over two decades of entrepreneurship experience, Khae has been able to develop multiple avenues for reaching new customers, including a Farmer’s Market stand, e-commerce purchasing on her website, and in the last year, her products were added to shelves at Hy-Vee in Manhattan. A member of the Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint HIlls, Khae has a number of supportive connections in the community that have helped her get established and grow. Khae also involves her son in her business, and he can often be found at some of her vendor set-ups at the Farmer’s Market.
Starting a business was a longtime dream for Tonya Winston, owner of clothing retailer, B.Royal Boutique. When Tonya moved to Chicago to begin a career working for a city bank, she and her best friend often took shopping trips to trendy yet affordable boutiques on the north side of Chicago. Tonya was always on a mission to find unique pieces of clothing in order to create a style different from her peers. “It was so neat because I could find unique pieces that not everybody was wearing,” says Tonya of her shopping excursions.
Around that same time, Tonya started doing personal shopping and styling for some of her friends. However, she noticed a disturbing trend in many of the stores. “I wouldn’t be able to shop for [my friends] at these cute boutiques because they weren’t offering the sizes that would accommodate the average-sized women, which is an average size of 12.” She also noticed a similar trend in media, advertising and television, that most brands were not inclusive in their sizes. Tonya wanted to do something to address this gap in the clothing market, sparking a new business idea. “I was beginning to think, ‘Oh, how cool would it be to have my own store, and to be able to curate the goods and have them be inclusive’,” says Tonya.
Growing up Christine Lee was captivated by makeup and beauty, and she could often be found dressing up and adding glam to everyday life. “Even at a very young age, I would get dressed up to simply take the trash out,” says Christine. Christine recalls childhood memories of playing with make-up she found on her grandmother’s bathroom vanity. She also remembers how she kept her family waiting as she completed her transformation process. “I was in the bathroom forever, and I came out all dressed up, and my mother was so mad at me,” Christine says, laughing. Her family learned to appreciate Christine and her committed passion for beauty and makeup, eventually giving her hours advance notice when they planned to leave. Her family were probably the least surprised when Christine finally realized a dream to share this passion with others by opening Lash Camera Action Studio, a luxury lash studio, in Junction City less than a year ago.
With her previous experiences in mental health, Tychelle started working with a local therapy practice in Manhattan in 2018 to begin building a caseload. Dedicated to helping others and providing for her family, Tychelle also picked up another job working nights for the VA, thinking of possibly starting her own practice. In October 2019, Tychelle recalls noticing a new door opening. Her children were growing more independent, giving her more time and flexibility in her career. It was then that she made the decision to start her business, and she began taking the initial steps to do just that. She officially launched her practice, 365 Days, 365 Chances Counseling Services in January of 2021, and she soon added a number of part-time, contracted therapists to the practice. She adds that she hopes to specifically work with and direct services toward Women of Color.
Martine Chery-Hilaire, owner of Chez Matou Green Machine food truck, is no stranger to resourcefulness. Born and raised in Haiti, she moved to the United States in 2003 and began working a variety of retail jobs. She decided to join the military when her first daughter was born. As her four-year military contract ended, she was stationed on Fort Riley and decided to stay in the Junction City area. Throughout the various jobs she worked and the cities she called home, her Haitian culture was always an anchor for Martine, and it was no surprise when it eventually led to an entrepreneurial opportunity. Long before she opened a restaurant though, she always served Haitian food from her home, eventually hosting pop-ups and expanding to cook more types of food. As the demand for the unique taste of Haitian cuisine grew, Martine saw the opportunity to officially start a business.
With all the momentum of her growing business and pitch award funds, as well as her community support system through Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills and other resources, Nathania Anderson, founder of Winks by Thanie, started 2022 strong by expanding her product line. She attributes her growth, in part, to her willingness to listen, learn and implement good ideas from others. “In February 2022, we added magnetic lashes and a vibrant color collection. We are keeping up with key trends, which are constantly evolving, and we continue to work on offering a product that continues to be luxury and affordable. A lot of research goes into that, seeing trends and learning from my customer.”
The 40 Over 40 Project was able to bring the women in the Manhattan community together. It was also able to display women in multiple professions, such as “doctors, artists, and women in their 60s practicing karate.” “The amount of diversity has been extraordinary. Everyone’s lives are so unique and this [portrait series] showcases everyone’s individualpersonalities,” Nikita says.
During the sessions, they worked to create an experience in which portrait subjects felt loved and seen throughout the entire process. “After each session, we sent them questions to help formulate their story, and during their shoot, we talk and learn about who they are and what they love. Women are notoriously afraid of aging, and we were able to remind these women that they are beautiful.”
Manhattan-based artist and entrepreneur Paulicia Bender’s journey into full-time entrepreneurship started all the way back in elementary school. During recess, Paulicia drew portraits for classmates for 25 cents apiece. Her flair for capitalizing on her creativity followed her into adulthood and led her to creating and selling custom, handmade greeting cards. Using a variety of media to craft her cards, she takes paper and paint, adding drawings and embellishments for one-of-a-kind pieces. She stated it’s not uncommon for her customers to frame and keep her cards instead of delivering them to the recipients because they love them so much.
Black Stars Cocoa (BSC) is a hand-crafted skin and hair care company made with 100% organic and sustainably-sourced ingredients, specializing in the use of black soap and shea butter from Ghana to help stimulate hair growth and protect skin barriers. We sell products such as Whipped Shea butter, Black Soap, Sugar Scrub, Hair Growth Oil, Face Cleanser and moisturizer. “We aim to solve skin and hair problems such as eczema, dry skin, dark spots, dry scalp, split ends, and thinning hair. Our goal is to encourage wellness and self-care through the use of our products, demonstrating confidence in one’s skin and hair. We hand select our vendors from Ghana and we prefer getting our shea and black soap from the farmers/ vendors that actually make the products themselves. Most of these vendors are also women entrepreneurs like myself.”
