Denton’s conference for creatives, techies, and entrepreneurs had a great fifth year, its second time being hosted at Sunago Bell, the top floor of the Wells Fargo building on the square. Previously held at Stoke and virtually, the venue for the conference once again proved to be the perfect atmosphere for learning from expert speakers and panelists and engaging with one another during breaks, lunch, and Big Ideas.
Denton has a unique mix of entrepreneurs: those who are the founders of scale-able, high-growth startups, seeking employees every so often to meet the needs of their growing company; and those who are business owners who nurture and sustain small businesses that contribute to the richness of the town and fulfill needs in the community. Stoke is here to empower and support them.
Like many entrepreneurs, Michelle Schodowski sought to solve a problem with her business, one that was near to her passion and profession: connecting emerging professional musicians with high level teachers, no matter their location. The idea for Radda came from her experience studying to become a professional pianist while in the rural Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee but still being able to learn from experts in New York online.
Read on to learn more about her story.
Kandace Anderson’s determination and passion really shine through in her cohort story interview. She’s serious about the work that she’s committed to and honest about her journey (who doesn’t take the occasional nap during the normal workday?). She shares with us what it took to dive into developing Departmynt, an AI driven app that turns a vast women's apparel marketplace into a personal boutique for every user, a moment of reckoning regarding power and intelligence (and CEOs), and a bit of her background and inspiration.
When Juli James discusses design, content, and tools for online learning, you know that she knows exactly what she’s talking about. There’s confidence in and expertise behind every tip and tool that she recommends.
Combining her passion and self-proclaimed, proud geek side, Juli tackles everything she does sincerely and brilliantly. After a conversation with her, whether it’s about education or balancing life/work/self/sanity, you walk away a better person. Read on for her interview with Stoke as an AccelerateHER Fall 2020 participant!
Leslie Brenner founded Cooks Without Borders, a cooking website featuring spectacular recipes steeped in culture. For each recipe and story, Leslie seasons her writing and content with care and delight in sharing recipe knowledge and background to accompany them, not to mention the incredible photographs that tell the visual side of the story.
Her path into writing about food and wine began with a restaurant review for New York magazine, and it was a winding road into what she does today for Leslie Brenner Concepts and Cooks Without Borders. Read on to learn about what it’s like to walk (and run) in Leslie’s shoes.
We’re continuing our elaboration on 5 Tips For Starting a Business in Denton (linked) with the next blog in the series, Ask Questions & Take Notes. This step will also help you with writing your business plan, whether that’s a lean startup version or a traditional business plan.
Need help starting to plan your business or in the middle of preparing to launch your startup? You might find that having someone to act as a sounding board or hearing from a person who’s been in your shoes before is just what you need to begin or keep going. Whoever fills roles such as these could be considered a mentor.
In a coworking space, you’ll find people working diligently on their individual businesses, projects, and endeavors while sharing workspace. The idea of a shared workspace is often associated with misconceptions like it’s too noisy, only entrepreneurs and startups work in coworking spaces, and membership is too expensive.
We’re exploring how to develop and engage in a supportive company culture for the future of work and to strengthen teams in distributed workforces. We sat down for a talk with Ryan Plauche, Software Engineer with satellite software startup Kubos, who worked remotely from Stoke but had to transition to working from home during Texas’ stay at home order.
There’s science behind the benefits of taking short breaks throughout the day, as well as full days off, and longer vacations throughout the year. It’s common knowledge that overworking can lead to burnout and make it difficult to unwind even when we have the time, "What neuroscience is showing is that we require downtime in order for our bodies to go through the process of restoration," according to clinical psychologist, Deborah Mulhern.
We’re elaborating on the tips that we published in 5 Tips For Starting a Small Business in Denton (linked) in a new series!
John Knowles landed a full-time position in software development after an internship with Stoke member company, Team of Defenders. He works as a level one software developer and shared some of his experience with us, including ideal results of attending a tech job fair here at Stoke!
Read the whole interview!
Wedding planners and those planning for weddings have a new ally, and it’s a company called Fêtefully, a play on the French word for celebration or festival, “fete.” … Members of the Denton Angels recognized the startup’s contribution to the wedding industry and moved forward with funding Fêtefully after GiGi pitched to the group in early 2019.
Read the full blog!
