AccelerateHER Cohort Stories: Kandace Anderson

AccelerateHER Cohort Stories: Kandace Anderson

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.

AccelerateHER Cohort Stories: Juli James

AccelerateHER Cohort Stories: Juli James

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!

5 Things You Should Know About Coworking

5 Things You Should Know About Coworking

Coworking is a popular option for people who work for themselves, work on a remote team, and many others who want to work in a productive environment and among others who are equally motivated. Read about coworking and its benefits in this blog.

Stoke Member Spotlight: Randi Skinner

Stoke Member Spotlight: Randi Skinner

Randi Skinner has 15+ years of experience as a marketing and business development professional and works to help small businesses (who might have limited marketing budgets) with their marketing goals! Randi has mentored during Stoke’s Coffee + Convo sessions and has a way of making you think differently about any projects or problems you might have. Her positive energy is contagious, and we’re so thankful to know her!

AccelerateHER Cohort Stories: Leslie Brenner

AccelerateHER Cohort Stories: Leslie Brenner

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.

Why People Choose to Live, Work, and Play in Denton

Why People Choose to Live, Work, and Play in Denton

People choose to live in Denton for advantages like lower cost of living, the unique contributions that higher education institutions offer the community, the vibrant culture and family friendliness; all factors that make it a prime spot for remote workers and people who can choose where they work from or who are deciding where to set up shop. 

Business Planning: Ask Questions & Take Notes

Business Planning: Ask Questions & Take Notes

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.

Big Ideas 2020 Recap

Big Ideas 2020 Recap

We were so impressed by the presenters at Big Ideas this year! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Speaking to Denton’s creative culture, we heard ideas for a Peterbilt Park (reminiscent of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo), public spaces for theatrical performers and dancers, and complete neighborhoods where you can take a ten-minute walk and in that span, pick up your groceries, grab coffee, and visit with a neighbor instead of spending 15 minutes in your car to run those errands.

Side Gigs & Seasons Of Sacrifice

Side Gigs & Seasons Of Sacrifice

Tuesday, April 7th for Coffee + Convo, we chatted with Juli James, the cofounder of two ed tech companies, Playable Media and Wildcards, and professor at UNT in the Mayborn School of Journalism teaching game design, digital media, and digital design + journalism. We talked about how she balances her side hustles, main gig, and life outside of/alongside work. She shared with us a few things to identify and implement for our wellbeing as we live the hustle.

How To Do Better: Mentorship

How To Do Better: Mentorship

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.

What Can You Do To Find Balance and Avoid Burnout?

What Can You Do To Find Balance and Avoid Burnout?

You have the Sunday blues, dreading Monday and the work week. You’re exhausted just thinking about the upcoming meetings and calls that you’ve scheduled out for yourself. You tell yourself, “this is the dream!” but you’re still yawning. The work that you once approached enthusiastically now seems to require cups of coffee just to open and respond to the emails in your inbox. 

Maybe these are exaggerations, or maybe it’s your reality. 

Whether you’re an employer, an employee, or self-employed, burnout can have serious consequences for your productivity and work performance, making the difference between operating a thriving business or one that will have to close its doors. 

9 Coworking Space Myths

9 Coworking Space Myths

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.

Building Company Culture While Shifting To Remote Work

Building Company Culture While Shifting To Remote Work

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.

Recap + Recording: Financial Preparedness For Small Businesses

Recap + Recording: Financial Preparedness For Small Businesses

Thank you to the panelists and attendees present for the Financial Preparedness For Small Businesses panel on March 27th, hosted by Stoke, moderated by our new hospitality & events coordinator, Mari Austin, and enriched by the questions from the community.