We had a great conversation with Ernanda White, CXO and founder of Black Girls Drone, and participant in the first cohort of the AccelerateHER program. She tells us about her background and being somewhat steered away from the tech field as child, what ultimately inspired her to start BGD, and what she hopes to see happen for the organization in the future.
Lillia Whittington is the owner and head content creator of The D. Diaries, a fashion and lifestyle blog that highlights what makes Denton unique! Motivated to give Denton a voice and put it on the map for North Texas and beyond, Lillia’s written about and promoted local events, lifestyle activities and shops plus compiled useful tools like the Denton Guide and holiday shopping tips for locals and visitors alike. Coming from someone who grew up in Denton and knows the town like the back of her hand, The D. Diaries is filled with love for her hometown; anything born from the heart has to be good, and what Lillia creates is indeed delightful.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Who thought of turning an old warehouse into a pop-up music venue for 35 Denton (and where did they meet?) How do initiatives like beginning a startup and tech nonprofit like TechMill happen? What *finally* brought liquor to Denton County?
Dentonites sharing ideas and making connections at past creative mixers.
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.
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.
