Earlier this year, after a week of attending meetings, I was looking forward to getting home and putting my feet up to relax and reconnect with my family. Instead, because of staff shortages at the airport, we were left waiting for our missing bags. ‘Where are the bags? was not the question I had front […]
Trailblazers
Stories about innovative company builders in the middle of America
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Commentary: Women Now Face Pressure To Look Beautiful Everywhere They Go. Here’s How To Set Them Free.
Women have faced pressure to look beautiful since the beginning of time. And the digital era has placed another set of demands on them: to create beautiful online avatars, whether in online games or in the Metaverse. Many teen girls now spend hours every day using editing apps to alter their appearance. While, in theory, […]
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A West African Spice Company Comes into its Own as Flavors of Long-Overlooked Region Hit U.S. Tastebuds
It’s becoming more common to see grains, chips, beverages, sauces with roots in West African countries for sale in mainstream markets like Whole Foods and Target. These products are a tiny fraction of those inspired by other regions, like Latin America or Asia, but the change is noticeable, especially to someone like Abena Foli. Originally […]
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In a System Without Much STEM Support for the Most Vulnerable, it’s Up to a Teacher Willing to go a Step Beyond
This is one of a series of stories about Times of E’s reporting trip to Miami, Fla. Read others here: A Request Went Out to the Tech Community for a Principal for the Day. Only One Person Responded, here: A Historically Black Community Helped a Small Business Survive, and here: Miami is Mostly Talk When […]
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A Washington, D.C. Florist Steps into her Father’s Shoes, With the Help of Georgetown Students
Alexes Haggins grew up working shifts at her father’s floral shop in Washington D.C. Bernard Haggins taught his daughter how to piece together blossoms, stems, buds and leaves to create stunning arrangements. For more than 40 years, Flowers by Alexes – Haggins eventually named the operation after his daughter – supplied churches and funeral homes, […]
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Entrepreneurs are Tapping into Employees on a Booming Island Nation With 11% Growth
When e-commerce boomed during the pandemic, Jose Herrera and his two partners were at the ready with a call-center business. They had started Hire Horatio in 2018 after meeting at Columbia University, and quickly pivoted to focus on businesses growing or turning to online operations. To keep costs down and to spur economic development in […]
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A Lawsuit from Mattel Almost Killed a Board Game Dream, but the Founder Rebounded
Sherry Martin’s first go at the board game business went better than he could have imagined. A year after launching his first game, a word game called “Sentence Says,” he was already completing orders, selling on the shelves of Toys R Us and featured in an Arby’s Kids Meal. But then came a huge setback: […]
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Advice for Women Raising Money for their Social Ventures
Times of E reporter Skyler Rossi interviewed Marissa Bronfman on Jan. 19 about a new impact fund she’s involved in called Kizmet Impact. The Toronto and Vancouver-based fund will invest in impact-driven entrepreneurs and plans to go public on the NEO Exchange later this year. Kizmet is tracking to be a $50 million fund. Bronfman […]
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Editor’s Note: How To See People
A note from our editor, Elizabeth MacBride: Nearly 20 years ago, I was working as the managing editor of Crains’ New York, and keeping my creative writing life alive by taking workshops. I’d wrap up that high-intensity journalism job, leave the office on Third Avenue and walk through Central Park toward my writing instructor’s apartment. […]
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A Request Went Out To The Miami Tech Community Looking for Principal-for-a-Day Volunteers. One Person, From Google, Replied
A note from our editor, Elizabeth MacBride: On my visit late last year to Miami, I heard from Carlos Vazquez, the founder of Miami EdTech, about an effort to get people in the tech community to be “principal for a day.” There were almost no takers for the program — except for one young man, […]
