Portraits of KC

It’s more important to understand someone than to judge them. We think the first step to understanding someone is asking them the fundamental questions about who they are and how they became the person they are today. Understanding and empathy are essential building blocks for a better, more compassionate world. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to ask these questions each week through our interview series. Below you’ll find inspiring interviews from in and around KC.

Amanda Stellick

I grew up in a loving Christian home with parents who encouraged me to excel and gave me the best opportunities they could. As the oldest of five children, I learned to help and care for others. I went to a Christian grade school where I developed a passion for reading, learning, and sharing my faith in Jesus. In elementary school, I also fell in love with soccer. I played on a competitive team, but was devastated when I didn’t make the JV team my freshman year in high school. I continued playing on my competitive team and worked hard to improve. I did make JV the following year, but learned I needed to work harder than my peers to reach the goals I had set for myself. Throughout my teen years, I also did a lot of babysitting and developed a love for working with children. I knew I wanted to become a teacher! I went to Martin Luther College, a small D3 college in Minnesota, where I not only received a degree in elementary education, but was able to play soccer all four years as well! Upon graduation, I had a unique opportunity to teach elementary school and English classes in Tsuchiura, Japan. I lived there for a year and had some amazing experiences. Looking back, I think the experience of living in a place where you don’t know the language helped me become a better teacher, especially as I taught children to read and write. Read more>>

Ellie Hardesty

I’m a current doctoral student at KU. Originally, I’m from Wichita, KS. I graduated from KU, before moving to Houston for my masters. Read more>>

Blaise Pastoret

I have been in restaurants and bars for over 25 years. I have held many positions, from Executive Chef to General Manager. I oversee multiple different outlets from quick-service fast food to upscale esoteric dining. Read more>>

Brittany Talley

I started my Rise Counseling and Consulting counseling practice in March 2019. I work primarily with youth of color who live in predominately white areas, attend predominately white schools, or live in mixed-race families. I also supervise, train, and consult other therapists and local agencies/businesses. During the pandemic, I was receiving more referrals than I could handle. It was essential for potential clients to refer them to another therapist of color. To build a network of therapists of color, I contacted Megh Chakrabarti, a local Social Worker/Advocate. Together, we started a database of therapists of color in the KC Metro that eventually became Color Collective KC (www.colorcollectivekc.org). We have over 70 therapists on our list. Read more>>

Ta’Neika Mays

I’ve always had a knack for mixing fruit flavors and also alcoholic beverages. I was the “pregame original queen” to people I would hang with. Whenever we were going out, me mixing up something while we got prepared was always the play! Spending money at the bar was ok, but getting and mixing those same drinks for way less was always a win!! One day, around the start of covid, I thought to myself how cool it’d be to give everybody that same chill, turned up, yet relaxing vibe! My hobby of many many years quickly turned into an opportunity with more thoughts, ideas, and different creative flavors for me to come up with! I didn’t want just alcoholic beverages but I wanted something that was enjoyable for everyone, no matter who you were or the age!! My kiddo and non alcoholic drinks were mixed just as well as the actual alcoholic drinks so it was the perfect idea! From that very first year, GeTLiTee continued brainstorming different ideas which even grew to launching holiday gift sets like Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, birthdays, Thanksgiving, etc. Even came up with additional creative fruit flavor drinks-alcoholic, non-alcoholic, and kiddo wise-popsicles and themed summer slushy drinks as well! A lot of thought, passion and dedication got me to where I am today with GeTLiTee! Year number 3 out of the many to come and I’m ready to see what blessings are in store for this small business! Read more>>

Rachael Clark

Hi, I’m Rachael. I’m the mom of three awesome kiddos, Rowan 10, Auden 8 and Porter 6. Read more>>

Ashleigh Windle

I thought this was an interview about Lakeisha! I started when the one of my high school friends father asked me to take a tax class. I didn’t know anything about taxes! But I took the class and started my first tax season working part time in 2003. Now I am the owner of the number 1 Liberty Tax Service in the KC metro area and so thankful and humbled. I also had a fireworks tent in Gardner KS this year! It was great. Read more>>

Jenny Chacon

It’s actually pretty ironic how it all got started for me. Honestly, what initiated my interest in the world of post op was a personal battle with an infection I developed after a breast augmentation malpractice surgery I received in 2018. That experience left me extremely vulnerable, because I jumped into this life altering decision without any proper guidance, and ultimately it forced me to become my own advocate. In the process of discovering my voice during that unfortunate circumstance, I became increasingly curious and fascinated by the concept of human anatomy and especially skin care. My enthusiasm led me to aesthetics school where I soon graduated as a Medical Aesthetician. Eventually, I embarked on a trip to my native hometown of Colombia, where I advanced my studies in post operative care, body contouring and lymphatic drainage. While I was out there for 5.5 weeks, I sought reconstructive surgery for my breasts. My experience with international surgical treatment provided me with a new perspective on the deficiencies of post operative care we have in the United States. I guess you can say I became “skinspired”, to create a change, haha. Essentially that is when Skinspired Aesthetics was born in 2019. Read more>>

Jon Kohrs

I think what most people say I do is design employee experiences. And those people would say these experiences are workshops, retreats and experiential curriculum. I offer things like a 3-month leadership institute, where leaders get to explore how to rethink the future of their business. I also facilitate 2-week design sprints for teams to develop radically new products. It’s really an experience to learn by doing, ultimately getting leaders and teams to work in a whole new way. Read more>>

Socorro Rico

Growing up in California as one of five children from migrant parents, my Mexican American upbringing was a unique blend of cultures. After completing high school, my path led me to study nursing, but the allure of the art department at my community college proved irresistible. This passion for art eventually earned me a scholarship for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Purdue University, followed by another full scholarship at the University of Dallas, where I focused on printmaking. For the past seven years, I have found my artistic home in Kansas City, where I have been painting and working at a small art collective dedicated to empowering women and non-binary artists. Read more>>

Chelsea Lane

Of course! I founded The Nurtured Path officially in 2021 after a few years of dreaming about it! I was already doing a lot of the work I do with The Nurtured Path, but it gave me a home for all of it with many ideas in the pipeline to expand & grow! I have been working with families and children for nearly 15 years, the work and the needs have changed so much over the past decade, but one thing that I have seen remain the same is parents wanting good things for their kids. Almost every time my workshops, services, or time with families would conclude, families would be sad, share such touching words of gratitude, or ask how we could continue working together.I knew I had something unique and that my passion for connecting and empowering families with my tools and strategies is needed in the world more than ever today, so I decided to create the business. I was fortunate to have people in my network and community right away, referring families and organizations to me. It is really such an honor when someone thinks I can help people they care about. I will never forget sending my first invoice! Being an entrepreneur was not something I saw in my future, but it all just made sense in my professional and personal life, and I am so proud of myself for going for it! I look forward to expanding the amount of services I can provide. I am really just getting started! Read more>>

K.B. Draper

Unlike many of my author friends, I didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer. More accurately, I never considered it possible as I was a mediocre student. I later realized this likely stemmed from ADHD and dyslexia challenges. However, it never stopped me from wanting to tell stories that would make people laugh. As a child, even though I wasn’t sitting down writing stories, I was always on an adventure. I was Wonder Woman jumping off the wellhouse. I was the Lone Ranger taking my horse racing through the woods after bad guys. I was a Pirate looking for lost treasures. I was Evel Knievel jumping my dirt bike across the creek before my fans. Fast forward to adulthood. These stories became movies in my head that wouldn’t leave, and with the encouragement of friends (and great editors), I decided to take on a new adventure, this time as an author. Read more>>

James Boyd

My healing journey started when my Grandmother got me a book called ‘Family Guide to Natural Medicine’ from Readers Digest; she was big into those books. It talks a lot about so many healing methods; reflexology and herbal healing were my favorites. I would practice on Grandma with both, and she found much relief, which motivated me to keep trying other things. This was around 8 or 9 y/o. We cooked a lot so culinary herbs in the cabinet could be used for other things, and it was fun. A lot of life happened, and my focus leaned toward the culinary field (my grandmother was a chef in her day and wrote a children’s cookbook); thanks to Grandma’s teaching, I knew a lot about cooking. I got a degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, OR. Later to realize how much food is medicine and dive back into herbs. What got me back into natural healing was my time at the Multnomah County Health Department, Cascade AIDS, and my volunteer work at the Quest Center for Integrative Health. I was in the HIV resource center when it existed at MCHD and got to do a lot of health educational training, medicinal interactions, body systems, and much more. It was my job to be the bridge between a newly infected individual with all the anxiety that comes with it and what the doctor was trying to tell them. There was a lot of leadership and situational awareness training to help talk a person down and help ease the descent into a new lifestyle. Read more>>