Innovate Fort Worth Podcast: Favorite FW Innovators, Part II

Fort Worth is full of innovation and innovators. The Innovate Fort Worth was launched in 2019 to provide a platform for those local innovators to tell their stories and share their latest projects with our community. At the end of each episode the host, Cameron Cushman, asks each guest who their favorite innovator is in Fort Worth. We thought it would be fun to compile a list of these innovators favorite local innovators. The first 10 episodes of favorite innovators can be found on a previous blog post, Innovate FW Podcast: Favorite FW Innovators.

Episode 11: Sherlye Gillihan is the CEO of CauseLabs, a website and app development firm that works with social-good organizations to accelerate growth in underserved communities.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Vanessa and Noel Bouche

“Vanessa and Noel Bouche of Savhera essential oils are stepping into a market that’s incredibly saturated with big players. What they’re doing as an organization is employing women who have been rescued from sex trafficking and they’re giving them work skills. Even though it’s hard to employ people who have no job skills in what you’re trying to hire them for, it’s giving them a livelihood that is completely different and alleviating poverty and making a change that couldn’t happen any other way.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for CauseLabs.

Vanessa and Noel Bouche, Savhera

Episode 12: Goran Krndija & Gabe Deale are the founders of Gozova. Their services include a fleet of vehicles that can handle any move and the labor that can get your heavy or bulky items to their destination, simply and safely.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Cameron Cushman

“I’ll have to give it to you Cameron. I’m constantly impressed with everything you do. In terms of the effort that you put in day in and day out to help innovators and entrepreneurs plug into the community, I would say that in and of itself is extremely innovative.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for Gozova.

Cameron Cushman, Innovate FW Podcast at HSC

Episode 13: Kari Crowe-Seher is the founder of Melt Ice Creams, a unique ice cream parlor serving up happiness with every scoop.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Jonathan Morris

“I would say one of my dearest friends, Jonathan Morris. He owns a barber shop here locally, but he’s building a boutique hotel right across from Dickies Arena. He’s definitely one of those innovators that pushes and inspires, not just me, but I think our city as a whole, to think bigger. I just have a lot of respect for him.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for Melt Ice Creams.

Jonathan Morris

Episode 14: Melissa Ice is the founder of two non-profits, The Net and The Worthy Co., serving the homeless and women and children who have been exploited.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Carly Burson

“I would have to say Carly Burson. She has become a kindred spirit or a soul sister to me just because we both have that shared heart in caring for vulnerable women. She has a very beautiful brand called Tribe Alive and she uses her knowledge in the fashion industry to help care for women in poverty and to provide artisan womeon around the world with jobs so they can provide for their kids.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for Melissa Ice.

Carly Burson, TribeAlive

Episode 15: Hunter Ferrell is the former CEO of Linux Academy, a tech startup all about “putting students and learning above everything else.”

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Fred & Brad Hunstable

“Fred and Brad Hunstable are my favorite innovators. They’re a father and son team and I also ran a business with my dad, so that resonates a lot for me. I also know the challenges that working with family can create, so I have a lot of respect for that. Also they’re making these electric motors at Linear Labs that are very efficient and have all kinds of applications. It’s a very cool company and I love those guys for sure.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for Hunter Ferrell.

Fred & Brad Hunstable, Linear Labs

Episode 16: Jakayla Dixon is the founder of Feel the Color, a company that has helped the way the visually impaired put fashionable outfits together.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Jeff and Julie Williams

“I’m going to say this because I love them so much, Jeff and Julie Williams of the Taste Project. The Taste Project is where you dine in, you get a meal and you pay however little or how much you want to. It is such a big thing in Fort Worth and I’m so glad somebody did it because it is so amazing.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for Jakayla Dixon.

Jeff and Julie Williams, Taste Project

Episode 17: Brad Hunstable is the co-founder of Linear Labs, with the mission of making Fort Worth the “Electrification Capital of the World.”

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Ross Perot Jr.

“I would say Ross Perot, Jr. And though he’s not from here, he can still continues to amaze me of what he’s built with Alliance Texas.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post on Brad Hunstable.

Ross Perot Jr., Alliance Texas

Episode 18: The Wellies are two life-long friends, Vanessa and Taylor, running The Welman Project, a non-profit with the mission of repurposing surplus materials to “fill a classroom, not a landfill.”

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: The Howard’s

“We adore the Howard’s that own Leaves, Book & Tea Shop. They’re so innovative because they’re coming into this time where bookstores are closing down and everybody’s buying from Amazon. They’re make a space here where people can come in and sit down and read a book and have a cup of tea and take a break from their phones and their work and just relax and talk to people. So they created an incredible space that is totally different from anywhere else that you can go.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for The Welman Project.

The Howard's, Leaves, Book & Tea Shop

Episode 19: EJ Carrion is the founder of the Student Success Agency, author of How to Create a Future and Stand Out When College is Not Enough, and co-host of The 817, a podcast of all things Fort Worth.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Johnathan Morris

“Johnathan Morris is always doing really cool stuff. He recently just started Hotel Dryce. He’s known for the Fort Worth Barber Shop but just partnered with Art Tooth and created a grant program to fund all the art in the hotel to be from black, brown and indigenous people from Fort Worth who have very little representation in industrial art.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for EJ Carrion.

Jonathan Morris

Episodes 20 & 21: Dr. Sid O’Bryant just received a $45 million grant to continue to study the ways that Alzheimer’s Disease impacts people of different ethnicities and his work could hold the keys to understanding these complex diseases.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Mike Williams

“I think that innovation comes in many different ways. I think that what you guys have going on here at the UNT Health Science Center under Mike Williams’ direction is pretty innovative. So I would say Mike Williams is my innovator.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog post for Dr. Sid O’Bryant.

Mike Williams, UNT Health science Center at Fort Worth

Be sure to check out the favorite Fort Worth Innovators post for Episodes 22-30!

You can also follow Sparkyard on Facebook and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the Fort Worth entrepreneurial community. Also, don’t forget to download the Innovate Fort Worth Podcast episodes which streams a new Innovator every two weeks.

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