Innovate Fort Worth Podcast: Favorite FW Innovators, Part III

Fort Worth is full of innovation and innovators. The Innovate Fort Worth podcast 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 compiled a list of our guests’ favorite local innovators.  Be sure to check out the favorite innovators for episodes 1-21 here.

Episode 22: Kevin Henry is the founder and CEO of Accountable, a company that is easing HIPAA training for employees

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Energy and Real Estate Innovators

Fort Worth in an amazing city for business and entrepreneurship. I think you see that particularly in industries like energy and real estate. There are some amazing entrepreneurs who are doing amazing things in those two industries.”

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

Episode 23: Elyse Dickerson is the co-founder of Eosera, a company that tackled the unmet need of ear wax build-up. Their line of products is now in 14,000 stores across the nation, including CVS.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Kari Crowe

“I love what Kari Crowe of Melt Ice Cream is doing. I think she’s been incredible with creativity in the types of ice cream flavors she’s creating and in the way she’s bringing that to market. I’m just really inspired by her and what she is doing.”

Be sure to check out the Innovator Spotlight blog posts for Elyse Dickerson and Kari Crowe!

Kari Crowe, Melt Ice Cream

Episode 24: Tamara Payne is the founder and CEO of Ensemble, a coworking space that provides a comfy environment while still being professional and encouraging collaboration and discussion for the business community.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Women in business in Fort Worth

“There’s not one person that I can think of. I’m going to put them into a group and its women in business in Fort Worth. I’ve always been a huge proponent for women in business. Over the last several months throughout the pandemic I’ve watched these women business owners collaborate on projects and work together and come up with innovative ideas on how to keep each other afloat and I admire that so much.”

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

Episode 25: Dr. Vanessa Bouche is the founder of Savhera, an essential oils company that aims to live well and do good by providing employment opportunities for survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Sherlye Gillihan

“Sherlye at CauseLabs is taking on such an important role in the community to think in terms of what is your business doing to benefit the world. I love the way she’s pushing people to think differently and I applaud her for that and happily march in line right behind her.”

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

Sherlye Gillihan, CauseLabs

Episode 26: Dr. Nitin Joshi is the CEO of CAGE Bio, a biotech company using ionic liquids to create healthcare solutions.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Al Guillem, Jeff Keyser and Elyse Dickerson

“Our colleagues over at Renibus Therapeutics are running a great company. The people there are working on some exciting technology.”

“I got a chance to work with Elyse Dickerson, founder and CEO of Eosera. She rose up through tech Fort Worth and beyond and now has built a nice company that’s developing great products. I love that a lot.”

Elyse Dickerson, Eosera

Episode 27: Dennis Hoang, COO and co-founder of Patturn, a single platform that helps you create and manage product listings, sync and sell inventory on multiple marketplaces and fulfill orders.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Cheryle Hays

“I’d say my favorite innovator in Fort Worth has to be Cheryle Hays from Rising Tide. We are a part of her program right now and she has been a tremendous support for us.”

Cheryle Hays, Rising Tide

Episode 28: Nathan Butorac is the CEO of Better Than a Letter and Pinatagrams, both companies sending memorable and unique items for you or your company through the mail.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Farhaj Mayan

“There are a lot of amazing innovators and entrepreneurs here but one that stands out and is a personal friend that has helped me quite a bit,  Farhaj Mayan. He started an app called Fade which he had a hard time fundraising for so he pivoted to a much larger and faster growing market of cannabis and started Kanna (now called OKO). He’s just an amazing testament to someone whose perseverance can make it happen in the startup world.”

Farhaj Mayan, OKO

Episodes 29 & 30: Farukh Aslam, owner of The Sinclair Hotel, the first high-rise building in the world that uses batteries as a backup emergency power system.

Favorite Fort Worth Innovator: Brad Hunstable

“It’s very fascinating what Brad is doing at Linear Labs. The technology that he’s working on is extremely innovative. I think he’s already put us on the map and his technology is about to revolutionize every industry and other appliance manufacturers that use electric motors. I think since electric motors were invented over a hundred years ago, this is the first major change in technology that I’ve seen.  I’m really impressed with him.”

Brad Hunstable, Linear Labs

Be sure to check out the favorite Fort Worth Innovators post for Episodes 31-40!

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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