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Every Last Word
Dallas Innovates’ signature series capturing what leaders across North Texas are saying — in their own words — about innovation, impact, and what’s next.
![Erica Kosemund, Chief Brand Officer, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Gillian Breidenbach, Chief Partnership Officer, North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; Chief Gary Batton, Chief of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Monica Paul, Executive Director of Dallas Sports Commission and President of North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; John Hobbs, Senior Executive Officer of Communications, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; and Heidi Grant, Senior Executive Officer of Commerce Administration, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, celebrate Choctaw Casinos & Resorts becoming an Official Dallas World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter. [Photo: North Texas FWC Organizing Committee/Choctaw Casinos & Resorts]](https://s24806.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FIFA-Choctaw-dec-2025-940x436.jpg)
Monica Paul (center right), president of the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee, with Chief Gary Batton, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and representatives from both organizations at this week's announcement of Choctaw Casinos & Resorts as an Official Dallas World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter. [Photo: North Texas FWC Organizing Committee/Choctaw Casinos & Resorts]
The Last Word: North Texas FIFA World Cup Leader on Efforts About To ‘Ramp Up in Every Area’
by Quincy Preston | Dec 4, 2025
Monica Paul, president of the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, describes what's ahead after Friday's 2026 FIFA World Cup draw in the Dallas Morning News—after announcing a new host city supporter this week.
by Quincy Preston |
Dec 3, 2025
Cindy Weber, who's landed in all 50 states and a half dozen countries, offers advice as TWU's pioneering woman-focused aviation program doubles enrollment.
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by Quincy Preston |
Nov 20, 2025
At a private dinner at the Petroleum Club ahead of the Venture Dallas Startup Awards—and just weeks before Nasdaq announced its new Nasdaq Texas exchange—Rachel Racz delivered a message that landed in a room full of high-growth founders.
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by Quincy Preston |
Nov 19, 2025
In a LinkedIn post, the TXSE global managing director pointed to a recent article from The Daily Economy, a publication of the American Institute for Economic Research, which analyzes the upstart exchange's potential to shake up the capital markets landscape. As the article explains, "Exchanges are the plumbing of capitalism—the place where savings become investment and new industries find their footing."
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Rendering of the Westmoreland Park Skate Park [Image: City of Dallas]
The Last Word: On Oak Cliff’s Westmoreland Park Skate Park Reaching Its Phase One Fundraising Goal
by David Seeley | Nov 13, 2025
Dallas’ first skate park south of the Trinity River is one ollie, kickflip, and grind closer to coming to life, thanks to the closing of a $400,000 private fundraise, which will lead to $400,000 in matching public dollars. According to a report by the Oak Cliff Advocate, that $800K will be added to $1 million in 2024 bond funds and will cover design and construction of the Westmoreland Park Skate Park.
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by Quincy Preston |
Nov 12, 2025
“There used to be a time to say, ‘Let’s see how much pain this causes us, and we’ll see what we’re going to do.”
Shane Williams
Managing Director of Global Trade
Ernst & Young
…on the uncertainty around potential new tariffs, via The Dallas Morning News
At the annual Fort Worth Chamber Economic Impact Forum at the Kimbell Art Museum, EY trade expert Shane Williams told attendees that the old “wait it out” approach to tariffs no longer works, according to the DMN....
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by Quincy Preston |
Nov 6, 2025
CoSpero Consulting’s Harold Hogue issues a call to action as nonprofits “stand in the gap in ways most folks don’t see.”
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by Quincy Preston |
Nov 5, 2025
Cait Brumme says the event at Dallas' Pegasus Park on Nov. 6 will explore the technologies and economic forces defining the future for entrepreneurs and innovators.
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[Sources: istockphoto; DI Studio]
The Last Word: Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker On Film Becoming the City’s Next Great Industry
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report | Oct 22, 2025
Fort Worth’s film industry has boomed with nearly $1 billion in impact, 50,000 jobs, and Taylor Sheridan's 101 Studios planning to move its HQ to the city, NBC DFW reports.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Oct 16, 2025
Dallas tech studio founder Jeff Francis says one of the best quotes about artificial intelligence comes from the 19th century. And it captures exactly what's wrong with how companies rush into AI coding.
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by David Seeley |
Oct 7, 2025
Kane co-founded Dallas-based Show Tote with Deborah Bowles, after both of them ran into trouble getting their handbags past security and into concert events. Now their new company offers bags that "follow the rules and turn heads," including the Clear Envelope design seen above.
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![ABC 20/20 co-anchor Deborah Roberts (left) in conversation with moderator Sara Madsen Miller at the "Leading the Lone Star State: Texas Women in Public Service Summit." Roberts shared hard-earned wisdom with the audience: "Be self-assured. Know your story. Don't doubt who you are." [Photo: Leo Gonzalez/TWU]](https://s24806.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Sara-Madsen-Miller-Deborah-Roberts_TWU-event-092025-940x436.jpg)
ABC 20/20 co-anchor Deborah Roberts (left) in conversation with moderator Sara Madsen Miller at the "Leading the Lone Star State: Texas Women in Public Service Summit." Roberts shared hard-earned wisdom with the audience: "Be self-assured. Know your story. Don't doubt who you are." [Photo: Leo Gonzalez/TWU]
The Last Word: ABC’s Deborah Roberts on Barbara Walters’ Advice—and Outlasting Your Critics—at TWU’s Public Service Summit
by Quincy Preston | Oct 1, 2025
Roberts and NY Times best-selling author Jen Hatmaker headlined the Jane Nelson Institute for Women's Leadership summit in Denton on Sept. 19. The conference brought together women in public service and featured an award for retired Texas Rep. Myra Crownover.
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The Last Word: Suzanne Palmlund on the Inspiration Behind Her ‘Enjoy Fun Fudge’ Truffles and Bonbons
by David Seeley |
Sep 25, 2025
Suzanne Palmlund is a third-generation fudge lover. Her grandmother's specialty was peanut butter fudge. Her mother perfected dark chocolate fudge. Now "over 80," Palmlund is fashioning a fudge renaissance of her own with Enjoy Fun Fudge, an e-commerce business offering over 14 varieties of handmade, small-batch peanut butter fudge and dark chocolate fudge rendered as elegant truffles, and bonbons dipped in many various varieties of chocolate. "I've been a fan of chocolate decadence for as long as I can remember," she said in a statement.
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by David Seeley |
Sep 24, 2025
Last March, we told you about the new four-story Hampton Social, a see-and-be-seen dining and socializing destination at 1520 Main Street in downtown Dallas. Now Chicago-based Parker Hospitality says one of those floors will open on October 1 as Hampton House, an invitation-only members club. “Hampton House is the darker, sexier alter ego of The Hampton Social,” says Brad Parker, founder and CEO of Parker Hospitality.
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by David Seeley |
Sep 23, 2025
The Last Word above ran through Friedman's mind in 2019, when he was seeing "Hamilton" on Broadway. The Plano-based plastic surgeon didn't just muse about it—he put his own music talent to work, collaborating with Laura Goodenow to create "cleaVage," a comedic musical "inspired by the trailblazing surgeons and brave patients who shaped the spectacular rise, equally spectacular fall, and ultimate resurgence of silicone gel breast implants—which were invented in Texas in 1962."
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![Erica Kosemund, Chief Brand Officer, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Gillian Breidenbach, Chief Partnership Officer, North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; Chief Gary Batton, Chief of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Monica Paul, Executive Director of Dallas Sports Commission and President of North Texas FWC Organizing Committee; John Hobbs, Senior Executive Officer of Communications, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; and Heidi Grant, Senior Executive Officer of Commerce Administration, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, celebrate Choctaw Casinos & Resorts becoming an Official Dallas World Cup 2026 Host City Supporter. [Photo: North Texas FWC Organizing Committee/Choctaw Casinos & Resorts]](https://s24806.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FIFA-Choctaw-dec-2025.jpg)
