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.

The Last Word: The DEC Network’s Kendall Kennedy Previews Dallas Startup Week on FOX 4

When it comes to nurturing entrepreneurship, Dallas Startup Week casts a wide net. In a recent FOX 4 interview, The DEC Network's Kendall Kennedy highlighted the event's inclusive approach to supporting entrepreneurship and business growth in North Texas.
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The Last Word: ‘Wild DFW’ Author Amy Martin on Nocturnal Urban Wildlife in North Texas
by | Aug 6, 2024
Most North Texans have walked outside at night to spy a raccoon or possum nosing around in the dark. But you may be surprised to know how many creatures really burn the midnight oil across Dallas-Fort Worth. Alligators, bats, bobcats, the American mink, river otters, green tree frogs, and owls galore are just some of the nocturnal animals that feel right at home here.
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The Last Word: Amazon Web Services’ Valerie Singer on the AWS Jobs Tech Alliance Coming to Texas
by | Aug 5, 2024
In the Lone Star State, tech isn't just big—it's booming. With high-tech jobs growing at twice the speed of overall state job growth, Texas has an appetite for tech talent. Enter Amazon Web Services (AWS) with its Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance, a recipe for bridging the tech skills gap.
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The Last Word: The Mission Behind The Jensen Project’s $6M‑Plus New Grants To Fight Sex Trafficking
by | Aug 1, 2024
The Jensen Project, an Irving-based nonprofit that fuels strategic partnerships in the fight against sexual violence, has announced its 2024 GrantTank recipients, who will cumulatively receive more than $6 million for this application cycle. Founder Janet Jensen began GrantTank to address the isolation and lack of collaboration among nonprofits in the movement to fight sex trafficking.
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See Inside: An Art‑Filled ‘Instagrammable’ Blowout Bar Is Coming to Deep Ellum

by | Jul 31, 2024
Dallas' Deep Ellum is famous for the 130 murals that cover walls, bridges, and columns throughout the neighborhood east of downtown. Now two of those mural artists are opening Blowouts & Company in a space where "southwest Boho meets Alison Wonderland inside of your cool grandmother‘s purse."
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The Last Word: RIP-IT Sports CEO on Designing ‘Female-Exclusive’ Athletic Gear
by | Jul 29, 2024
For Dallas-based RIP-IT Sports, designing sports gear for women isn't an afterthought after all the men's gear has been wrapped. Instead, the company says it is "100% dedicated to women athletes, offering innovative softball, volleyball, soccer, and athletic gear tailored specifically for female athletes." 
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The Last Word: Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins on the UniverSoul Circus Returning to Dallas
UniverSoul Circus has returned to Dallas, bringing its international, multicultural "hip hop under the big top" to The Shops at RedBird at 3662 Camp Wisdom Road for performances through August 11. But before the fire breathers blew their first flames and the acrobats took their first leaps, the circus offered a preview at Dallas City Hall Wednesday, where Atkins other city officials, and the public got a taste of this year's "Family Reunion Tour."
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The Last Word: Paul Quinn College President on a $20M Gift, the Largest in School’s 152‑Year History
by | Jul 25, 2024
Dallas' Paul Quinn College has received a $20 million gift from an anonymous donor, the largest in the institution's 152-year history. The gift will help fuel investments in a variety of programs for the college, which is credited as the creator of the Urban Work College model and is the only minority-serving, federally recognized Work College in America.
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The Last Word: How Gaming-Obsessed Match Group CEO Bernard Kim Is ‘Leveling Up’ Dating Apps

by | Jul 23, 2024
When Dallas-based Match Group snagged Bernard Kim as its new CEO in 2022, he was president of mobile game maker Zynga, where he was credited with boosting Zynga’s market cap on the way to its $12.7 billion acquisition by Take-Two Interactive. Since then, he's been trying to "level up" Match's dating apps by getting users to pay extra for services so they'll "win" in the game of love, according to a new profile in the Wall Street Journal.
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The Last Word: Style Advice from the North Texas Winner of the ‘Stuck at Prom’ Duct Tape Contest
by | Jul 22, 2024
He designed a prom tuxedo that isn’t just totally awesome—it’s waterproof, too. And now Isaac Cervantes has won two international awards and $16,000 in scholarships in the 2024 “Stuck at Prom” Scholarship Contest presented by Ohio-based Duck Tape.
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The Last Word: Leaf President on What Made DFW the ‘Trading Card Capital of the World’
Dallas-Fort Worth has become "the trading card capital of the world," with two big industry players, Leaf and Panini America, headquartered in the region, and top local auction houses routinely hammering sales of rare, headline-grabbing cards.
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The Last Word: La La Land Cafe Founder on How Kindness Is Fueling His Company’s Growth
by | Jul 18, 2024
Dallas-based coffee shop chain La La Land Kind Cafe—known for "normalizing kindness" and hiring and mentoring foster kids—is expanding its brand in Texas and California with the launch of four new locations this summer, including new cafes in Fort Worth and Plano.
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The Last Word: MICHELIN Guides Director on Expanding to Dallas, Fort Worth, and 3 Other Texas Cities

by | Jul 16, 2024
A MICHELIN star—not to mention the ultimate prize, three stars—can turn an everyday restaurant into a must-go culinary destination, with seatings booked from opening to close. That coveted rating will be available in Dallas, Fort Worth, and three other Texas cities for the first time ever later this year, Michelin announced Tuesday.
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The Last Word: Cornbread Hustle CEO on Giving ‘Second Chances’ via Jobs to People in Transition
Garcia's Cornbread Hustle is a staffing agency that helps people with criminal records and those in recovery find meaningful employment, by working with "forward-thinking companies" that value second-chance hiring.
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The Last Word: Dallas Artist Rachel Larlee on Practicing Gratitude Through Creativity
by | Jul 12, 2024
Rachel Larlee operates an e-commerce site called Rachel Larlee Studio and teaches classes out of a physical studio at The Village apartments in Dallas. But no matter where she is or what she's doing, one of her goals is practicing the art of gratitude—and often, expressing it through art and creativity.
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The Last Word: G8RTech’s College Football-Playing Founder and CEO on Testing His Concussion-Reducing Headwear
by | Jul 10, 2024
A new Texas Monthly story says the startup's latest G8RSkin product reduces the chance of concussion by as much as 79%, according to a rating by the Southern Impact Research Center, which found the device provides the most effective protection on impacts to the top of the helmet.
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