By JOSHUA PHILLIPS & CAROLANNE MURRAY
Northeast News
July 10, 2013

A new radio show, with the help of a famed radio talk show host and two major partnerships, is giving exposure to emerging entrepreneurs.

The first ever live, nationally-syndicated radio show, Dream Big America, has partnered with Kansas City’s Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and San Diego-based Nutrition Capital Network to give exposure to up and coming entrepreneurs. Dream Big America will be aired on famed radio host Doug Stephan’s Good Day program each Tuesday from 9:10 a.m. to 9:40 a.m. Eastern Time. The first Dream Big America show aired live Tuesday, July 9.

Each Tuesday, three entrepreneurs will have two minutes each to explain their ideas to a rotating panel of judges comprised of business leaders. The judges will provide advice and the listeners will vote to determine each week’s winner which will be announced two days later on Thursday. The weekly winners will advance to the monthly finals where they will compete against the rest of the month’s weekly winners to determine the winner of the month.

“If you have an idea, if you have a concept, you can make your dream come true,” said Elizabeth Chapman, partner with Dream Big America. “The idea is to give them the tools and resources to catapult their business.”

Chapman said Dream Big America is currently solidifying each month’s winning prize, but winners will receive a combination of resources, support and public exposure to continue their business’s success.

The finals round for July will be aired Tuesday, July 30, and the winner of July will be announced Thursday, Aug. 1.

The first Dream Big America show featured the following entrepreneurs:

Laurie Nicoll, chief executive officer (CEO) of Stemulation, presented a new concept on how her company uses adult stem cells to rejuvenate the skin and how it is the first luxury skin care product of its kind. Patrick Kelly, CEO of Conscious Box, told listeners about his company’s devotion to helping customers discover the most ethical and natural products on the planet, ranging from organic foods to beauty supplies to household products and more. Kansas City native Alicia Herald, CEO of myEDmatch.com, told audiences how her website will allow teachers to find a school that’s best fit for them and allows schools to search for teachers.

“When I was the founding executive director with Teach for America in Kansas City we were going through rapid growth and were thinking about how we could better place and match teachers,” Herald told Northeast News. “At the same time I was finishing up my Executive MBA at Washington University in St. Louis and had an assignment where I had to write about what problems kept me up at night.

“What kept me up was human capital (in education)… I started to think about the idea of, ‘Well, if online dating works so well to connect couples who otherwise might not have met, but were a good match, I wondered if it could do the same with education and better matching for teachers and schools.'”

Before leaving Teach for America in Kansas City, Herald sent out her assignment from Washington University to area schools and previous mentors she had. Prior to creating myEDmatch, Herald held an elementary school teacher position with Los Angeles Unified School District and has worked in education positions in Kansas City for five years now.

“Personally, I saw that I was not a good fit for the school I taught at,” Herald said. “I loved teaching. I did not get out of teaching because I did not love kids or the profession or the art of teaching, it was more that I did not truly feel I was a (right) fit with the culture of the school.”

Herald said one of the problems that her website can help fix is teacher turnover rates, which occurs when teachers leave a school after the year is finished. She said that teacher turnover costs American schools nearly $7 billion, and on average one out of two teachers do not last longer than five years in education due to disliked workplace settings.

Since launching her beta website on Feb. 5, 2013, nearly 15,000 registered teachers and 300 schools in more than 25 states have registered on www.myEDmatch.com, Herald said.

“Success means we know we are starting to get matches out there which leads to hires,” Herald said. “For schools, this is a cost effective way to find teachers. This also gives teachers access to a much greater network of schools to make sure they are finding the right job and school for them.”

The Kauffman Foundation is using its startup education program, 1 Million Cups, to vet new businesses and entrepreneurial ideas from around the nation to use for future Dream Big America shows. Each Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Kauffman Foundation’s headquarters, 4801 Rockhill Road, members of 1 Million Cups will listen to new entrepreneurial ideas and will then decide which entrepreneur will be on Dream Big America.

“Kansas City is working to become the most entrepreneurial city in the United States,” said Barbara Pruitt, director in communications of the Kauffman Foundation. “This provides the educational opportunity for young people to present their business concepts and tell their company’s story.”

Although Stephan’s Good Day program reaches 485 markets throughout the United States and more than 3.5 million weekly listeners, Kansas City is not one of those markets. However, Kansas Citians interested in listening to the program may listen to the Dream Big America podcasts online at www.dreambigamerica.us. To vote for each week’s winner, send a text to 612-22-DREAM (612-223-7326) or vote online at www.dreambigamerica.us.