Welcome to #MadeforKnoxville!
Meet entrepreneurs like Victoria Frankel, founder of Validity Science Communications!
Are you #MadeforKnoxville?
#MadeforKnoxville is a storytelling initiative led by Knoxville Entrepreneur Center to shine a spotlight on Knoxville’s diverse entrepreneurial community – ranging from “solopreneurs“, makers, growth stage tech companies, investors, and established institutions. (Photo of Marcus Blair by Jalynn Baker)
Stories Worth Hearing
Be inspired not only about the business and the business owner, but also their involvement in the community at large.
Featured Entrepreneurs
Explore our diverse entrepreneurial community and why they’re each #MadeforKnoxville.
Featured Articles
Made for Knoxville LIVE, Round 1
#MadeforKnoxville LIVE – May 25, 2022 at River & Rail Theatre. Thanks to so many folks that came out, and a big thanks to our friends at FirstBank, River & Rail, Oak Hill Audio, and Reel Division. Meet our Speakers Matthew Cummings | Founder of Pretentious Beer + Glass Co. At Pretentious Glass & Beer Co., Matthew […]
Repeatable Creativity
Repeatable Creativity: How Innovators, Entrepreneurs, And Makers Cultivate Their Most Important Asset by Dr. Angelique Adams, CEO, Angelique Adams Media Solutions, LLC. For the past 20 years, I’ve led large teams of scientists and engineers whose mission was to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new products and processes. In that space, I was […]
Portraits of Resilience: Knoxville’s Latino Entrepreneurs
By Brian Gabriel Canever In the past 20 years, the number of Latino residents in Knoxville has grown enormously. In 2000, just 2,803 Latinos called Knox County home. According to census data from 2020, that number is now 28,568 people—a 495 percent increase. Signs in Spanish for restaurants, salons, construction companies, and other businesses can […]
Now is our time to celebrate Knoxville’s entrepreneurial community
Pictured from left to right at Startup Day 2019: Tom Ballard, PYA; Jim Biggs, KEC; Lynn Youngs, UT Anderson Center; Tom Rogers, UT Research Park; Leah Winter, Winter Innovations; Amy Henry, TVA; Dan Miller, ORNL; Jonathan Sexton, Bandera; Stacey Patterson, University of Tennessee; Maha Krishnamurthy, UT Research Foundation; Grady Vanderhoofven, 3Roots; Derren Burell, Veteran Ventures […]
Knoxville is made for entrepreneurs
Pictured: Chris McAdoo, Maranda Vandergriff, and Jordan Peltz on set at Phillips Forged, November 2020 By Chris McAdoo, artist, entrepreneur, and director of strategy & engagement for Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (This article originally appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel) An entrepreneur is defined by dictionary.com as: “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, […]
Knoxville’s Lively History of Entrepreneurial Innovation
By Jack Neely, Knoxville History Project We may tend to forget that Knoxville, Home of the Vols, Gateway to the Smokies, headquarters of TVA, etc., is also a city with a manufacturing heritage — and one also known for entrepreneurial innovation. Much of its growth — reflected today in many of the old buildings downtown, […]
We’re Not Called ‘The Maker City’ by Accident
By Carol Z. Shane Etsy was the first to notice, and that was almost five years ago. When Native Maps’ David Harman, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s (KEC) Joy O’Shell and Rala’s Nanci Solomon took off for Brooklyn, NY in May of 2016 to attend the first-ever Etsy Maker Cities Summit, they were already part of an […]
