Tag Archives: A2Awesome

Local entrepreneurs Jean Henry, Lisa Waud and Helen Harding on what it means to be “Small and Mighty”

By Mark | February 19, 2013

We didn’t announce it until this evening, but the October recipient of the Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation’s monthly $1,000 cash grant was Small & Mighty, the scrappy, little entrepreneurial support network created in the fall of 2012 by brilliant local shit-stirrers Jean Henry, Helen Harding and the cheese-loving Lisa Waud. What follows is a transcript [...]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Detroit, entrepreneurism, Local Business, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce, Blake Reetz, business ethics, business owners who get it, capitalization, Cliff Bell’s, EAT, Helen Harding, Jean Henry, Jefferson Market, Lisa Waud, Michael Shuman, networking, Open City, Pot and Box, Small and Mighty, small business, Sweet Heather Anne, The Wedding Party, Think Local First, Young Entrepreneurial People | 25 Comments

Bona Sera Cafe to open next week in downtown Ypsilanti

By Mark | July 5, 2012

Having more than met the goals of their $10,000 Kickstarter campaign, word is that the Bona Sera Cafe, the brick and mortar Ypsi offshoot of the successful Bona Sera Supper Club, will be open for business as early as next week, on the ground floor of the historic Kresge building, at the intersection of Michigan [...]

Posted in Food, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Bona Sera, Bona Sera Cafe, Bona Sera Supper Club, Kickstarter, micro-financing, the Kresge building | 9 Comments

Amanda Sari Perez on winning this month’s A2Awesome grant, and the geodesic dome she’s built with the money

By Mark | June 4, 2012

Today, the trustees of A2Awesome handed over $1,000 to Amanda Sari Perez for the creation of an enormous geodesic dome, which she hopes will serve as a platform on which others in the community can express their creativity. Following is my interview with her. MARK: To start out, could you tell us a bit about [...]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Awesome Foundation | Also tagged A2MechShop, Alice Liberson, All Hands Active, Amanda Sari Perez, brain implants, Buckminster Fuller, Burning Man, creativity, Dick Soble, DIY, Dome Sweet Dome, Figment, geodesic dome, grants, hacking, Heather MacKenzie, inh Song, interview, Lakes of Fire, Lisa Dengiz, Maker Faire, Maker Works, making stuff, micro-philanthropy, Paul Saginaw, public art, Syncytium | 5 Comments

Bona Sera Cafe to launch in downtown Ypsilanti with the help of an A2Awesome grant

By Mark | April 29, 2012

This afternoon, the trustees of the local micro-philonthropic group, A2Awesome, handed over $1,000 in cash to the founders of the Bona Sera Supper Club, in order to help them open a cafe in Ypsilanti’s historic Kresge Building. Following is a brief interview with Bad Fairy and Wonder Woman, the anonymous women behind Bona Sera, in [...]

Posted in entrepreneurism, Food, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Bad Fairy, Bona Sera, Bona Sera Supper Club, food trucks, Mix, Mix Marketplace, secret suppers, SELMA Cafe, underground dining, underground supper clubs, Wonder Woman | 10 Comments

$500 matching grant announced for contributions made to Ozone House by the end of the day today

By Mark | March 29, 2012

Last night, I mentioned here that a dozen or so friends and I, through the micro-philonthropic organization, A2Awesome, had contributed $1,000 to Ozone House, a local nonprofit that has been serving runaway, homeless and at-risk youth since the 1960s. The response, as you might expect, was overwhelmingly positive. There was, however, one dissenting voice. Our [...]