Celebrating Minority Business Success in Kansas

Sheila Ellis-Glasper has spent her career building and executing winning social media strategies for creative, purpose-driven businesses.

She founded SEG Media Collective LLC in 2016 in Manhattan, offering branding and social media consulting and management services to businesses worldwide. Ellis-Glasper and her team have since crafted numerous award-winning brands in the Midwest and across the nation.

All the while, Ellis-Glasper has been a strong advocate for underrepresented businesses and economic justice, which led her to help found Black Entrepreneurs of the Flint Hills — a non-profit organization created to empower, equip and connect Black-owned businesses in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Ellis-Glasper’s far-reaching achievements also led her to be recognized in 2021 as Minority Business Advocate of the Year, an honor presented during the Kansas Department of Commerce’s annual Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week celebration.

Ellis-Glasper said the prestigious honor “validated the impact we’re making in our work.”

SEG Media Collective strives to fine-tune messaging of minority- and women-owned businesses, and all of their clients. Their quest to set up companies for success includes helping each one tell their own individual, powerful stories by way of social media and other marketing and communications strategies.

“All of us have stories as business owners,”Ellis-Glasper said.

As a minority-owned firm, when working with minority-owned firms in particular, the SEG Media Collective team can relate on different levels, Ellis-Glasper said.

“We come in out of the gate with a level of understanding,” she said. “We can relate a lot quicker. That’s where the authenticity comes in, as well.”

More successes of minority- and women-owned businesses across Kansas will be in the spotlight for this year’s Minority and Women Enterprise Development Awards event, set for this fall. MED Week is a time to spotlight the many minority- and women-owned businesses statewide for their outstanding achievements — and also share resources available to Kansans who are already in business or considering a new venture.

During MED Week, the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Office of Minority and Women Business Development honors minority and women-owned businesses in construction, manufacturing, professional service, retail, service, supplier/distributor, young entrepreneur, business advocate and Corporation of the Year. You can learn more about previous award winners here.

To nominate a business, click here.

The Office of Minority and Women Business Development works year-round to promote business development with a focus on disadvantaged, minority-and women-owned businesses, with certifications available. The Office assists with procurement, contracting and subcontracting, financing and business management, and also partners with other business advocates to sponsor business education workshops and seminars. Learn more and contact the Office here.

Nationwide, MED Week recognizes the more than 9.2 million minority business enterprises that support the U.S. economy and generate over $1.8 trillion in revenue. The significant economic impact of minority- and women-owned businesses leads to the creation and maintenance of good jobs that not only sustain the employee — they also boost the economic security of their families, communities and state.

And that’s where Ellis-Glasper sees much more potential ahead in the many success stories of minority- and women-owned businesses across Kansas still to be told. “I want to see more opportunities come from this,” she said. Enter MED Week, which showcases stories of success that will help inspire prospective and current minority- and women-owned businesses in every part of Kansas.