{"id":16237,"date":"2025-10-07T22:46:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/spontaneous-business-connections-abound-as-west-slope-startup-week-kicks-off\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:55:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:55:57","slug":"spontaneous-business-connections-abound-as-west-slope-startup-week-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/spontaneous-business-connections-abound-as-west-slope-startup-week-kicks-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Spontaneous business connections abound as West Slope Startup Week kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Margaret
Margaret Hedderman, director of content and brand strategy, addresses West Slope Startup Week attendees on day one of the event Monday at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

West Slope Startup Week is all about supporting the \u201clittle engine that could\u201d stories, said Margaret Hedderman, director of content and brand strategy for the event; WSSW attendee and local small business owner Wendy Malarsie, who runs online jewelry shop Fabulously Funky<\/a>, exemplified that sentiment on day one.<\/p>\n

When Malarsie heard that Startup Week speaker Rachel Crawford liked the hand painted sunflower earrings she was wearing, made by Malarsie, she took them off and gave them to Crawford in an organic representation of the business-based values and connection organizers say the week aims to promote.<\/p>\n

Crawford will be leading a Mentorship & Community Support<\/a> presentation at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Main Mall Atrium.<\/p>\n

Malarsie said she\u2019s attending West Slope Startup Week not only to make connections through moments like the one with Crawford, but also to sell her wares at this week\u2019s Night Market<\/a> at the Powerhouse science center and benefit from the free business-focused programming offered throughout the week.<\/p>\n

Malarsie founded Fabulously Funky during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been operating online and through sales at festivals and markets since. She hopes to eventually expand the business into a dedicated storefront.<\/p>\n

\"Wendy
Wendy Malarsie, left, local owner of online jewelry shop Fabulously Funky, smiles with longtime friend Melissa Glick, founder of Peak CEO and West Slope Startup Week speaker, on day one of the event at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rachel
Rachel Crawford, West Slope Startup Week speaker and business resource navigator and capital access manager at Prairie Rose Development, was given handmade sunflower earrings off the ears of local small business owner Wendy Malarsie on day one of West Slope Startup Week 2025 Monday at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Peak CEO<\/a> Founder and WSSW speaker Melissa Glick, who is a longtime friend of Malarsie, said helping rural businesses like Fabulously Funky grow is her \u201cjam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a business strategist, and I sold my business here in Durango three years ago, and quickly people started asking me, \u2018Can you help me?\u2019\u201d Glick said. \u201cIt\u2019s very important for me to help rural businesses grow, so they can sustain this local economy, but also be able to compete with businesses in Denver, and really all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glick, who presented her talk \u201cSales for People who Hate Sales<\/a>\u201d Tuesday at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation, said attending West Slope Startup Week should be a no-brainer for those in the local business community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a business owner, why wouldn\u2019t you come to this?\u201d Glick said. \u201cIt\u2019s free, (and) there\u2019s people from all over supporting and helping rural businesses grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Zachary
Zachary Ray, owner of Desert Sun Coffee Roasters, speaks to a crowd of West Slope Startup Week attendees about intentionality in business on day one of the event Monday at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Day one kicked off with a welcome speech at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation presented by event organizers and Desert Sun Coffee Roasters owner Zachary Ray, followed by a range of presentations<\/a> across town. The sun set on day one with an opening night party and a comedy open mic at EsoTerra Ciderworks.<\/p>\n

Additional programming throughout the week will include the much-anticipated Pitch Contest<\/a> at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Durango Arts Center and a keynote<\/a> from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser 5 p.m. Thursday in the EsoTerra Arboretum.<\/p>\n

Other event highlights include a climate-focused programming track presented for the first time in the event\u2019s three years of operation, which aims to help business owners and startups integrate sustainability and climate action into their business structures from the ground up, Hedderman said, and a Latine track, presented in Spanish in an effort to extend the resources of the week to Spanish speaking members of the business community.<\/p>\n

Roger Williams, West Slope Startup Week speaker and Mancos-based community manager at WordPress hosting company Kinsta<\/a>, said he sees big potential for growth in the Durango business scene through events like WSSW.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that with the Startup Week, and these different events \u2026 I think that there is potential to get even more out of this community than we already have,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited. My hope is that more people in the business community, who are maybe more established people, see this as a way to help more businesses get started, (to) get more people involved in the community, to really try and build more here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams will be presenting his talk, \u201cBuild Your Base: Why Your Website Matters More Than Your Feed<\/a>,\u201d 10 a.m. Wednesday in the TBK Bank Community Room.<\/p>\n

\"Lead
Lead Organizer of West Slope Startup Week Vanessa McCrann welcomes a crowd of West Slope Startup Week attendees to day one of the event Monday at the Fort Lewis College Center for Innovation. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lead Organizer Vanessa McCrann said excitement was high on day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy is palpable,\u201d McCrann said. \u201cPeople believe in local business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Schedule and details<\/h4>\n

To access the full calendar of events, visit www.westslopestartupweek.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

of keynotes, events and programming free to local business community members through Friday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,364,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-community","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20089,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237\/revisions\/20089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16237"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}