KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With just one week until the Kansas City Pride Parade, businesses across the area are gearing up. MOC BOD, which stands for Masculine of Center, Big on Dapper, is a new business on Troost Avenue that’s made inclusion a part of its everyday brand as LGBTQ+ allies.
Christy and Charlie Vincent co-own the new business.
"When you walk in the door, no matter how you're feeling that day, you're going to feel a little better when you walk out of here," Charlie said.
Their business started online through scents developed by Christy for people who are masculine of center.
"When we first announced it, I wasn’t sure what the perception would be, but it was huge,” Christy said. “We've sold to almost all 50 states, we've had requests from three different countries."
Christy and Charlie realized lots of Kansas City service providers didn't feel welcomed in their spaces. So, they brought their work to life through the new brick-and-mortar, but they welcomed service providers who own other businesses into their space, too.
"People that would never look at each other outside of here make friends and plans to meet up here — it's amazing to see,” Christy said.
Christy and Charlie were asked to operate the first-ever wellness tent at KC PrideFest next Saturday.
"We'll have over 39 wellness providers from all different categories of wellness, such as mental health, physical wellness, financial wellness, environmental wellness, spiritual wellness and more,” Christy said.
But the inclusion this space creates is what brings it all together.
"We want these young individuals to see that there is a community that stands behind them, whether they're queer or whether they're an ally,” Charlie said.
Four individual businesses for hair, tattoos, massaging and tailoring operate out of MOC BOD, too:
- Meg Munster Hair, owned by Meagan Kramer
- The Code Tattoo Studio, owned by Tay Johnson
- Cre8u Massage & Bodywork, owned by Arlene Williams
- Tailoring services done by Rebecca Hernandez.
Tay Johnson will also manage the first-ever tattoo trailer inside PrideFest.
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