Tulsa Remote participants stay here to collaborate, expand business [Video]

TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Remote is celebrating five years this year. It’s the program that offers remote workers at $10,000 grant to live in Tulsa for a year.

Mandi Ford-Argo and Stephanie Cheney moved here from Texas. Claire Tomm moved from much further away.

“I was living in the pandemic in a very chilly Madison, Wisconsin, with two small kids,” she said.

• Previous coverage >>> Tulsa Remote Program celebrates 2,000 participants

They were all searching for change and signed up for Tulsa Remote.“I was like Tacoma? What is Tulsa? – it wasn’t even on the map for me,” said Tomm.

Little did they know, the women would collaborate and Tulsa would become home.

“Got a bit of our life back because traffic was basically down to nothing,” said Cheney, referencing the notoriously high traffic of Houston.

Cheney, working for Worthwhile Venture Studio, a company dedicated to helping startups, recognized Tulsa’s entrepreneurial spirit. She launched a branch here and brought Tomm and …