Awards for Women in Business
Three years ago, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce wondered if there was a need for the Women in Business Awards any more. Women had made their mark, were the awards redundant?
Then, chamber president Mishka Balsom saw the “political situation” across the border and the rise of the #MeToo movement, and knew this was no time to stop celebrating Niagara’s women.
So for the 18th year, some of the region’s top business minds – women or otherwise – were celebrated during an awards luncheon in Niagara Falls Friday.
“We thought, maybe this has come to an end – it has run its course,” said Balsom. “Maybe we don’t need to focus on it as much. Then, the whole conversation changed, and since then it has, each year, been growing.”
New categories were created this year, bringing a total of nine awards handed out Friday.
Michele-Elise Burnett could feel the “energy and the strength” as nominees gathered at the Marriott on the Falls for the sold-out event. The founder of the Indigenous festival Celebration of Nations won the Cultural Arts Award.
“I feel women can do anything, because we can put our minds to it,” she said. “Women do things with passion and with purpose that is so deep-rooted.
“Being here with all these other women that have accomplished so much is such an honour. Everyone here is molding the fibres of what our community is going to look like for our children.”
The awards also recognized Betty Lou Souter of Community Care St. Catharines with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Long considered the ‘Voice of Poverty’ in Niagara, Souter has raised social and health issues throughout the region, spending more than 40 years in the voluntary sector.
Winners of the 18th annual Women in Business Awards:
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP WARD:
Sarah Wood, Niagara Parks Commission
COMMUNITY SPIRIT AWARD:
Carey Benvenuti, Dominion Lending - Home Capital Solutions / No One Goes Hungry Niagara
CULTURAL ARTS AWARD:
Michele-Elise Burnett, Celebration of Nations
EMERGING BUSINESS AWARD:
Jennifer Newman, Second Dance
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD:
Chris Robertson, LoudClear Advertising
EXCELLENCE IN TOURISM AWARD:
Beverly Smith, Niagara’s South Coast Guest House
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AWARD:
Stephanie Thompson, GM of Canada
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE AWARD:
Renee Delaney, Small Scale Farms
YOUNG PROFESSIONAL AWARD:
Diana Aquino, Walker Environmental Group Inc.