The 2017 Kent Women In Business Awards

[This blog was first written in March 2017] 

Woohoo!!  I had an amazing time on Friday night at the 2017 Kent Women in Business Awards – I was shortlisted as a Finalist in the Women in Retail category, and I won Runner Up in the Mumpreneur category!!!!

In a room full of businesswomen, many of whom will also be mums, I was judged second!  So pleased and proud, and not expecting that!

The Kent Women in Business Awards celebrate the success of local business women across the county.  Now in its fifth year, it has become an important event on the Kent business calendar.  Once nominated, we could choose up to three categories to enter, and had to fill in a long and difficult entry form!  Many of the categories received over 40 nominations, which were whittled down to 8 Finalists before the event, so it was a fantastic achievement for all of us just to get to that point.

Anyway, here are some photos of the night for you to enjoy / for me to remember the evening by…

Me before leaving home (on my phone; I actually like this one of me!)

Arrival, catching up with friends, meeting new amazing business ladies and networking…

L-R: Lucy Baker, Makeup Mastery (Finalist, Mumpreneur); Julie, Julie Davies Flower Workshops (Finalist, Women in Education), Siobhan Atkins, Wellstyled (Finalist, Women’s Champion and Runner Up, Women in Education), and Caroline, Caroline Bruce Designer Dresses (Finalist, Entrepreneur and Women in the Arts/Creative Awards).  Caroline is wearing a stunning dress that she designed and made herself this week!

We had a lovely dinner with lovely company, whilst we waited to hear the results of the judging.  This is a selfie from my phone of our table; Caroline, Siobhan, Julie and I were sat with (L-R) Lisa, Lisa Bishop Tutoring (Runner Up, Start-Up Business of the Year), Gemma, Gemma Quinnell’s Health, Fitness & Dance Ltd. (Finalist, Women in Education, and Professional Achievement Awards), and Charlotte and Michelle of Morton Waters (Runners Up, Women in PR and Marketing).

The evening was compered by Hilary Steel, the ex Editor of the Kent Women in Business Magazine, below:

We also heard from Susannah Schofield OBE, the new Editor, below:

Then finally the waiting was over and the award ceremony began!

There was a great start to this as first up was the Start-Up Business of the Year; one runner up being Victoria Walker, Continuity of Care Services Ltd, and the winner was Amanda Flanders, Butterflies and Dreams Events, both of whom are friends from the Women’s Enterprise Kent course that Caroline, Siobhan, Julie and I did last year. 

Here’s Amanda giving her winner’s speech, very nearly speechless!

The lovely Deborah Turner of You Image Consultancy, and FSB Women’s Champion, was one of the judges (thank you thank you thank you if you judged the Mumpreneurs!!), and presented the Women in Construction award:

Charlotte and Michelle from our table received a Runners Up certificate, and here’s Siobhan with hers:

At the very end there was a surprise award for Inspired Achievement, for which the runners up were Aly, Aly Harrold Coaching (also a Finalist for Women’s Champion and for Business Woman of the Year), and Helen Lewis, Literally PR (also a Finalist in the Women in PR and Marketing category).  The winner of this award however was Laura Ansell of Triswim (also a Finalist for Start-Up Business of the Year), a fellow mum from Sevenoaks, so that was extra lovely:

Here are many of the winners at the end of the night:

And finally, one of me with my Runners Up certificate for Mumpreneur of the Year!  Thanks to my friend artist Trisha Wood for the photo (Finalist in the Women in the Arts/Creative award):

A huge congratulations to all the Finalists, Runners Up, and Winners, and thank you to Kent Women in Business for putting on a fantastic do for us to celebrate.  Looking forward to next year!!

The full list of finalists can be seen here on the KWIB Awards website - 2017 finalists, winners and photos. Apologies to all those amazing business women that I haven’t mentioned/included photos of! 

By the way I wrote a blog post ‘Musings on being a Mumpreneur’ with my thoughts having won this category, if you’d like to take a look!

Do let me know if you have a business event you’d like me to photograph, or your website and social media posts could do with some updating with lovely new headshots, product and marketing images.  More info via the photography pages on the website.

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[This blog was first written in March 2017, then transferred to this website, February 2024]