Picture Special: Seven awards for female founders at Cork event

“Being nominated is phenomenal because it is from your peers. To be a finalist is humbling but to be the overall winner has been very overwhelming.”

So said Laura Crowley of Laura Crowley Connect Ltd, speaking following The Female Founder Awards hosted by The Club Women’s Network.

Laura was the winner of the Most Inspiring Member award and was also announced as Overall Female Founder of the Year 2024.

Laura’s business, Connect, originally an Autism Consultancy Service for children and teens, now offers a wide range of educational resources and training for parents and professionals.

Laura is an Autism Consultant, author, lecturer, and mother of two (one neurodivergent), with over 24 years of experience in specialist settings.

Identified as autistic at 40, Laura’s own struggles with social scenarios and anxiety inspired her to create the Social Connect Series and training opportunities. After winning the Most Inspiring Award and the overall award, Laura said it all seemed really surreal.

She was among seven winners at the event hosted in The Maryborough Hotel on Friday last, November 15.

Following a drinks reception in the beautiful Orangery with drinks sponsored by Kinsale Spirit Company, attendees were welcomed to the Sherrard Suite by MC for the night and founder of The Club Women’s Network, Sian Horn. Sian spoke about the work that The Club does as well as highlighting the charity partners for the raffle on the night, The Shona Project.

Tammy D’arcy, founder of The Shona Project, spoke about the work that The Shona Project has undertaken in helping hundreds of thousands of girls who are struggling across Ireland since its inception in 2016.

Sian then introduced the key note speaker for the evening, podcaster, broadcaster and wellness expert, Clare McKenna.

 Clare spoke to those in attendance about her own career as well as focusing on the topic of burnout - something that is very common for business owners - and how to notice the signs of same, before reaching the point of total burnout.

The judges for the awards, Digital Marketing expert Muriel Foley, Business Optimisation Consultant and Chairperson of The Board of The Club Women’s Network, Pamela Walsh, and CEO of the Hair and Beauty Industry Confederation Margaret O’Rourke Doherty had the difficult job of judging the award nominations and were commended on the night for their hard work, time and effort.

AWARD WINNERS

The winners of the seven Female Founder Awards were announced on the night to rapturous applause by all those in attendance.

Newcomer Award

The winner of the Newcomer Award was Kerry-based owner of Lotus Optimisation, Letitia Foley. Letitia is an SEO expert and has helped countless businesses to optimise their online presence since founding her business in June 2023.

 Letitia was unable to attend the awards on the night for a very good reason - she has just welcomed her first child so there will be double celebrations after her award win.

Solopreneur Award

West Cork based Gemma Kingston, owner of The Family Edit, was the winner of the Solopreneur Award. The Family Edit is Ireland’s premier platform for families, offering curated and trusted recommendations for family-friendly places and experiences.

Born from Gemma’s own quest for reliable information following the birth of her first child, The Family Edit has grown into a comprehensive resource that spans across 11 categories of family life, from pregnancy through primary school years.

Following her win at the Female Founder Awards on Friday night, Gemma said that she was “absolutely honoured beyond belief” to have been chosen as the winner of the category.

Business Owner

Donna Reilly People & Wellness was the winner of the Business Owner category. Dublin based DRPW provides wellbeing, coaching & development, and HR Consultancy Services to individuals, teams and organisations helping them to enhance their wellbeing, engage their teams and create robust HR processes.

“Shocked” was Donna’s reaction to winning the category and she shared a message to other business owners to “keep going” after collecting her award.

Contribution to the Club

Tríona Gunning of Early Years Insights was the winner of the Contribution to The Club award. Through her business, Tríona aims to support parents of young children by supporting them in what best suits their family.

As a member of The Club Women’s Network committee, Tríona has facilitated countless workshops, hosted welcome meetings for new members as well as hosting The Clubhouse Podcast on behalf of the network.

Tríona said: “I gain so much from The Club and to know that I can give back a little bit to be even considered to be nominated for it was amazing.”

Positive Impact

Cork based Temitope Ogwu of The Light Manifesto was the winner of the Positive Impact award.

 The Light Manifesto is a resource bank and intentional living lifestyle brand that seeks to champion purposeful living through multidimensional self-help resources and opportunities for growth and development. Temi reflected on her win by saying that “today was to celebrate everyone but to be celebrating myself is groundbreaking for me”.

Most Creative Marketing Award

Áine McLoughlin of Cork property business AML Property Services was the winner of the Most Creative Marketing Award. 

AML Property Services is an Independent Cork-based estate agency specialising in property rentals, residential sales, and valuations.

Áine is dedicated to delivering personalised, professional, and honest advice, focusing on building long-term client relationships. Áine’s focus on authentic, personable marketing through her social media channels was highlighted by the judges and Áine reflected on her win saying that she was “shocked but over the moon”.

Following the conclusion of the awards ceremony, entertainment on the night was provided by The Last Call band and DJ Aaron Stanton.

For more on the network see

https://theclubwomensnetwork.com/

Today was to celebrate everyone but to be celebrating myself is ground-breaking for me.