The red carpet was rolled out at The Maryborough Hotel on Friday last, November 15th, for the third annual Female Founder Awards, hosted by The Club Women’s Network.
Following a drinks reception, attendees were welcomed by MC for the night and founder of The Club Women’s Network, Sian Horn, who 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, podcaster, broadcaster and wellness expert, Clare McKenna, who 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 had the difficult job of judging the award nominations and were commended on the night for their hard work, time and effort. The winners of the seven Female Founder Awards were announced on the night to rapturous applause by all those in attendance.
Laura Crowley of Laura Crowley Connect Ltd., 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, was originally an Autism Consultancy Service for children and teens, now offers a wide range of educational resources and training for parents and professionals.
“It’s a little bit surreal, I’ll be honest because 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,” Laura said.
OTHER WINNERS
The winner of the Newcomer Award was Kerry-based owner of Lotus Optimisation, Letitia Foley. West Cork based Gemma Kingston, owner of The Family Edit, was the winner of the Solopreneur Award. Winner of the Business Owner category was Donna Reilly People & Wellness.
Tríona Gunning of Early Years Insights was the winner of the Contribution to The Club award. Cork based Temitope Ogwu of The Light Manifesto was the winner of the Positive Impact award. The Most Creative Marketing Award went to Áine McLoughlin of Cork property business, AML Property Services.
