If you're in business, you can't help but notice that it’s awards season! There are SO many business awards happening right now and loads to enter for sure – they range from broad, international programs like the Stevie® Awards offers, to smaller, more niched ones like the Australian Rural Business Awards, for example.

Why Entering Awards Programs and Showcasing Your Wins Are Important
Business leaders constantly leverage awards to get more brand awareness and build creditability—and to then (hopefully) get more sales. Awards from established organizations demonstrate credibility, and awards have a long shelf life, so your win has a long shelf life too.

One big pro tip – if applying for awards isn't in your marketing strategy, then try to make it part of your marketing strategy! Seriously, if you want due credit in your space, if you want to become the “go-to person” in your industry, or if you simply want to “up” your competitors and stand out from the crowd, then entering awards is 100% the way to go!

Not only do you get leverage, but honestly, a huge benefit you get from applying for awards can be found in the process of crafting and preparing the submission applications themselves.

By taking time to look back at what you have achieved, where you have come from, and where you are now, you'll gain a better appreciation of your achievements. In business, we rarely take time to reflect and look back at how far we have come, so if you get nothing else from applying for awards, you will 200% get that!

So how do you leverage achievement awards—whether you're a winner or only a finalist?
Below, I'll detail all the ways you can make the most of your participation in awards programs.

Note, you don't need to do all these things immediately (although many you should)—you can milk the award and its honors for months and even beyond if you frame its future use as a “remember when” mention or posting. Here is a list to get you started:

1. Use the winner logos and graphics provided by the awards organization everywhere, especially on social media.
   Award hosts typically create and provide a variety of graphics for winners to use to promote their win. This is your license to add those image everywhere, including:

• Your LinkedIn profile – in the banner, in the awards section
• On Facebook – again in the banner/cover and in the About section
• Instagram – in your bio
• Twitter – in your profile
• Pinterest – in your profile
• In your email signature or at the foot of your emails – how many do you send a day!
• Your website – in the about section, on the front page, in the footer
  

2. Update your physical and digital company information and storefronts with “Award Winning” or “Multi Award Winning” business, depending on if you won more than one award. Update your bios and website pages. If you have a place of business, put it on the front window, at reception, on your door, in your “out of office” notice – if you can manage to add those words in, do it!
   
   
3. Update all business directories, websites, and partner websites that list your business. Use the words “Award Winning” or use the graphic/tile/image mentioned above. You might need to google yourself or google your business name to find all the places that need to be updated.
   
   
4. Create a new default photo for social media that includes the words “Award Winner,” or the name of the award you won, under your bio photo. After you or your art team creates a new image, use that photo to update all professional bios across social media platforms too. You should be able to easily do this using programs like Canva, but if you need a hand, you can easily find reasonable assistance on freelance websites like Fiver or Upwork.
   
   
5. Don’t forget to tag and congratulate other winners, finalists, and people in your category on social media. Not only is it good to be humble, but it’s good for brand awareness to be tagging other businesses (Okay, it may not exactly be humble, but it’s business, and we want the most out of this win!).
   
   
6. Consider adding the win to your business cards and brochures. If these items are electronic, then do it straight away. If they are printed, do it for the next round of printing.
   
   
7. If you do presentations, webinars, or your work requires you to introduce yourself, make sure you add “award winner” to that introduction. Not only just after you’ve won the award, but at least for a few years.
   
   
8. If the award hosts don't supply you with a press release, write one yourself! Getting your win into the media is a fabulous idea and isn’t going to be that hard. If you need help with a press release, sing out, happy to share what I have (jenn@jenndonovan.com.au), but most awards will supply one. Simply sending an email to your local newspaper, local radio station, or local news station will probably result in some media attention—written or spoken (radio). Even if you feel nervous, do it anyway! The people who think you are “full of it” or “talking about it too much” are likely jealous of the honor.
   
   
9. Sit down and write a blog for your website about your win. Use parts of your award-winning application to construct a blog about your business—the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows—and share it with your community. Not only will you increase your brand and customer reach, but you will also inspire others with your own successes and practical lessons learned.
   
   
10. Write an email to your customer/client list telling them the good news and thanking them for supporting your now award-winning business!
    
    
11. Go live on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or whichever platform you perform best on or do them all! Share about your win and say thank you to your community who have helped you and your business thus far. You can spread these live streams out of over a few days and post on a different platform, different days. 
    
    

12. Use this award-winning application to gain recognition for more awards! Use the win as a fabulous excuse to pitch yourself for podcast interviews, guest blogs, articles, and so on.
    
    All this might seem a little too much self-promotion to some. But you honestly need to leave that feeling behind and permit yourself to feel proud of the fact that you won or were a finalist. You took the time to fill out the application, the judges reviewed your work and successes, and felt you deserved recognition. Your network, community, audience, and followers will ALL want to hear about it and congratulate you.
    
    And remember winning isn't everything – even being a finalist needs to have the heck leveraged out of it! Push down the imposter syndrome, get over the “what will they think” and sing loud and proud about your win and how amazing your business is. Because it is!

    About the Author:
    Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia. Jenn's an expert marketing coach and mentor from rural NSW. She is all about empowering business owners to earn what they're worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world. The Founder of Buy From a Bush Business, Co-Founder of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace and host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple, Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans! H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk! Jenn's online community is over 370,000 with her famous Facebook Group currently at almost 365,000 members and still growing every day. She's the mayor of her own little online city! 

Die Gewinnerin der diesjährigen Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, welche weibliche Führungskräfte, Unternehmerinnen und von Frauen geführte Organisationen ins Rampenlicht rücken, wurden am Freitag, den 11. November bekannt gegeben.

Die Stevie Awards for Women in Business sind ein internationaler Wettbewerb, der von den Schöpfern der renommierten International Business Awards® und American Business Awards® ins Leben gerufen wurde. Der Stevie® Award gilt weithin als weltweit führender Wirtschaftspreis.

In Anwesenheit nominierter Frauen und ihrer Gäste wurden die Auszeichnungen während einer Galaveranstaltung im Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, bekannt gegeben. Für den Wettbewerb 2022 wurden Nominierungen aus 27 Ländern eingereicht.

Die Präsentationen wurden per Livestream übertragen.

Mehr als 1.500 Nominierungen von Organisationen und Einzelpersonen aus der ganzen Welt wurden in diesem Jahr für die Preisverleihung eingereicht, unter anderem in den Kategorien "Unternehmerin des Jahres", "Führungskraft des Jahres", "Innovativstes Unternehmen des Jahres" und "Startup des Jahres". Mehr als 200 Geschäftsleute, die in sieben spezialisierten Jurys zusammenarbeiteten, haben die Gewinner der Stevie Awards in Gold, Silber und Bronze ermittelt.

Die Grand Stevie Award-Trophäen wurden an fünf Organisationen verliehen, die im eigenen Namen oder im Namen eines oder mehrerer Kunden die besten Beiträge zum Wettbewerb eingereicht hatten. Die Gewinner wurden anhand der Anzahl der im Wettbewerb gewonnenen Gold-, Silber- und Bronze-Stevie-Awards ermittelt. Die Gewinner des Grand Stevie Award sind:

• The Audacious Agency, Coombabah, QLD, Australia (#1)
• IBM, Armonk, NY, U.S.A. (#2)
• Megaphone, Melbourne, Australia (#3)
• Melissa Sones Consulting, New York, NY U.S.A. (#4)
• Global Press Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A. (#5)

Die Gewinnerinnen der Stevie Awards 2022 in Gold, Silber und Bronze spiegeln eine vielfältige Gruppe von großen und kleinen Unternehmen aus der ganzen Welt wider. Zu den Stevie-Award-Gewinnerinnen aus Europa im diesjährigen Wettbewerb gehören:

• Amanda Mawson, Vice President, Legal, TELUS International, Wien, Österreich, in den Kategorien Female Executive of the Year - Business Services - More Than 2,500 Employees und Female Executive of the Year in Europe, the Middle East & Africa
• Daniela Kerkhoff-Guenther, Female Forklift Operators, DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, Bonn, Deutschland, in der Kategorie Achievement in Women-related Corporate Social Responsibility
• Holly Budge, How Many Elephants, Alresford, Großbritannien, in den Kategorien Woman of the Year - Government or Non-Profit, Female Innovator of the Year - Government or Non-Profit - 10 or Less Employees und Female Thought Leader of the Year - Government or Non-Profit
• JCDecaux Hungary, Budapest, Ungarn, in der Kategorie Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Communications Research
• Jennifer Cox, Tenable, Dublin, Irland, in der Kategorie Female Employee of the Year - Business
• Michelle John, Founding Director, PEGS, Shrewsbury, Großbritannien, in der Kategorie Woman of the Year - Government or Non-Profit
• mindit.io, Bucharest, Rumänien, in den Kategorien Fastest Growing Company of the Year, Woman of the Year - Business Services und Female Employee of the Year - Business
• Sandrine Pons, Regional Vice President, Head of Solutions Sales & Innovation, SAP, Paris, Frankreich, in der Kategorie Women Helping Women – Business
• Silke Zschweigert, CEO: Strategic Vision and Employee-Centric Leadership, Jonckers Translation & Engineering, Brüssel, Belgien, in der Kategorie Female Executive of the Year in Europe, the Middle East & Africa
• Viola Palescandolo, Founder & CEO, Black Platinum Gold B.V., Amsterdam, Niederlande, in der Kategorie Best Female Solo Entrepreneur

Zu den Organisationen, die mehr als einen Gold Stevie Award gewonnen haben, gehören Anheuser-Busch InBev, Babylist, Brandless, But Bite Thing, Caroline Kennedy Group, Everise, Flock DC, Global Press Institute, Halkbank, Harman International, LickYourPhone Media, Luma Brighter Learning, Megaphone, Primrose Schools, Rockwood Custom Homes, Rubi Laboratories, Sidus Space und The Tambellini Group.

HCLTech, das globale Technologieunternehmen, welches branchenführende Fähigkeiten in den Bereichen Digital, Engineering und Cloud anbietet und über ein breites Portfolio an Technologiedienstleistungen und -produkten verfügt, sponserte Auszeichnungen in vier Kategorien, den HCLTech Women in Technology Awards. Zu den nennenswerten Stevie-Gewinnern in diesen Kategorien gehören:

• Monica Williams, Senior Vice President - Digital Products and Content Distribution, NBCUniversal, for New Normal Digital Transformer
• Karen Oerter, Director of Information Technology, Land O’Lakes, for New Normal Digital Transformer
• Abby Knowles, Vice President Global Technology Solutions, Verizon, for Leading Through Uncertainty
• Susan Doniz, CIO & SVP of Information Technology & Data Analytics, The Boeing Company, for Leading Through Uncertainty
• Tia Ballard, Head of Cloud and Automation, Sempra, for Leadership in Next Gen Technology
• Constance Metcalfe, Associate Vice President – Enterprise Infrastructure Transformation, Canadian Tire Corporation, for Excellence in Transforming Business

Eine vollständige Liste der Stevie Awards Gewinnerinnen und weitere Informationen finden Sie unter stevieawards.com/women.

Die Stevie Awards veranstalteten die fünfte Ausgabe ihrer Women|Future Conference vom 8. bis 10. November virtuell und in Verbindung mit den Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Mehr als 250 Frauen nahmen an dem dreitägigen Programm teil, dessen Höhepunkt die Keynote-Präsentation von Rashmi Verma, Leiterin der Abteilung D&I bei Hugo Boss, war.

Die Einreichungen für die 20. Ausgabe der Awards im Jahr 2023 werden im Mai eröffnet. Die Preisverleihung 2023 wird im November im Marriott Marquis in New York, USA, stattfinden.

Wenn Sie nicht solange warten möchten, können Sie Sich schon heute für die German Stevie Awards 2023 bewerben.

Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, winners in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business were announced on Friday, November 11.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition produced by the creators of the prestigious International Business Awards® and American Business Awards®. The Stevie is widely considered to be the world’s premier business award.

With nominated professional women and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced during a gala event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2022 competition attracted nominations from 27 nations.

The presentations were broadcast live via Livestream.

More than 1,500 nominations from organizations and individuals around the world were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others. More than 200 business professionals working in seven specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to five organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the competition, in their own names or in the names of one or more clients. Winners were determined by the number of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards won in the competition. The Grand Stevie Award winners are:

• The Audacious Agency, Coombabah, QLD, Australia (#1)
• IBM, Armonk, NY, U.S.A. (#2)
• Megaphone, Melbourne, Australia (#3)
• Melissa Sones Consulting, New York, NY U.S.A. (#4)
• Global Press Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A. (#5)

The 2022 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe. Notable Gold Stevie Award winners in this year’s competition include:

• Sandrine Pons, Regional Vice President, Head of Solutions Sales & Innovation, SAP, Paris, France, for Women Helping Women – Business
• Ann Kaplan, Las Vegas, NV U.S.A, for Woman of the Year - Accounting and Finance
• Susan McLaughlin, Senior Innovative Media and Creative Operations Manager, Vanguard, Malvern, PA U.S.A, for Woman of the Year - Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
• Fatima Sultan Al-Kuwari, Group Chief Human Resources Officer), Ooredoo, Qatar, for Female Executive of the Year – Business Products –More Than 2,500 Employees
• Shama Hyder, CEO and Founder, Zen Media, Plano, TX U.S.A., for Most Innovative Woman of the Year - Social Media
• Stephanie Wernick Barker, President, Mondo, New York, NY U.S.A, for Female Thought Leader of the Year - Business Services
• Gehad Hamdy, Founder, Speak Up, Giza, Egypt, for Social Change Maker of the Year - Gender
• Michelle John, Founding Director, PEGS, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, United Kingdom, for Woman of the Year - Government or Non-Profit
• Kelley Higney, Founder & CEO, Bug Bite Thing, Port Lucie, FL U.S.A, for Best Female Entrepreneur – Consumer Products –11 to 2,500 Employees
• Allison Grafton, President and Founder, Rockwood Custom Homes, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for Best Female Entrepreneur in Canada

Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Babylist, Brandless, Bug Bite Thing, Caroline Kennedy Group, Everise, Flock DC, Global Press Institute, Halkbank, Harman International, LickYourPhone Media, Luma Brighter Learning, Megaphone, Primrose Schools, Rockwood Custom Homes, Rubi Laboratories, Sidus Space, and The Tambellini Group.

HCLTech, the global technology company delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering and cloud, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products, sponsored awards in four categories called HCLTech Women in Technology Awards. Among notable Stevie winners in those categories are:

• Monica Williams, Senior Vice President - Digital Products and Content Distribution, NBCUniversal, for New Normal Digital Transformer
• Karen Oerter, Director of Information Technology, Land O’Lakes, for New Normal Digital Transformer
• Abby Knowles, Vice President Global Technology Solutions, Verizon, for Leading Through Uncertainty
• Susan Doniz, CIO & SVP of Information Technology & Data Analytics, The Boeing Company, for Leading Through Uncertainty
• Tia Ballard, Head of Cloud and Automation, Sempra, for Leadership in Next Gen Technology
• Constance Metcalfe, Associate Vice President – Enterprise Infrastructure Transformation, Canadian Tire Corporation, for Excellence in Transforming Business

For a complete list of Stevie Award winners and more information, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The Stevie Awards staged the fifth edition of its Women|Future Conference virtually on November 8-10 in conjunction with the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. More than 250 women shared three days of programming highlighted by a keynote presentation by Rashmi Verma, head of D&I at Hugo Boss.

Entries for the 2023 (20th) edition of the awards will open in May. The 2023 awards ceremony will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York, NY USA in November.

This Friday, November 11 we'll stage the 19th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada USA.  This is the second time (first in 2007) that we'll stage the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run in Sin City, and the first live awards event for this program since 2019.

Finalists were announced in August.  All Finalists know that they'll win Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award status, but the placements among the Finalists won't be revealed until Friday evening's event, which will be broadcast live.

We're expecting more than 270 nominees and their guests from around the world to attend.  Here are the organizations who've already booked their place (as of November 7).

Ackerberg, Minneapolis MN USA
Amazon Web Services, Annapolis, MD USA
Ann Kaplan, Las Vegas, NV USA
Antoinette Oglethorpe Ltd, Cranfield, Bedfordshire United Kingdom
Anthill, Chicago, IL USA
Arrow Digital, Australia
ASCIRA Global, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Aspire, Phoenix, AZ USA
Autism Mates, Australia
AvantGarde, LLC, Round Rock, TX USA
BabyQuip, Santa Fe, NM USA
BH Compliance LLC, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
Big Deal Media, Barrington, IL USA
Blue Bean Media, Australia
BlueSky Personnel Solutions, Mississauga, ON Canada
BOBA CHiC, Taichung, Taiwan
Borusan Otomotiv İthalat ve Dağıtım A.Ş, Istanbul, Turkey
Brand and Buzz Marketing, Boston, MA USA
Brandless, Lindon, UT USA
C. Light Technologies, Boston, MA USA
Carestream NDT, Oakdale, MN USA
Cognizant Technology Solutions, Teaneck, NJ USA
Designs by Nature Gems, Toronto, ON Canada
Dharana Digital, Surry Hills, NSW Australia
DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, Bonn, Germany
Digital Air Strike, Scottsdale, AZ USA
Domo Inc., American Fork, UT USA
EHR Concepts, Villa Rica, GA USA
Endurance Financial, Melbourne, VIC Australia
Equus Workforce Solutions, Louisville, KY
FD Global Connections, Sydney, Australia
Forcepoint Customer Success Organization, Austin, TX USA
Franchise Fame, London, United Kingdom
GAF Energy, San Jose, CA USA
Gillian Jean Creative LLC, Los Angeles, CA USA
Global Press Institute, Washington, DC USA
Help at Home, Chicago, IL USA
Honey Digital, Australia
How Many Elephants, Alresford, Hampshire United Kingdom
HRSI and HRCI Company, Alexandria, VA USA
HZ, a division of BCW, LLC, Rockville, MD USA
IBM, Armonk, NY USA
IMA Financial Group, Denver, CO USA
Interim HealthCare Inc., Seattle, WA USA
Jacobs, Greenwood Village, CO USA
Jane, Lehi, UT USA
Karen Mangia, Williamstown, NJ USA
Lafonn LLC, Cypress, CA USA
Luma Brighter Learning, Mount Pleasant, SC USA
mindit.io, Bucharest, Romania
Mintlist, Vancouver, BC Canada
MSP Photography Pty Ltd, Wagga Wagga, NSW Australia
Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, Washington, DC USA
Nurch PTY LTD, Chermside Brisbane, VIC Australia
Office of the Chicago City Treasurer, Chicago, IL USA
Online Courses Australia, Brisbane, QLD Australia
Partnership for Inclusion Leadership, Arlington, VA USA
PBG Consulting, LLC, McLean, VA USA
PlayWise Partners + ToyMonster, Los Angeles, CA USA
Population, San Francisco, CA USA
Psychnexus, Australia
Pyx Health, Tucson, AZ USA
Radicle Science, San Diego, CA USA
ResultsCX, Fort Lauderdale, FL USA
Rock Paper Coin, Portland, OR USA
SAP, Palo Alto, CA USA
Seahorse Diamond Beach, Australia
Sēd, San Diego, CA and New York, NY USA
Sidus Space, Cape Canaveral, FL USA
Silicon Valley Innovations, Sunnyvale, CA USA
Sleepm Global, Inc., Toronto, ON Canada
Stacey Ashley Consulting, Australia
STEM PUNKS, Australia
Stress Free Super Mums, Australia
Teneral Cellars, Somerset, CA USA
The Alpha Enterprise, Cabuyao, Laguna Philippines
The Audacious Agency, Australia, Sunshine Coast, QLD Australia
The Flora May Foundation, San Clemente, CA USA
The Ginger Companies, Miami, FL USA
The HR Chique Group, Jacksonville, FL USA
The Makeup Artist Guild Asia Pacific & Beauty Boss Business, Sydney, NSW Australia
The Tambellini Group, LLC, Irvington, VA USA
This Girl Walks Into a Bar, LLC, Los Angeles, CA
TLN Worldwide Enterprises, Inc. DBA: The Leading Niche, Washington, DC USA
TOP Minds, Bucharest, Romania
Top Score Writing, Palm Beach Gardens, FL USA
Trust Relations, Williams, AZ USA
USAFacts, Bellevue, WA USA
Vaco Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA USA
Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA), Mercedes, TX USA
Vanguard, Malvern, PA USA
Washington Capital Partners, Falls Church, VA USA
XSOLIS, Nashville, TN USA

Entries for the 2023 edition of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open in May.  Get your entry kit for the 2023 awards.

Finalists were announced today in the 19th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world’s top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run. 

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards® and International Business Awards®, among other business awards programs. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier honors for achievement in the workplace.

This year’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists will be revealed during an awards banquet at Caesar’s Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, November 11. More than 500 women and their guests from around the world are expected to attend the presentations, which will be broadcast via Livestream.

More than 1,500 nominations were submitted this year by organizations and individuals for consideration in more than 100 categories including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women-Run Workplace of the Year. Nominations were submitted by organizations in 27 nations including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Among the many extraordinary organizations and women who have been recognized as Finalists, the following stand out as those with four or more Finalist nominations:

Advancing Women in Tech (Seattle, WA USA); Autism Mates (Sydney, Australia); Brandless (Lindon, UT USA); Caroline Kennedy Group (Melbourne, Australia); Consolidated Edison Company of NY, Inc. (New York, NY USA); C-Strategies (Chicago, IL USA); Everise (Plantation, FL USA); Hatch Inc. (Palo Alto, CA USA); Global Press Institute (Washington DC, USA); Harman International (Stamford, CT USA); Inspiring Vacations (Melbourne, Australia); IBM (Armonk, NY USA); Megaphone (Melbourne, Australia); Tavuun Welfare Association (Lahore, Pakistan); Sweet Peanuts (Queensland, Australia); The Tambellini Group, LLC (Irvington, VA USA); and Vanguard (Malvern, PA USA).

Finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 200 professionals around the world, organized in seven juries. Their scores will also determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie placements from among the Finalists, to be announced on November 11.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business event will be complemented by the fifth edition of the Women|Future Conference, to be held virtually on November 8-10. The conference is for women professionals looking to gain unique perspectives from industry leaders, build resilience, network, and prepare for change. The conference addresses the most pressing business issues of tomorrow, from trends in social media marketing and workplace DEI to the next generation of technology, overcoming adversity, and the future of work. Conference registration is just $99 ($39 for students) and is available at http://www.WomenFutureConference.com.

In 2020, Stevie Award-winner Rona Jobe founded LVL-Up Strategies, a minority- and woman-owned small business based in Arlington, Virginia. She now serves as the CEO, working to propel small businesses to grow their potential by offering clients strategic advisement, operations design and implementation, marketing plans and execution, and business development guidance.

Jobe’s vision for LVL-Up Strategies is to help small businesses break the generic mold of how to grow their business. Instead of following a pattern from another business or figuring it out as the business grows, Jobe works to analyze each of her client's goals and current structure to define long-term strategies and customized next steps for success.

In addition, Jobe has a passion for supporting the careers of military and Department of State spouses. LVL-Up only employs military and Department of State spouses, so that they have the opportunity to grow their careers in an often unpredictable and stagnant work environment. This symbiotic connection of talented and driven individuals is critical to the company’s success.

LVL-Up Strategies already embraced a fully remote workforce prior to the pandemic. They have continued this success by creating and implementing a remote onboarding and training program for incoming staff, which has led to growth in staff, revenue, and client base in just one year.

Since earning the Bronze Stevie Award for Most Innovative Woman of the Year - Business Services, LVL-Up Strategies has developed the LVL-Up Five Step Process for working with small businesses; the LVL-Up CEO Entrepreneur Roadmap, which guides individuals from “solopreneurs” to full-time CEOs; and the LVL-Up Remote Staff Onboarding Process. These tools have been the foundation to developing customized client tools and programs, and have ultimately led to further growth for the young company.

Rona Jobe won Bronze Stevie Award for Most Innovative Woman of the Year - Business Services.

Interested in submitting a nomination for the 2022 (19th Annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Stevie Award-winner Jenni Steele is the Vice President of Marketing at Niagara Corp., a manufacturer of water conservation products and the leader in high-performance, water-saving toilets. Niagara has revolutionized the utility industry with a reputation as the premier resource for conservation. In three years, Jenni has restructured her team efficiently in order to launch several product lines and automate marketing activities while strengthening client services and events. Jenni is dedicated to Niagara’s conservation mission and is valued by her team for her guidance. As climate change and record droughts present a strain on the water supply, it is more essential than ever to bring solutions and messaging to the marketplace.

In order to carry out Niagara’s goals, the team launched a new suite of products with the intention of making powerful water-efficient technology and products that are available to residential and commercial facilities to save the world’s water and the owner’s money through utility bills. These new products were also designed specifically with features and benefits for builders, remodelers, and plumbing professionals. Jenni listened closely to these building professionals who install, repair and specify toilets to learn what details are important to them when installing. 

Additionally, Jenni spent more than a year teamed up with executive leadership to help build a new wholesale program. Their goal was to launch the product lineup filled with the features that pros want and to sell them exclusively to the wholesale channel. Through Niagara’s new program, the company is committed to providing attractive products and services to wholesale distributors, plumbers, and trade partners in the industry.

Since earning her Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year – Consumer Products, Jenni has been able to restructure the marketing department, successfully launched several new product lines, enhanced overall client services, modernized digital integration, and automated marketing activities, all while also strengthening Niagara’s event marketing and online retailing. She also helped Niagara earn a national water conservation award from the EPA.

In addition, Jenni played a lead role in spearheading the launch of over 100 new toilet SKUs across four product suites. The line of new products was designed to help wholesalers serve the needs of their plumbing professional clients by offering fixtures with advanced technology and high performance for those looking for a wide variety of water-efficient products. She also created a campaign strategy that included virtual media meetings with Niagara’s executive team. Over the twelve meetings that were held, Steele and Niagara’s leadership demonstrated and shared critical aspects of Niagara’s four new full product lines, designed specifically with features for building, remodeling, and plumbing professionals. The campaign resulted in more than 53 million impressions to an audience of builders, contractors, plumbers, and facility managers. Jenni continues to be an invaluable resource to her team and Niagara as a whole through her dedication to sustainability.

Jenni Steele won the Bronze Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year – Consumer Products –11 to 2,500 Employees.

Are you interested in submitting a nomination in the 2022 (19th Annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Lisa Utzschneider is the CEO of Integral Ad Science (IAS), a digital media company that works to ensure that ads are viewable by real people in safe and suitable environments. Lisa focuses her team to bring greater media quality and transparency to digital advertising and has been able to differentiate IAS as an independent, trusted partner for both buyers and sellers of digital advertising. IAS practices contextual targeting and supply path optimization in order to bring high quality products to their customers. 

Lisa helped set the company’s core values of “We Are One Team” and “We Are Customer Obsessed.” Under Lisa’s leadership, IAS has expanded its product innovation and data-driven insights, closed two key acquisitions, become a public company, and continued to foster a strong company culture. Since 2019, Lisa also guided the IAS team through two acquisitions on Admantx, expanding the company’s contextual offerings and making the Total Visibility product an IAS brand that brings greater transparency to programmatic buying and supply path optimization.  

Additionally, Lisa successfully led IAS through the pandemic, transitioning to a remote work environment while continuing to focus on overall business growth. To ensure transparency and collaboration, Lisa instituted regular live global Town Halls to provide important updates on wins and progress across IAS, while creating a forum to answer tough questions from employees. She also launched a Fitbit Challenge for IAS employees to step their way toward healthy habits while working from home. Lisa also addressed the Black Lives Matter protests head-on by mandating unconscious bias training, establishing an employee match program for social justice organization donations, and recognizing Juneteenth as a company holiday. She has also been a mentor and supporter of elevating more women to leadership positions across industries.

Since winning a gold Stevie® Award in the 2021 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business for Female Executive of the Year, Lisa has honed the company’s mission to be the global benchmark for trust and transparency in digital media quality for leading brands. The digital ad market is expected to reach $526 billion in global spending by 2024, and under Lisa’s leadership, IAS will continue to play a critical role in shaping the future of digital media quality across high-growth segments including CTV, programmatic, social platforms, and international markets. The company also continues to lead in developing and collaborating on ad fraud and brand safety and suitability guidelines, as well as further industry standards. 

The company’s continued growth during Lisa’s tenure underscores her strong leadership and the value that IAS delivers as a digital media quality company, ensuring its customers, which include Verizon, L’Oreal, HP, Hulu, Nestle, Volkswagen, and Coke, make every ad impression count. As one of about 30 women to successfully lead her company through an IPO this past year, during one of the busiest IPO seasons on record, Lisa is also committed to paying it forward by continuing to support other female leaders across the technology industry and supporting diverse talent.

Lisa Utzschneider won a Gold Stevie Award in the 2021 Stevie Awards for Women in Business for Female Executive of the Year – Business Services –11 to 2,500 Employees.

Interested in submitting a nomination for the 2022 (19th Annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Stevie Award-winner Rebecca Bendikov is the Head of Marketing at Lumination, an immersive technology company, where she works to inspire and educate teachers on how to incorporate emerging software and technology into the classroom through storytelling and building community. Doing so will in turn contribute to the development of students' abilities in an evolving technological landscape. Rebecca’s work represents her great passion for forming the “sparking the lightbulb moment” in young Australian women and girls when introducing them to careers in STEM.

Prior to her Stevie Award nomination, Rebecca’s job was to develop a marketing strategy for the Lumination Learning Labs built by Lumination. The Lab is a space where students engage with emerging technologies to solve real-world problems across all classroom subjects, covering topics like waste management, climate change, accessibility, and sustainability – all vital issues in today’s world. Rebecca developed the marketing collateral for the Lab, including a highly successful testimonial video, brochures, a website, as well as several Symposium events designed to bring school principals and decision makers into the space to foster brand awareness and develop networks with schools.

Rebecca took the Lumination Learning Lab from concept to reality. Due to Rebecca’s marketing work, the Labs are being incorporated by Lumination in all new government schools across South Australia.  Her achievements are significant as she was new to the industry and still managed to adapt effectively and encapsulate the learning outcomes to reach a broad variety of teachers across South Australia. Now, many students across South Australia are to benefit from being exposed to new technologies and experiences. Since earning her Stevie Award, Rebecca has continued her amazing work and taken the role of Head of Education Programs at Lumination, building a team supporting teachers as they integrate the use of immersive technology into their lesson plans. 

Rebecca Bendikov won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand.

Interested in submitting a nomination for the 2022 (19th Annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Christine Tao is the co-founder & CEO of Sounding Board, a Silicon Valley startup redefining how organizations develop their leaders. Her rapid career growth to executive management in the tech sectors of Silicon Valley became her inspiration for founding Sounding Board. As she began to manage larger teams and became responsible for revenue growth, it became clear that she needed a “sounding board” to coach her on the development of her leadership skills. After receiving valuable mentorship in leadership development, Christine was driven to make this coaching accessible to people at all levels. Traditionally, leadership coaching has only been available to C-Suite executives, but with the advent of Sounding Board’s most recent innovations, coaching has become available and affordable to all levels of an organization in order to rapidly scale and upskill employees at a critical time when companies are needing to escalate at a more rapid pace.

Christine achieved significant milestones that led to the acceleration of growth at Sounding Board and set the company on course for strong valuation for the future. First, she developed and supported the engineering and product leadership to create Group Coaching, a new product offering that has rapidly attracted new business and expanded the spend of existing clients wanting a more impactful leadership coaching program for teams. Additionally, Christine built the board of directors and advisory board for Sounding Board to include influential leaders and investors in the learning and leadership development industry. This helped to prepare the company to start fundraising to bring the company past its start-up level.

Since earning a Silver Stevie® Award in the 2021 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business for Female Executive of the Year, Christine has scaled Sounding Board in revenue exponentially, surpassing budgeted expectations. She hired heads of engineering and finance, and built out a strong infrastructure to design new products launching in early 2022. Additionally, Sounding Board’s coach network scaled rapidly to meet and exceed the demand from enterprise clients around the world. 

Christine has also supported her team to transition from SMB-centric clients to Enterprise companies using Sounding Board’s services for their companies with 5,000+ employees. This development fueled revenue growth during the pandemic and completed a record of meeting or exceeding stated gross revenue goals. Additionally, she led the company’s efforts to create an innovative AI-enabled tech platform that is the first-to-market. This program is designed to coach leaders for measurable business impact. 

As a female co-founder of Asian descent, Christine has broken several glass ceilings in not only completing a Series A funding round at a rapid pace, but also being part of the only all-female-founded, female-led, and all-female board of directors within the leadership development industry.

Christine Tao won a Silver Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year in the 2021 Stevie Awards for Women in Business: Business Services – 11-2500 Employees.

Interested in submitting a nomination for the 2022 (19th Annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business?