The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued the call for entries for its 2020 (17^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards® and International Business Awards®.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 100 categories, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Achievement in Equal Pay, Women Helping Women, Employee of the Year, Woman-Owned or -Run Company of the Year and Innovator of the Year. All female entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run, worldwide, are eligible to be nominated.

The submission requirements for all categories have been revised and simplified for 2020. Instead of a 650-word essay as in previous years, submissions now require answers to a set of questions, or a video submission up to five minutes in length.

The final entry deadline is August 19, and late entries will be accepted through September 16 with payment of a late fee. Winners will be announced on September 29, and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners will be celebrated at a virtual awards ceremony on December 9.

New this year are COVID-19 response awards categories for individuals, organizations, and marketing and PR. These categories do not have entry fees, but the $55/entry late fee will apply for entries submitted after August 19.

COVID-19 response categories include:
-Frontline Medical Hero of the Year-Education Hero of the Year
-Delivery Hero of the Year
-Public Service Hero of the Year
-Most Exemplary Employer
-Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - COVID-19-related Information
…and more

The Marketing and PR Campaign of the Year categories have been greatly expanded for 2020. Startup of the Year categories do not have entry fees as well as the categories for Government and Non-Profits.

The 2019 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflected a diverse group of large and small organizations around the globe. Winners included, among others: 

• Gail Becker, CEO, CAULIPOWER, Encino, CA USA
• Alia Koudsi, Key Account Certified International Specialist, DHL Express, United Arab Emirates
• Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, Senior VP and Head of Global Branding, Peloton, New York, NY USA
• Carolyn Aronson, CEO and Founder, It’s a 10, Coral Springs, FL USA
• Stephanie Wernick-Barker, President, Mondo, New York, NY USA
• Siti Choiriana, Consumer Service Director, PT. Telekom Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Oanh Phuong, Regional Head of Customer Support, HP Inc., Asia-Pacific and Japan
• Margarita Simkin, Co-Founder and Executive Chairwoman, INKAS® Armored Vehicle Manufacturing, Toronto, Canada
• Seda Kalyoncu, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Turkish Airlines, Istanbul, Turkey
• Mejuri, Toronto, Canada
• Law on Earth, Brisbane, Australia
• Susan G. Komen, Chicago, IL USA
• Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Singapore

The 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will be judged by more than 200 leading professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to all the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations.

The third annual Women|Future Conference has announced that the conference, originally planned November 12-13 in Las Vegas, will now be presented virtually for the safety of attendees during COVID-19. Though the world is different today than it was this time last year, there is no time to waste when it comes to the advancement of women professionally and personally.

This two-day conference presented by the Stevie Awards encourages engaging connections, professional and personal development, and health and financial wellness through motivational keynotes, educational sessions, and networking. With panel discussions, plenty of networking opportunities, case studies from Stevie® Award winners, and a showcase of young women-owned businesses, this is an event you won’t want to miss!

The 2020 Women|Future Conference agenda has just been announced. Join us this November 12-13 to Cultivate Your Tomorrow and be inspired by over 100 talented, transformative women speakers from across the globe who will be leading 32 sessions, panels, and workshops. This exciting conference addresses the latest innovations and impending changes in areas such as technology, sustainability, career planning, diversity in the workplace, leadership, crisis management, and so much more.Stevie Awards President Maggie Gallagher added,

“We started this conference three years ago to compliment the Stevie Awards for Women in Business program, and now it has evolved to serve women on a larger scale. The conference will address topics beyond the future of work for women; it focuses on today's trending topics and current issues from the female perspective, hosted by speakers from various industries and backgrounds, from corporate to small business owners, to entrepreneurs.”

Stay tuned for updates about the conference as it comes together, including the announcement of our keynote speaker later this summer.

Conference Topics Include:

• Business Chemistry! Using Science to Improve the Art of Relationships Workshop by Deloitte
• Overcoming Personal Adversity
• Conquer Crisis. Train Like a Triathlete. Body + Mind + Business
• Balancing Motherhood + Business: for "Mompreneurs" and Working Moms
• Financial Wellness: Your Relationship with Money
• Diversity & Inclusion: The Importance in Your Workplace
• Pushing Your Envelope: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome Once and For All
• Women Driving the Future of Tech: How AI, VR, and Robotics Will Be the Norm
• Create Joy in Your Career on Your Own Terms
    ...and many more.

Now that we’ve gone virtual, there’s a new lower cost with incredible value - just $199! The virtual platform replicates the beloved in-person networking, workshops, and panels. Register for the conference now to reserve your spot.

What’s New for the 2020 Conference?

• Showcase of young women-owned businesses
• Business pitch competition
• One on one networking: the virtual conference platform has AI matchmaking capabilities to match you with different attendees, sponsors, sessions, and workshops based on your commonalities
• Women|Future Conference Exclusive Webinar Series leading up to the conference

Connect With Us!👍

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WomenFutureConf

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenfutureconference/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomenFutureConference/

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevie’s recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

 

Employing the right people is one of the most important yet challenging aspects of any organization. Enabling employers to improve their recruiting effectiveness through branding, talent engagement, and recruitment benchmarks is an area that’s getting more attention in today’s competitive professional landscape.

More than ever, employers, even those with minimal resources, need to be agile in order to quickly find and hire top talent. With candidates today expecting the same treatment as consumers, the power has shifted from employers to job seekers. Preboarding and onboarding programs, in addition to strong professional development offerings, are top of mind for employers, who know these programs are essential to both employee retention and engagement. 

Organizations need to provide a stellar candidate experience in order to recruit the right people. To keep their businesses moving forward, they must continue this positive experience throughout the entire employee life cycle.

More than any other HR function, talent acquisition has rapidly expanded in recent years, and the function itself evolved along with its technology requirements. You now need to offer broader capabilities and deeper functionality, such as candidate relationship management, mobile-friendly capabilities, new-hire onboarding, and more, in order to help organizations grow and scale.

This is why nimble, cloud-based talent acquisition systems help engage and hire candidates while simultaneously managing complex and ever-changing global data privacy rules. 

Talent acquisition has truly become its own discipline, requiring dedicated technology solutions to help businesses find, engage, and inspire people to deliver business results. 

While some organizations struggle between the idea of centralizing software systems with one vendor and multiple best-in-class solutions, one thing is clear: Employers need their applicant-tracking systems to do more than just process candidates.

Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) continue to change the recruiting game. While some organizations are hesitant to invest in AI and ML, fearing the technology might cannibalize the industry and displace recruiters from their jobs, AI and ML are growing and evolving rapidly and becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.

One company using these dynamic and ever-changing functions in HR is iCIMS, a recruiting company based out of Holmdel, New Jersey, United States. The company employs four million hires annually through configurable recruitment solutions and an ecosystem of more than 245 talent acquisition partners. They’ve enjoyed this success due to their constant aim to find talent by delivering best-in-class software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions within a unified platform and by offering a customer-level experience.

By taking one client at a time, the company became one of the world’s leading talent acquisition platforms, enabling more than four thousand clients to hire four million people annually in almost every language worldwide.

“We have built upon our early success to create products that solve hiring challenges for some of the world’s most complex companies,” says Erica Bonavitacola, a communications associate for iCIMS.

To ensure the team is well-positioned to deliver excellent customer service, Bonavitacola says the company actively recruits employees who embody seven core competencies: adaptability, drive, transparency, customer commitment, kaizen, passion, and empathy.

Within this industry, the pendulum has swung from dedicated talent acquisition providers to human capital management (HCM) providers and back again. Acadian Advisory, an independent workplace technology research and consulting firm, recently reported that traditional providers that once dominated the recruiting technology market, such as Oracle Taleo and IBM Kenexa, have been in steady decline for years.

Solving problems for companies that engage talent has become a race in every sense of the word, and gaining access to new relationships through applicant-tracking software is revolutionizing how talent is discovered. Whether you place second, third, or last, companies are quickly realizing they must run or be outdone. 

iCIMS Inc. recently won a Bronze Stevie® Award in the category of Customer Service Team of the Year - Computer Software at The 2019 American Business Awards®. CFO Valerie Rainey also won a Silver Stevie for Female Executive of the Year in the 2019 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.  

Interested in entering the 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Bubble tea, also called pearl tea, or boba tea, is a flavored milk tea with chewy tapioca beads. Sounds modest enough, right? The demand for this beverage, however, is anything but modest. Valued at $1.89 billion (USD) in 2018, the global bubble tea market is projected to reach $3.49 billion (USD) by 2026. So, how did a mere variation on classic tea capture this much of the global market share?

Food Fashion 

Social media is an easy way to gauge this fad’s popularity. Instagram is full of pictures of delicious food, and beverages often have dedicated hashtags. Plus, it’s now customary to share nearly every meal on social media before consuming it. In a culture that looks at what you eat the way it looks at what you wear, food has become just as fashionable as clothing.

“What’s in your pantry or on your plate has become a form of self-expression, much like a fabulous pair of Christian Louboutins. Just as the label ‘fashionista’ evokes an entire lifestyle, so, too, does the term ‘foodie,’” writes famous television host and entrepreneur Martha Stewart in a blog for HuffPost.

This phenomenon is not new, of course. In an article written for the New York Times almost four decades ago (“De Gustibus; Fashions in Food, Like Those in Clothes, Follow the Trends”), food critic Mimi Sheraton talks quite candidly about food fashion.

“It is probable that many people, anxious to be seen eating the right thing in the right restaurant, are swallowing hard-to-down rare fish, almost raw vegetables, white chocolate mousse that tastes like sweet fat and exotically aromatic seasonings they secretly consider to be as appealing as moth balls,” writes Sheraton.

While that sentiment might be true, there is no denying that food fashion is a huge economic driver. It has helped build numerous billion-dollar industries, including the bubble tea market.

The Rise of Bubble Tea

Bubble tea originated in Taiwan, in the 1980s. The most popular version is said to have originated in Chun Shui Tang tea shop in Taichung, Taiwan where the owner, Liu Han-Chieh, experimented with milk tea by adding it in a cocktail shaker with ice. At that time, no one served chilled tea, and the concoction went on to become extremely popular with the younger crowd. They called it “bubble tea” because of the thick foam layer that formed on top. In 1987 Han-Chieh held a competition for his staff members and asked them to come up with creative beverage variations. Lin Hsiu Hui, the store manager, added tapioca balls to milk tea and created the version now popular across the globe.

From its nation of origin, bubble tea quickly spread to several other Asian countries and communities. It burst onto North America’s food scene in waves but hit the mainstream around 2014 and is now considered a mainstay. It’s phenomenal growth is partly tied to the simultaneous rise of foodies on social media, who are notoriously partial to food’s visual appeal.

Researchers who study food cultures attribute another factor to bubble tea’s success. By introducing and marketing the product toward working professionals, it gave the drink a kind of stature. Krishnendu Ray, assistant professor of food studies at New York University, explains in an article published in the South China Morning Post: “One of the attractive things about bubble tea is the fact that it is spreading to the middle class, professional classes, so it has a lot more prestige at the very beginning compared to food associated with poor working-class Chinese, which is what I call a hierarchy of taste. The higher the class your food is, the easier it is to circulate in global circuits and acquire prestige.”

Riding on Boba’s Success

Many organizations grew out of bubble tea’s success. This includes franchises that serve boba to customers, as well as manufacturers that make the material and equipment for the tea.

Strong competition in the bubble tea market drives these manufacturers to experiment with flavors and to improve the quality of the boba they produce. Jasmine milk tea, avocado milk tea, and mango green tea are just a few of many great variations.

A Stevie-winning boba manufacturer is Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd., which is based in Taichung City, Taiwan, China. They help businesses serve bubble tea by guiding them from the initial concept stage to sampling to making the final tapioca drinks. Conceding there are several other players in the market to compete against, Mindy Jen, co-founder and chief marketing officer (CMO) at Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd., says they outstrip competition by treating bubble tea like the food fashion culture that it is.

“Even though bubble milk tea is a traditional drink, our team believes bubble milk tea is not only a Taiwanese local drink but a fashion culture, just like all the different fashion industries,” she says. “Therefore, we change our marketing strategy and products all the time to fit the quick changes in the industry.”

It’s anyone’s guess whether bubble tea is here to stay or will fade like so many fads before it. For now, though, many people count it as their favorite beverage, and that is all that matters.

Jen won a Silver Stevie® Award in the Female Executive of the Year - Business Products - 11 to 2,500 Employees category at The 2019 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business.

Interested in entering the 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

When discussing gender equality, the wage gap between men and women nearly always becomes a part of the conversation. While most people know this gap exists, not as many realize the far-reaching and detrimental impacts of that inequality.

Why Does This Gap Exist?

Before diving into the consequences of wage inequality, it’s important to look at some of the reasons the gap exists. It’s a complicated issue involving many interconnected factors, but some of the most prominent reasons include:

• Occupational segregation, wherein more men work in higher-paid industries
• Vertical segregation, with more men in senior (and, therefore, higher-paid) positions
• Nonexistent, poorly enforced, or ineffective legislation related to equal pay
• Barriers to entering the labor market, including outright discrimination, access to education, and work-hindering issues related to child-rearing

Real-World Consequences of the Gender Wage Gap

Closing the wage gap would, of course, be positive because it would be a step toward overall gender equality. However, there would be myriad other positive effects that should motivate people and businesses to make this issue a priority.

For example, gender wage inequality reduces overall economic output. While it’s certainly not the case for every woman, the wage disparity does make it more likely for females to be dependent on welfare or other social aid programs—a problem that becomes even more pronounced in old age. With less savings and fewer pensions, women are generally at a disadvantage in regard to retirement and more likely to face poverty after the age of 65. One study by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services, and Indigenous Affairs in Australia found that eliminating the 17 percent wage gap there would translate to approximately $93 billion in increased gross domestic product (GDP), or 8.5 percent of overall GDP.

Aptitude Research Partners also found that organizations that specifically prioritize gender equity perform better. They are 54 percent more likely to exceed industry average turnover numbers and 46 percent more likely to have higher year-over-year ratings on Glassdoor. With better retention rates and more engaged and motivated employees, companies are more likely to attract top talent, which then generally leads to improved customer satisfaction and higher-than-average financial returns.

In short, closing the wage gap would improve individual employee satisfaction and quality of life, improve a company’s bottom line, and positively impact an entire nation’s GDP and economic standing.

The March Toward Equality

According to the World Economic Forum, if progress continues at its current pace, it will take 108 years to close the global pay gap in the 106 countries covered in that report. This pace is a result of the slowness of global action on the topic and the sheer vastness of the gap itself.

While these numbers can seem disheartening, many individuals and companies are using them as motivation. Lauren Hasson founded DevelopHer, which is based in Dallas, Texas, United States. DevelopHer is an award-winning platform that bridges the gender wage gap, inspires, and empowers women to advocate for themselves to break glass ceilings.

The scalability and affordability offered through DevelopHer programs has allowed and empowered thousands of women to earn 26%, 43%, and 67% salary increases in just a single negotiation. Through DevelopHer, Lauren has created real change at a grassroots level. Women have also gained the confidence to secure better positions and move beyond glass ceilings, bridging the challenging opportunity gap.

Hasson just won the Gold Stevie Award for Entrepreneur of the Year - Consumer Services in The 2020 American Business Awards® as well as a Silver Stevie® Award in the category of Female Solo Entrepreneur of the Year, and Startup of the Year - Consumer Services Industries in the 2019 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business.

Interested in entering the Stevie Award for Women in Business?

Hasson acknowledges not only the complexity of this global issue but the need to focus on local solutions.

“Pay disparity is an intractable issue that will not be solved overnight,” says Hasson, “but the DevelopHer mission is to foster engagement by businesses and individuals at a grassroots level to affect true change.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the ways we think about our routine habits and work environments, among other lifestyle practices. For businesses large and small around the world, the importance of putting people over profits has heightened. The mission of the Stevie Awards is to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide.

We’d like to recognize some of the ways that Stevie Awards for Women in Business winners and 2019 Women|Future Conference attendees have pivoted their services, products and strategies to help individuals, businesses and communities impacted by the virus.

While thousands of Stevie Award winners are doing incredible work in their fields during this time, here are six that make the top of our list:

1. Arco + Associates, St. Louis, MO

  

Andrea Arco is the founder and CEO of Arco + Associates, LLC, a marketing communications firm based in St. Louis, MO that serves clients nationwide. Her company is a 2019 Silver Stevie® Award for Women in Business winner in the Women-Run Workplace of the Year category. Andrea also served as a panelist during the 2019 Women|Future Conference Panel – “The Significance and Simplification of Being Strategic.” Since March 2020, the Arco team has been offering an incredible value of free 30-minute virtual consultations to any business executives and owners looking for strategic marketing advice during this time. The sessions cover everything from messaging to clients, talking through fears, remote working strategies, bounce back marketing strategies, and more. Learn more about the Arco + Associates COVID-19 response here.

 

2. ScriptDrop, Columbus, OH 

 

ScriptDrop is a nationwide prescription delivery startup. The company’s president Amanda Way is a Silver Stevie® winner for the Women in Business Awards category Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Business Services. ScriptDrop has recently switched from solely a business-to-business model to a consumer-facing one. Its prescription delivery service is making a difference in the lives of all patients who are sheltering at home without a way of getting required medications by enabling pharmacies to deliver directly to customers’ homes. ScriptDrop Founder Nicholas Potts explained this shift during this April 21^st  interview with Fortune: “The coronavirus pandemic has meant a sevenfold increase in order volumes—and the execution of a multiyear business plan in just six weeks.” Learn more.

 

3. Jeunesse Global, Lake Mary, FL

 

Jeunesse Global is a global direct selling company with a mission to impact the world by helping people look and feel young, while empowering each other to unleash their potential. The company’s exclusive skin care and nutritional products are available in more than 145 countries around the world. Jeunesse Founder and Chief Operations Officer Wendy Lewis is a Gold Stevie winner for Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Business Products. Jeunesse has added new products to its Youth Enhancement skincare line in response to COVID-19. The newest addition is the AlōClnz Hand Sanitizer single use packets. Jeunesse also recently donated $500,000 USD to COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Learn more.

 

4. Income Access (a Paysafe Company), Montreal, Quebec (Headquartered)

  

Income Access is an affiliate software provider, digital marketing agency and affiliate network that serves the iGaming, lottery and forex industries. The company received a 2019 Bronze Stevie Award for Women in Business in the Women-Run Workplace of the Year category. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Income Access key leaders have been hosting webinars about how to create a contingency plan and maintain affiliate marketing business during trying times. Income Access SVP and General Manager, Tara Wilson recently spoke on the April 22, 2020 free webinar Business as Unusual. Making Remote Work 'Work'  about keeping teams productive and connected from a distance. Tara Wilson was a Moderator on the 2019 Women|Future Conference panel “The Art of Inclusion: How to Craft Your Company's Diversity Mosaic” and is currently serving on the 2020 Women|Future Conference Advisory Board.

In addition, Paysafe has been providing solutions for small business that want to pivot their model to include an online scheduling or order ahead service using POS systems. For businesses not currently operating a sophisticated POS system, Paysafe works with their payment services provider to launch lightweight solutions such as Clover Go or Clover Flex.

 

5. TriageLogic Group, Jacksonville, FL

 

Triagelogic is a URAC-accredited physician-led company that offers leading-edge solutions for patient care management including emergency healthcare solutions that can be implemented quickly for remote monitoring. Dr. Charu Raheja is the co-founder and CEO of the TriageLogic. She and her team are working tirelessly to help as many healthcare organizations as possible during this crisis. TriageLogic is offering free COVID-19 Protocols to doctor’s offices and hospitals to efficiently triage those who may have been exposed or who are concerned about the virus. The company CTO spoke on live TV network News4Jax to explain the do's and don'ts of wearing a protective face mask. If you need help setting up a #COVID-19 hotline, contact info@triagelogic.com or call (855) 734-4463.

TriageLogic Group and Dr. Charu Raheja are 2018 Stevie® Awards For Women in Business winners. TriageLogic is a Silver Stevie® Award winner in the Company/Organization Awards category, and Charu is a Gold Stevie® Award winner in the Individual Awards category for Women in Business. Dr. Charu Raheja was a breakout session speaker at the 2019 Women|Future Conference; her session was titled “Finding Your True Self and Meaningful Support at Work.”

 

6. Noonday Collection, Austin, TX

 

Noonday Collection designs and sells jewelry and accessories made by Artisans in some of the world's most vulnerable communities. The company partners with Artisan Businesses through fair trade, empowering them to grow sustainably and to create dignified jobs for people who need them. Noonday announced on April 21, 2020  that they are partnering with @nokidhungry to help end childhood hunger. In a time when schools have closed their doors, kids in need have missed millions of school meals that their families rely on. They are also running contests on social media to nominate healthcare workers to receive healthcare packages and work appropriate Noonday accessories. Noonday Founder and Co-CEO Jessica Honegger is a 2019 Gold Stevie® Awards for Women in Business winner in the category Female Entrepreneur of the Year- Business Products.

 

About the Stevie Awards for Women in Business

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world’s premier business awards for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run. All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries to the competition. The awards feature categories to recognize achievement in many facets of work life, including:

• Entrepreneur Awards
• Executive Awards
• Achievement Awards
• Management Team Awards
• Company of the Year Awards
• Communications & Marketing Awards
• PR Awards
• Media Awards
• New Product & Service Awards
• Website & App Awards
• And More

More than 200 professionals around the world will participate in the judging process, and entrants have access to all of the judges’ comments and suggestions about their entries; an invaluable resource! Finalists are announced in early October 2020, and the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be revealed during the Las Vegas award ceremony on November 13, in conjunction with the 2020 Women|Future Conference.

 

Interested in nominating your business in the 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business? 

 

About the Women|Future Conference

This two-day conference for women encourages engaging connections, professional and personal development, and health and financial wellness through motivational keynotes, educational sessions, and networking. The mission of the Women|Future Conference is to help women share insights about the changes that will impact their businesses, their industries, their careers, and their lives.

Speakers and topics address the latest innovations and impending change in areas such as technology, sustainability, career planning, social media, government regulation, access to capital, and more. With panel discussions, a must-see keynote, plenty of networking opportunities, case studies from Stevie® winners, and a showcase of young women-owned businesses, this is an event you don’t want to miss! Learn more.

 

Registration is open for the 2020 Women|Future Conference, November 12-13 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

 

 

Summary: As technology races forward, there’s greater and greater uncertainty about what the future job market is going to look like, which is precisely why educational technology company MAD-learn seeks to turn students from consumers of tech into creators of it. In this piece, we explore how they go about this mission and why the Stevie® Awards honored their efforts with a Gold distinction.

In today’s landscape, technological discoveries and creations are increasing exponentially. With this rapid rate of change and development, it’s nearly impossible to anticipate what the job market is going to look like in even ten to twenty years, and it’s that very uncertainty that contributed to the creation of MAD-learn.

What Is MAD-learn?

MAD-learn, which is based out of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, is an educational technology company that runs a mobile app creation program for students. (MAD stands for “mobile app development.”) The curriculum focuses on bringing the concepts and tools of app development to students ranging from kindergartners to twelfth-graders. The program enables students to build their very own mobile apps. The web-based tool empowers all teachers—not just teachers of technology—to engage students in app development.

Alefiya Master is the founder and CEO of MAD-learn. Her educational background and professional experience motivated her to start the company.

“Alefiya has a degree in education and psychology from Emory University, and she’s gone through training and had experience as a Montessori teacher,” says Doreen Frempong-Baah, the project manager at MAD-learn. “She’s a teacher-turned-entrepreneur, and her background truly powers her passion for wide-scale educational improvement.”

What started as a small company has since grown into a program that serves over twenty thousand students across thirty states and five countries. Using just one metric of success, the company doubled its revenue in 2019 and is on track to do the same in 2020.

Technology Creation, Not Just Consumption

One of the driving principles of MAD-learn is the desire to empower today’s children to gain the skill sets necessary to solve tomorrow’s unknown problems.

“By employing our design-thinking program, we can engender twenty-first-century technology literacy, as well as teach students vital and transferable skills that will enable them to gain experience with problem identification and solution,” says Frempong-Baah. “By using the design-thinking process, we’re preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s careers. Ultimately, we aim to inspire students to become creators of technology and not just consumers of it.”

Because of the rapid rate of technological change, and the uncertainty it brings, the curriculum of MAD-learn leans heavily on the process of learning how to solve problems.

“When we don't know what jobs are going to be available ten years from now, we have to teach kids how to create,” says Frempong-Baah. “It’s important to have all kids learn to think and to create for themselves.”

Teaching children how to tackle future problems isn’t just about ensuring a spot in the workforce. It’s about learning how to harness available technology to solve global-scale problems. It is this sentiment that spurred the launch of MAD About Mattering, another initiative of MAD-learn.

“We believe strongly in global collaboration, and that’s why we created MAD About Mattering. It enables students around the world to connect and collaborate virtually to create apps that solve social problems,” says Frempong-Baah. “We’re extremely excited about the opportunity for more kids around the planet to create world-changing apps that will solve social problems and improve lives.”

Impact of Winning a Stevie® Award

MAD-learn was honored with a Gold Stevie® Award in the category of Best New Product or Service of the Year - Consumer Products at the 2019 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business. For MAD-learn, this honor has had both internal company-wide effects, as well as a sweeping positive external impact.

“Winning this award has been such an exciting time for the organization as a whole. It’s truly motivation to keep working harder,” says Frempong-Baah. “Through the exposure of the award, we have also gained more global recognition, which has increased our social media following and our overall brand recognition. Both help us keep doing our important work.”

Interested in nominating your business in the 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business? 

Stevie-winner Eterneva, a funeral company that converts ashes into diamonds has discovered a way to use their active social media presence to engage with their clients and community.

To many, the funeral industry sounds ill-suited for social media marketing. It is typically considered a low-tech, high-touch line of work, and the belief is that people don’t want to be reminded of death on social media. Things are changing, though, as professionals in this industry find smarter, more socially acceptable ways to engage with their local communities and to target audiences.

According to a 2019 survey on the mobile technology trends in the funeral profession, about 73 percent of the 1,172 funeral professionals surveyed were using social media to market their services. Facebook was the most popular platform for these marketers, with 67 percent of respondents using it. 

Marrying Life with Death

In an active social media managers group on Facebook, marketers are currently having a lively discussion on social media for funeral homes. One of the participants, Sam Barsanti, comments: “We are in the process of acquiring a new funeral home client. We aren’t extremely serious with them. We try to make their business seem as assistants to the celebration of life, rather than remorse for death.” 

Many funeral home marketers now echo this sentiment. Early social media posts from funeral services were largely obituaries. They are not so morbid anymore as marketers look for more meaningful ways to engage and to drive brand recall. 

Another factor driving a significant uptick in the industry’s social media usage is the emergence of “disruptive” funeral services, which are any services that move away from traditional burial. The practice of using toxic embalming fluids and burying tons of wood, metal, and concrete into the ground is rapidly giving way to more eco-friendly options. 

Capsula Mundi, a start-up based in Milan, Italy, places the ashes or unembalmed bodies of the departed loved ones in biodegradable, egg-shaped pods. This pod is then buried as a seed, and a tree chosen by the deceased is planted on top. This serves as a living, environment-friendly memorial. This company is very active on social media and has over 47,000 Facebook followers with a lot of engagement. 

Bios Urn, a start-up based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, also sells biodegradable urns, but theirs have seeds embedded inside. They have many environment-oriented stories and life celebration posts on their social media platforms and have a following of over 84,000 on Facebook.

Not all funeral start-ups are environmentally focused, though. AndVinyly, based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, presses ashes into vinyl records. The records contain music loved by the departed, as well as audio recordings from the deceased. Another outside-the-box funeral service, Heavenly Stars Fireworks, based in Stanway, Essex, England, creates pyrotechnic displays using the departed’s ashes. 

Stevie-winner  Eterneva, based in Austin, Texas, United States, converts ashes into diamonds in an eight-month process. They send pictures, videos, and updates to their customers every month, which is something positive for the bereaved to look forward to. Some customers even say this process helps them move beyond the grief. The company also maintains an active social media presence.

“Our mission is to #RememberRemarkably, so we leverage social media to pay tribute to remarkable people,” says Tracey Wallace, head of brand marketing at Eterneva. “For example, we do weekly inaugurations on Instagram Live, where our team welcomes each new loved one to the Eterneva family and shares his or her incredible story with our followers, which has evolved over time into a vibrant, highly engaged tribe.”

Eterneva won the Gold Stevie® Award in the Startup of the Year - Consumer Products Industries category at the 2019 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Adelle Archer, an Eterneva co-founder, also bagged a Bronze Stevie® Award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year - Consumer Products - 11 to 2,500 Employees category.

Interested in entering the next Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Die weltweit renommierten Auszeichnungen für Unternehmerinnen, weibliche Führungskräfte, Mitarbeiterinnen und von Frauen geführte Unternehmen wurden vor über 500 Geschäftsfrauen aus aller Welt überreicht.

Spotlight an und Bühne frei für weibliche Führungskräfte, Unternehmerinnen und von Frauen geführte Unternehmen, hieß es am Freitag, den 15. November 2019, als die Preisträgerinnen der Stevie® Awards for Women in Business  2019 in New York City bekanntgegeben wurden.

Mehr als 500 Geschäftsfrauen und ihre Gäste waren dabei, als im Rahmen eines Galadinners im Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City die Preisträgerinnen bekannt gegeben wurden. Mit dabei waren unter anderem Gewinnerinnen aus Australien, Deutschland, Großbritannien, Indonesien, Israel, Kanada, Österreich, Singapur, der Schweiz und den USA.

Zu den Preisträgerinnen der diesjährigen Stevie Awards for Women in Business zählen auch drei Geschäftsfrauen und Unternehmen aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz.  

TourRadar aus Wien gewann den Gold Stevie Award in der Kategorie Employee of the Year für Melissa Lopez, Assistant Team Lead im Sales and Support Team in Nordamerika. Die Social Media Managerin des weltweit größten Online-Reisebüro für Mehrtagestouren Sama Abdi erhielt eine Bronze Stevie Medaille in der selben Kategorie. Die Freude war riesengroß, als Melissa Lopez ihren Gold Stevie Award live auf der Bühne entgegennehmen durfte.

Interview Melissa Lopez:

Interview mit Sama Abdi:

 

Ebenfalls persönlich entgegennehmen konnte ihre Silber und Bronze Stevies Rosemary Lokhorst. Für Digging Deep aus Cham in der Schweiz gewann die Schriftstellerin, Technologieunternehmerin und preisgekrönte Spieleproduzentin einen Silber und einen Bronze Stevie Award in den Kategorien Organization of the Year – Government or Non-Profit– 10 or Less Employees und Female Innovator of the Year – Government or Non-Profit –10 or Less Employees. Digging Deep ist eine gemeinnützige Organisation, die die heilende Kraft des Selbstausdrucks durch Spaß und die Nutzung digitaler Selbsthilfetools aktiviert.

Interview mit Rosemary Lokhorst: 

 

Leider nicht live dabei, aber trotzdem stolzer Gewinner von zwei Gold Stevie Awards war LabTwin aus Berlin. Das weltweit erste digitale Laborassistent mit Sprach- und KI-Unterstützung erhielt die jeweils höchsten Auszeichnung in den Kategorien Best New Product or Service of the Year - Business Products und Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Europe, the Middle East & Africa für Magdalena Paluch, Mitgründerin und Geschäftsführerin von LabTwin.

Die Preisverleihung wurde weltweit live übertragen.

Mehr als 1.500 Nominierungen von Organisationen und Einzelpersonen aus 25 Nationen wurden in diesem Jahr bei den Stevie Awards for Women in Business eingereicht, beispielsweise in den Kategorien Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, und Startup of the Year.

Eine Übersicht über alle Gewinner der Stevie Awards for Women in Business 2019 sowie die Fotos der Preisverleihungfinden Sie unter  https://stevieawards.com/women/2019-stevie-award-winners.

Während die Bewerbungsphase der nächsten Stevie Awards for Women in Business erst im Mai 2020 startet, haben alle Organisationen aus Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg und Belgien bereits jetzt die Möglichkeit, ihre Nomminierungen für die German Stevie Awards 2020 einzureichen. Die reguläre Teilnahmefrist läuft bis zum 22. Januar 2020. Informationen zu den German Stevie Awards finden Sie unterwww.StevieAwards.com/GSA. 

Alle Videoclips der Preisverleihung und Interviews mit den Gewinnern und Juroren der Stevie Awards for Women in Business finden Sie auf dem YouTube Kanal „TheStevies“ unter: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheStevies/playlists.  

World's Top Honors for Women Entrepreneurs, Executives, Employees, and the Organizations They Run Were Presented in New York

Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, winners in the 2019 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business were announced on Friday, November 15.

With more than 500 businesswomen and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced at a gala dinner at the New York Marriott Marquis. Nations represented at the event included Australia, Canada, Finland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the U.S.A., among others.

The presentations were broadcast live worldwide. Photos from the event are available here.

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 160 business professionals working in eight specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to six 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)
• Melissa Sones Consulting, New York, NY, U.S.A. (#2)
• DP DHL, worldwide (#3)
• WDS Marketing & Public Relations, Overland Parks, KS, U.S.A. (#4)
• Harman International, Stamford, CT, U.S.A. (#5 TIE)
• Jeunesse Global, Lake Mary, FL, U.S.A. (#5 TIE)

The 2019 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:

• Berna Tan, COO, Arvato CRM Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey — Female Executive of the Year in Europe, the Middle East & Africa
• Brenda Dennis, Vice President, Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA, U.S.A.— Female Executive of the Year – Business Products – More Than 2,500 Employees
• Oanh Phuong, Regional Head of Customer Support, Asia Pacific and Japan, HP Inc., Singapore — Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia, or New Zealand
• Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Brand Marketing Peloton, New York, NY, U.S.A. — Most Innovative Woman of the Year – Technology
• Siti Choiriana, Consumer Service Director, PT. Telkom Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia — Female Executive of the Year – Consumer Services – More Than 2,500 Employees
• Sarah Konowal, Co-Founder and CEO, Ripshot Enterprises, Toronto, ON, Canada — Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Canada
• Ann DeAngelo, Associate Director, Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC), Fairway, KS, U.S.A. — Women Helping Women – Government or Non-Profit
• Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO, Zum, Redwood City, CA, U.S.A. — Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Consumer Services – 11 to 2,500 Employees
• Rachael Ferguson, CEO/Podiatrist, Synxsole, Brisbane, QLD, Australia — Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand
• National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Washington, D.C., U.S.A. — Event of the Year
• Solv by Concentrix, Belfast, United Kingdom — Best New Product or Service of the Year – Business Services; Most Innovative Company of the Year – More Than 10 Employees
• Thomson Reuters, New York, NY, U.S.A. — Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Multicultural

Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include CAULIPOWER, Dubai Health Authority, Harman International, INKAS® Armored Vehicle Manufacturing, Jeunesse Global, LabTwin, Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers, Pennsylvania’s Department of Banking and Securities, Solv by Concentrix, The Audacious Agency, and Turkish Airlines.

HCL Technologies, the multinational information technology service and consulting company, sponsored awards in six Red Ladder Women in Technology categories. Among other notable Stevie winners in those categories are

• Jo Abernathy, Chief Information Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina — Leader in Operational Excellence
• Rachel Barber, SVP & CTO, Gaming and Lottery, IGT — Transformational Sourcing Relations Leader
• Kirsten Davies, SVP and Chief Information Security Advisor, Estee Lauder Companies Inc. — Leader in Operational Excellence
• Kimberly Green-Kerr, Senior Vice President, Sprint Business, Sprint — Leader in Transforming Customer Engagement
• Laura Miller, Chief Information Officer, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) — Leadership in NexGen Technology
• Shalaka Prabhune, Head of Corporate IT, TiVo — Digital Transformer of the Year
• Carol Rohl, Executive Director, Global Research IT, Merck & Co. Inc. — 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 second edition of its Women|Future Conference in New York on November 14-15 in conjunction with the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. More than 150 women shared two days of programming highlighted by keynote speeches by Sheryl Connelly of the Ford Motor Company and Selena Rezvani of Be Leaderly.

Entries for the 2020 (17^th) edition of the awards will open in May. The 2020 awards ceremony will be at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada U.S.A. on Friday, November 13, with the Women|Future Conference sharing the same venue on November 12-13.

Entries for the 2020 edition of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open in May.