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.

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.  

While many think of academics as the core of education, there have been recent shifts in the fundamental way learning is viewed and approached. One of these more significant shifts came with the rise of the whole-child approach—policies and practices that move the focus from a narrowly defined set of academic standards to a concept of success that encompasses long-term developmental health.

The whole-child approach is particularly championed when it comes to early childhood education. The goal of this approach is to equip students with the skills necessary to be fully prepared not just for elementary, middle and high school but also eventually for college, fulfilling careers, healthy relationships, and successful citizenship. This is done through a more holistic and comprehensive look at all of a child’s needs, including the emotional component. It also emphasizes a collaborative approach between the child’s school, fellow students, family, and community.

Schools Embrace the Whole-Child Approach

The Malvern School, which is headquartered in Glen Mills, PA in the United States, is a private year-round preschool that serves children ages six weeks to eight years, and it serves as a prime example of the kind of learning institution that wholeheartedly embraces the underlying concept of whole-child education.

“The Malvern School always seeks to raise the bar in early childhood education,” says Kristen Waterfield, the school’s cofounder and president. “We encourage children to meet their highest potential, but that potential isn’t one-dimensional. As a teacher and a mother, I have always felt strongly about the importance of developing the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social growth of the ‘whole’ child, and this is key to our educational philosophy.”

While some detractors of the whole-child approach fear the loss of academic rigor, schools like The Malvern School demonstrate that the enhancement of emotional intelligence need not come at the expense of more traditional intellectual development.

“When my business partner, Joe Scandone, and I founded the Malvern School 20 years ago, our goal, first and foremost, was to provide exceptional programming,” says Waterfield. “And we wanted that exceptional programming delivered by forward-thinking, college-degreed educators. By starting to build this dual foundation of emotional health and academic intelligence early, we truly believe we’re setting up children for success throughout their lives.”

Parents and Caregivers Recognize Success

Parents and caregivers of the young children who attend programs like The Malvern School are pleased with the concrete, positive results. With the continuing success of its curriculum, The Malvern School, which began in 1998 with only 20 employees, now employs 580 educators and operations and business professionals over 26 locations throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, United States, and central and southern New Jersey, United States.

“Departing from the traditional model of day care or childcare programs, our schools focus on diverse programming that enables children both to learn and to feel loved,” says Waterfield. “This has fueled the school’s ability to become the largest privately owned preschool in Greater Philadelphia [Pennsylvania, United States].”

While some educational shifts may be more fad than lasting ideology, the whole-child approach only seems to grow in popularity every year as parents seek to provide their children with the best pathways to success.

“Since 1998, The Malvern School has educated more than 30,000 children—a number that continues to grow significantly,” says Waterfield. “With our steadfast focus on providing value to the community, we continue our journey to bring new educational opportunities to children and families, and we have plans to open additional schools in 2019.”

Parents, however, aren’t the only ones recognizing the significant work done by educational institutions in this sector. For her innovative work with young children, for example, Waterfield recently earned a Gold Stevie® Award in the Entrepreneur of the Year category in the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. 

To learn more about Waterfield and The Malvern School, visit MalvernSchool.com.

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued a call for speakers and topics for its second annual Women|Future Conference. This two-day event about how working women can and should prepare for change will be presented in conjunction with the 16^th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business on November 14-15, 2019, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Speaker and topic proposals may be submitted at https://www.womenfutureconference.com/speaker-topic-proposals. The deadline for submission is June 14. Questions about the conference, presentation opportunities, and sponsorship options may be directed to Ruslana Milikhiker, Conference & Event Manager, at Ruslana@StevieAwards.com. 

The mission of the conference is to help working women—entrepreneurs, executives, and employees—understand and prepare for the changes that will affect their businesses, their industries, their careers, and their lives. Speakers and topics may address impending change in areas such as technology, international trade, government regulation, access to capital, and the nature of work, for example.

Last year’s speakers included Liz Carisone of GroundLink, Shimona Chadha of HCL Technologies, Cheryl Eisen of Interior Marketing Group, Debbie Profit of Otsuka Pharmaceutical, and Jessica Rovello of Arkadium, among others.

After the conference, speakers will be welcome to attend the Stevie Awards for Women in Business gala on November 15, where Stevie nominees will be awarded in categories such as Entrepreneur of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women and Women-Run Workplace of the Year, in Equal Pay, and Achievement in Developing and Promoting Women.

Mona Andrews is many things: a California, USA, resident; an entrepreneur; and the operator of a business process outsourcing firm since the early 1990s. She notes she had the flexibility to balance the demands of raising young children, but when her kids reached preschool, she noticed other moms didn’t have that same luxury.

“Either they stayed employed and missed many of the important moments of being a mother, or they dropped out of the workforce altogether,” recalls Andrews.

Many of her female friends continued working after their first child was born, she says, but when the second son or daughter came along, the financial and emotional toll became too much.

“It’s an impossible situation,” says Andrews.

With her latest venture, Stay In The Game, she attempts to eliminate the dichotomy between being a mother and having a career. The company, launched in 2017 in Los Angeles, California, United States, offers “downshifting” opportunities, where women can work part time or remotely. This allows mothers to be home with their children either all day or at least more each day. The company also works with individual employers to reintegrate a mom into the workforce after a prolonged absence.

“As the children of these women grew, I noticed a surprising phenomenon,” says Andrews. “Over and over again, I met highly educated women who previously had important careers, and now they were telling me they wanted to get back into the workforce but didn’t know how.

The most jarring realization was their lack of confidence. They had not been in the workforce for a while and felt insecure regarding their relevance, their ability to compete, and their skill levels.”

At the same time, she noticed employers were reluctant to interview any woman who had taken an extended leave. To Andrews, this seemed a regrettable waste of talent and energy.

A Changing Workforce

While society has progressively abandoned the idea of strict gender roles, women continue to sacrifice their careers for family to a much greater degree than men. A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, for instance, found 42 percent of women reduced their work hours after the birth of a child, which compared to 28 percent of men.

Even more telling was the fact that 27 percent of women left their jobs to handle child-rearing duties, according to the Pew study. Only 10 percent of men did so.

Stay In The Game provides its services as a way for businesses to leverage the talent of experienced, skilled workers, who are often less expensive than lower-level temporary employees. Candidates work in a range of fields, from data entry and customer service to IT and accounting.

At the same time, employers can demonstrate their social responsibility by providing continuity for caregiving parents. For Andrews, the service is also a means to retain talented employees who might otherwise drop out of the workforce completely after having children.

“There will be an exponential increase in the demand employees have for remote and flexible work, and companies will be forced to change in order to successfully retain great employees,” says Andrews.

As her firm grows, she sees it as a way for more employers to manage that challenge.

“We can offer employers a solution that includes a talented, dispersed workforce,” the entrepreneur says.

Though the company is still in its infancy, Andrews says it’s not having any trouble finding female job candidates. In the case of one advertisement she placed for a remote position, she received 240 applications in just three hours.

“The demand for our service is huge,” she says.

For its innovative approach to helping skilled, professional mothers achieve greater work-life balance, Stay In The Game won two Bronze Stevie Awards at the 15th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business in November. It earned one for Best New Product or Service of the Year in the Business Services category and another for Start-Up of the Year.

“This has really reinforced the value of what we offer, and it shows our business concept resonates with many other people,” says Andrews.

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued the call for entries for its 2018 (15^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 90 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 final entry deadline is August 22, but late entries will be accepted through September 28 with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced on October 4, and the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York on November 16, 2018.    

Most categories require the payment of an entry fee for the submission of a nomination, but several categories require no fee, including most of those honoring women in the non-profit and governmental sectors, Female Employee of the Year and the Startup of the Year categories.

Marty Stanley, President of Dynamic Dialog and a 2017 Silver Stevie winner, said of her win: “Winning a Stevie Award is really fabulous because 18 years ago I left the corporate world to start out on my own, and I wanted to start coaching. People would ask me “Can you really make a living doing that?” so receiving the Stevie Award for Executive Coaching and Coach of the Year is testament to my personal success. The Stevie Awards raise the bar for every industry so women can keep making a difference in all organizations.”

Other winners of the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business included, among others: 

• Amy Tiller, Co-Founder and President of Growth, Inspired Results, Portland OR, USA
• Inga Hlin Palsdottir, Director of Visit Iceland and Creative industries, Promote Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Marsha Couch, CFO, Creating Lodging Solutions, Lexington KY, USA
• Kerry Small, Head of Customer Service Operations, Vodafone PLC Group Enterprise, Newbury, United Kingdom
• June Howards, SVP Financial Services and Chief Accounting Officer, Aflac, Columbus, GA USA
• Galileo Research and Strategy Consultancy, New York, NY USA
• Simple Mills, Chicago, IL USA
• Tavuu Welfare Associate, Karachi, Pakistan
• She Prosperity, Auckland, New Zealand
• Sari Bari Private Limited, Kolkata, India
• Microsoft, Redmond, WA USA
• Travelzoo, New York, NY USA

The 2017 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflected a diverse group of large and small organizations around the globe. The 2018 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 of the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations: an invaluable resource.

We know, summer's almost over and you're getting back into the swing of things. Whatever the reason, you didn't get around to submitting entries to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business. But you've gotten a reprieve. We have some tips on how you can submit your nominations in as little time as possible. 

The last day final entries wil be accepted is Wednesday, September 20.

If your women-owned organization deserves to be recognized, surely you can find 10 free minutes. Because in 10 minutes you can prepare and submit an entry to the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and potentially win a Stevie®, one of the most coveted trophies on the planet.

Here are a number of ways you can do that:

Repurpose Nominations From Other Awards Programs
The submission requirements are fairly open-ended, and there's a wide variety of categories to choose from. If you've entered any other awards programs this year, simply repurpose the nominations you wrote for those competitions, as long as they qualify as being run by women. Most categories require only the submission of an essay of up to 525 words and an optional collection of supporting files and web addresses to support your entry and provide more background information.

Repurpose Your Press Releases and White Papers
It's likely you've already done the heavy-lifting of describing your organization's achievements, your innovations, your new products and services, your marketing and PR campaigns, etc. Throughout the year you've been trumpeting your successes through press releases and white papers. Simply comb through your output over the past year and cobble together the text you've already written into a short essay. Note that the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will recognize your achievements since the middle of 2016.

Repurpose Your Press Clippings
With every nomination you have the option to attach any number of press clippings, work samples, video clips, photographs, etc. to your essay, to help paint the picture for the judges. Does one or more of your press clippings feature a compelling story that can be the basis of the essay for your Stevie Awards for Women in Business nomination? There's no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists and you can reuse it.

Hire a Consultant
Did you know that there are a number of consultancies that specialize in preparing and submitting awards nominations on behalf of their clients? There are quite a few in the U.S.A., and internationally and they've been remarkably successful over the years in winning Stevie Awards for their clients. Contact us if you'd like a referral to one of them who can take the process of getting entries into the Stevie Awards for Women in Business off your hands this week.

Submit Media Work
Sometimes you hope to win a Stevie for a specific reason - for a major achievement, or a member of your team - but you can also win a Stevie Award for specific media work. If that's the case, take a look at the categories for videos, apps, websites, publications, and live events. It's really easy to enter these categories. These categories generally require only a short essay of up to 200 words, describing the nominated work's purpose and results to date, and the nominated video or app, etc., itself.

Resubmit a Nomination From Another Stevie Awards Program
Did you have success with a nomination in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, or The American Business Awards? One Stevie Awards competition has nothing to do with another, and resubmitting a nomination from one program to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business is a valid strategy followed by many organizations.

Contact Us for Help
You'll save a lot of time by letting us do some of the important work for you. We'll save you the trouble of plowing through our category lists to find the category that's right for you, for example. Contact us, by email at help@stevieawards or telephone at +1 703-547-8389. Tell us what your organization wants to be recognized for, and we'll suggest the best category for your nomination.

Whichever strategy you choose to get your nominations written and submitted this week, do get them submitted by the final entry deadline of Wednesday, September 20.

Ready to Enter the 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

For years, ElsaMarie D’Silva kept the incident a secret. She was travelling with her mother and siblings on a crowded train in Mumbai when she felt a stranger grope her pelvic area.

Yet the girl, just 13 years of age at the time, had no way of getting help. She couldn’t scream amid the cacophony of sounds in the train compartment. She couldn’t even raise her arms to bat the man away, since they were pressed down against a sea of fellow travelers.

The assault put an indelible scar on D’Silva. In the years that followed, she’d avoid city trains whenever possible, opting for more time-consuming routes to reach her destination.

And yet, like many victims of sexual assault, she didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone. “I filed it at the back of my mind and moved on with life in the best way I knew how to,” she explained during a 2015 Ted Talk.

That is, until a particularly horrifying event shook the country of India ‒ and the rest of the globe ‒ in 2012. It was then that a 23-year-old physical therapy student from Delhi, accompanied by a male friend, was so brutally raped by a group of young assailants that she later died from her injuries.

By then a 20-year veteran of the aviation industry, D’Silva knew she couldn’t remain quiet about her own story any longer. She decided to use the very tool that helped her coordinate 500 flights each day as an airline executive to help combat the problem of sexual assault in India: data.

Her solution was an app called Safecity, which allows women and young girls to report incidents of everything from rape to indecent exposure and unwanted picture-taking. It also provided a comments section where females can share their stories of violence and provide mutual support.

The data, she says, can help law enforcement officials and community leaders to focus on “hotspots” where this type of behavior seems to emanate. And, crucially, it also helps hold law enforcement accountable if those problem areas aren’t addressed. “My challenge with SafeCity is to actually get people to question the status quo,” D’Silva told her Ted Talk audience.

D’Silva has already garnered numerous plaudits for her venture, including the 2016 Gold Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year. More importantly, the company she founded is making a big impact throughout some of India’s most populated cities.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the top awards for women entrepreneurs, executives, and employees around the world, opens for entries on May 22. Request the entry kit here.

In Mumbai, for example, local police have altered their patrols to counteract hotspots. And in Delhi, city leaders have increased the availability of public restrooms, alleviating the opportunity for predators to abuse women who otherwise had no choice but to relieve themselves outdoors.

The technology is also making it possible to confront problems in more novel ways. For instance, crowdsourced data revealed a tea stall in Delhi where men would loiter and stare in an intimidating fashion at girls as they passed by.

Once that trend became known, a community group hired a local artist to paint a mural outside the tea stand featuring eyes that glare back at the male customers. It has a sign that, in translation, reads “Look with your heart and not with your eyes.” As a result, D’Silva says, the menacing behavior has been significantly reduced.

Because of stories like the horrific incident in 2012, India has developed an outsized reputation for sexual violence. But D’Silva says it’s important to realize that there’s actually a much wider phenomenon that needs to be addressed globally.  She uses a startling statistic from UN Women to make her point: 1 in 3 females, the organization finds, will encounter some type of sexual assault in their lifetime.

Indeed, the market for Safecity has grown beyond India’s borders to countries like Kenya, Cameroon and Nepal. The company is even getting reports from western cities like New York and London. In total, it’s gathered information on more than 10,000 incidents of sexual assault and intimidation.

The more the tool spreads, the closer D’Silva believes cities will get to achieving true gender equality. “We need to create a world where every girl can walk down the street without fear of being intimidated and where every woman has an equal opportunity to a quality life,” she said.

An interview with Etsuko Tsugihara, President of Sunny Side Up, Inc.

Stevie Award-winner, Sunny Side Up, Inc of Tokyo, Japan won a Gold Stevie Award in the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business for Women-Run Workplace of the Year.  President and CEO Etsuko Tsugihara also won the Silver Stevie for Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand.  Tsugihara shares what winning the Stevie Awards this year meant to the organization.

The 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open for entries in May. If your organization has operations in Japan or any of  the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region, you may participate in the 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

What does Sunny Side Up, Inc., do?

We are a multi-faceted Public Relations firm offering a wide range of services from standard PR and marketing, to Sports Marketing, Casting, Digital Marketing, Business Development, Media Relations, Sales Promotion and more. Recently, we've expanded our services globally and our strength is in assisting foreign companies entering the Japanese market.

What is the organizational vision?

Our company motto is "Let's have fun!" We seek to create a buzz by continuing to evolve and expand, in order to stay ahead of social and cultural trends.

What sets your company apart in this category?

Japan is still a very conservative business culture with many challenges for women. For instance, less than 1% of the 3000 companies listed on the Japanese stock exchange are run by women. In fact, I may be the only female Founder! The Japanese government has a target to increase the number of women executives drastically by 2020. In my own small way, it would be great if I'm able to encourage and inspire the future businesswomen of Japan.

How did you first become acquainted with the Stevies®?

Some of our global partner companies and clients had received an award, and we wanted to see if it applied to our company as well.

What was it like for your company to win this award?

It's quite exciting for the entire company because this is a joint effort. Our company is young (average age is less than 35), with more than half being female employees. I hope that the award will help motivate them even more!

How has the win affected your business?

We hope it increases our visibility so that people who see our fun name will associate it with Public Relations in Japan. Perhaps we'll also be able to attract new team members?

What changes in the industry does your team find interesting and why?

Having been in the PR business for more than 30 years, I've seen how we've changed drastically with the diversification of media. For a very long time, mass media meant TV, newspapers, magazines and radio, and we were able to gain exposure by establishing strong working relationships and ties with the major media sources. With the expansion of the internet and social media, even the source of news and how it’s generated has expanded. In fact, anyone can be the source of news/information. More than ever, it’s not important how much you spend, but how creative and original you can be in creating newsworthy information. Sunny Side Up is known for creating a buzz, so we're in perfect position to be the trendsetters!

What is the story behind your organization that might inspire our audience?

I started the company when I was 17, and not only have we managed to stay in business for more than 30 years, we've been listed on the local stock exchange since 2008.That's quite a feat when you consider less than 1% of Japanese companies last that long. I hope that more young and motivated people are inspired to break out on their own!

Learn more about Sunny Side Up. Inc.

Nearly 10 years ago, Mariah Fenton Gladis, a professional psychotherapist in the state of Pennsylvania in the U.S.A., won the Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in the 2006 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Here we take a look at her life and what she is continuing to achieve.

The 2015 (12th Annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open for entries on May 11. Request an Entry Kit here and it will be emailed to you when entries open..

In accepting her 2006 Stevie Award, Mariah Fenton Gladis said: "I’m honored to be recognized among a group of such remarkable women. We, as women leaders in the emerging global community, have the responsibility and the privilege of instilling both passion and compassion in the workplace and the world.”

Mariah is herself truly remarkable. She is a 34-year survivor of Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), and has recently given an inspirational TIM Talk (Together In Mission). This TED-like talk series, sponsored by the Lutheran Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod, is an event with multiple speakers about the best ideas they have for the future.

Creating Moments That Matter

Mariah chose the topic “Creating Moments That Matter,” talking about the power that moments large or small, spontaneous or planned, can have in your life. Moments that can transform, connect, elevate, and sometimes heal. Mariah believes that as moment makers and receivers, we all have the opportunity to make positive changes in the lives of others and ourselves. During her talk, Mariah is also self-revealing of some moments that have changed her life. Here is a link to her talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4RaJEQrJHE

Strength of Spirit

In 1981, when Mariah was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), three prominent national neurologists gave her a 10% chance of surviving two years. Yet, three months after the diagnosis, she married Ron Gladis and went on to have two children: Luke, a graduate of James Madison University; and Cole, a graduate of Ithaca College. Today, Mariah continues to be a loving wife, a doting mother, and a licensed professional psychotherapist in the state of Pennsylvania. Her courage to continually go forward with grace and determination demonstrates the very nature of her character and the amazing survival capacity of the human spirit.

After nearly 35 years, ALS has ravaged Mariah’s body. She needs help waking, walking, dressing, eating, and multitudes of other personal chores. Her tongue muscles have atrophied and she speaks with what she calls her “ALS accent.” Wearing a special speech-enhancing microphone to enhance the articulation and projection of her voice, Mariah often tells her audiences, with characteristic humor, that she gives new meaning to the term “high maintenance woman.”

A Privileged Position

None of this, however, diminishes her powerful presence and expert ability to do her work. In fact, Mariah acknowledges that it is her personal healing journey that has expanded and deepened her capacity to heal others.

“People often ask me how I do it, listening to people’s problems all day long for over 35 years, and not get burned out, drained or disheartened. I tell them that I don’t hear problems. I see people reaching for health; wanting to change, wanting to be better human beings, wanting to create happier families. I have been privileged to work with people from every continent and from all levels of life and I hear them wanting to love and be loved more effectively, wanting to remove the barriers in their life and provide more for their loved ones on every level, economically and emotionally. This is a privileged position that I have, sharing so many heartwarming moments of laughter and tears with people working toward healing.”

Mariah Fenton Gladis Foundation

Since it was formed in 2006, the Mariah Fenton Gladis Foundation has funded special workshops: “An Afternoon of Forgiveness” is for anyone who needs to let go (check here for the next workshop); “Embracing Yourself into Wellness,” for cancer patients, offers the opportunity to create the necessary moments needed to move forward in wholeness and health; “Befriending Death/Transforming Life” explores the practical and psycho-spiritual preparations for death; and “Bless the Broken Road” presents an opportunity to experience physical or emotional heartbreak more as a gift, a resource to mine wisdom and compassion, than as an impediment to living a full life.

The Foundation has also supported needy students in life-skills training; provided private counseling for the underserved and financially destitute; given inspirational lectures on the value of hope and personal sustainability; and there is more to come. The Foundation wants to create more special workshops on self care, attract more of the served and underserved, give back more to the community—all with the concept of reaching inward and outward to provide more love, compassion, and forgiveness in the world.

Be An Agent Of Change

The goal of the Foundation is to empower people to master, monitor, accept, and enjoy their inner life as well as their life in the world. According to Mariah: “I believe that each of us is a powerful agent of change. As more people spread love, compassion, and forgiveness, the more we will create peace in our hearts, our families, our community, our country, and ultimately peace in our world.”

A Remarkable and Inspirational Woman

“I am extremely proud of Mariah,” says husband, Ron Gladis, “especially considering she’s spent more than two-thirds of her business career with the life-threatening disease of ALS. Mariah is a truly remarkable and inspirational woman.”

Mariah’s son, Coleman, is making a documentary of her life. You can see a 3-minute trailer for the film “Mariah” at http://www.mariahmovie.com.