The 2014 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards, now in its 22nd year, were held at the Fairmount Royal York Hotel with a VIP guest list of some of the country’s most dynamic women entrepreneurs and leaders. The evening began with a Welcome Reception and then was followed by a scrumptious dinner and lastly winner announcements.
Award Finalists
This year’s winners include:
- Jennifer Carlson, Baby Gourmet, Calgary, AB, TELUS Trailblazer
- Mia Pearson, North Strategic, Toronto, ON, Deloitte Start-Up
- Jennifer Gillivan, IWK Foundation, Halifax, NS, TPH Charitable Giving
- Penney Murphy, Penney Murphy& Associates, Saskatoon, SK, Micro Business
- Kyle MacDonald, Phoenix Interactive Design, London, ONRBC Momentum
- Julie Cole, Cynthia Esp, Tricia Mumby, Julie Ellis, Mabel’s Labels, Hamilton, ON, PROFIT Award for Excellence
The ceremony was as elegant as always, but this year there were some standout speeches. Penney Murphy, in particular, rocked the house with her witty and heartfelt account of her personal journey, the role her relatives and her husband had played in her success. Jennifer Carlson spoke of how she had attended these Awards 18 years ago and had dreamed of winning one day. However, it was Julie Cole who really said it best when she spoke of the devotion of Penny’s husband who had been crying and cheering from the audience, while one of her co-founders just got a text message from her own husband informing her that they were out of milk and would she mind picking some up on the way home … good luck tonight.
The Awards are sponsored by RBC with support from Deloitte, TELUS, The Printing House and PROFIT Magazine and are branded as “the pre-eminent national business awards recognizing the country’s leading female entrepreneurs.” According to the Awards programme, award recipients are selected “based on a variety of criteria including, but not limited to, level of innovation, profitability and community impact.”
Presented by Women of Influence, the awards received a record-breaking 4,000 nominees in the path to recognize the country’s leading female entrepreneurs. This year’s judging panel comprised of Carol Toller, Executive Editor, Macleans Magazine; Suzanne West, President & CEO, Imaginea Energy; Sandra Altner, CEO, Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba; and Joanna Track, Co-Founder, Good Eggs & Co.
The Awards Gala reception was compered by Diane Francis, editor-at-large for the Financial Post.
Photo credit: T. U. Dawood
