Validation.
The time has come, not for parking, but for your career: Nominations are open for the 2024 St. Albert Business Excellence Awards.
Taking home one of the coveted trophies from this year’s St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce gala, set for Oct. 25 and featuring a far-out '70s theme, can add to your or your company’s reputation, motivate your team, help get the word out on what you’re capable of, and even occupy some space on that mantle you’ve been meaning to fill.
Mary LeBreton, proprietor of digital marketeer Orthos Media Management, won the Young Entrepreneur award in 2023.
“You know what, it was a fairly intense feeling,” she said Monday. “It was cool to kind of get that validated, in regard to being recognized. You know, I really value relationships, I value community, and I value like my own reputation. That's always been really important to me, so it was kind of nice to just get recognized. It's always a nice feeling, and to have a thing on my mantle now.”
Orthos, with four employees including LeBreton, is entering its third year of operation, according to the company website. A second-generation entrepreneur, LeBreton studied human resources in school but found that career path seriously lacking in fun. It was the same for the time she spent as a safety officer after training with the Alberta Construction Safety Association.
She came to marketing circuitously after becoming a nail technician.
“Any time you become a nail tech, you kind of have to, like, market yourself to get clients,” she said, adding when the pandemic hit, her employer asked her to take over all the marketing for the company.
“I did it, and then I got really good,” LeBreton said. “And then the referrals started and then I actually started, like, headhunting (marketing) clients and then it just kind of exploded.”
LeBreton said the Young Entrepreneur award lends some additional credibility to her upstart business.
“It’s validation,” she said. “It's validation for clients, it's validation for me. I got a lot of exposure, you know because last year there was a God-awful picture of me! But it actually got us a client. So, me and the photos are now best friends.”
Nominations close Sept. 6
The Young Entrepreneur award is just one way to recognize a worthy business this fall. Among the cornucopia of other traditional categories, the program is adding an Indigenous Business award for 2024, according to Shelley Nichol, the Chamber of Commerce’s executive director.
“We had an Indigenous engagement process; three sessions we had,” she said. “As part of that learning experience and (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) Call to Action 92 to help Indigenous business, we thought it would be important to add an award.”
The award is open to any business with Indigenous ownership, management, or which incorporates Indigenous culture and community engagement practices into their operations.
Nominations in that category are among the 161-plus the chamber has received for this year’s awards so far.
The more nominations, the better, Nichol said. Even though some categories have specific criteria, it’s important not to take for granted that there is a full list of nominees for each one.
A lot of companies are nominated in the customer service category for good reason, Nichol said, but she pointed out this category tends to act as a catch-all for nominations.
“We try to make sure that as many people are nominated, we find an award they are eligible for and suggest that, ‘You qualify for this or that award,’” she said. “Customer service, that’s the one where people don’t know if you qualify, they nominate you for.”
This year’s awards ceremony, like last year’s, will take the form of a gala evening with a sit-down dinner. In mid-September, registration will open for it and the four other events planned for Small Business Week.
Reach out to Nichol if you’re interested in serving as an award judge, a position that is always in high demand.
“We love the business awards because small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of our community and our economy,” Nichol said. “It’s wonderful to have an opportunity to celebrate being nominated. We see you doing all that hard work.”