3 minute read
SPOTLIGHT
ENTREPRENEURIAL
photo by MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
EFFORTS
Several women-owned businesses were honored at this year’s 2022 Coastal Entrepreneur Awards, put on by the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Contract research organization Portrett Pharmaceuticals, which KIMBERLY LUPO founded last year, picked up the emerging company CEA award. Elaborate OutingsLuxury Picnics founder MICHELLE BETHEA won the minority-owned business category. KRISTI RAY and ERIKA ARLEE, co-founders of boutique film production company Honey Head Films, won the film category. Health care category awards went to both Clarity Counseling Center, headed by KARIN KASSAB, and MyPeriodPal, started by AIRLIE WEDEMEYER.
The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Center, with executive director Kathy Zagzebski (above), won the nonprofit category. And Clean Eatz, founded by EVONNE VARADY and her husband, DON, took home the award in the retail and hospitality category.
WARM OFFICIAL EARNS NONPROFIT NODS KAHLON, NEWKIRK JOIN NOVANT BOARD
MCLAUGHLIN-SMITH RECEIVES UNCW AWARD
The Wilmington Realtors Foundation awarded MANDY MATTOX, WARM board president-elect, with the John Pierson Humanitarian Award.
The award was created in 2018 and is presented annually to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership to a local nonprofit.
“JOHN PIERSON was the president of the foundation for over twenty years since its inception,” says JODY WAINIO, president of the Wilmington Realtors Foundation. “He passed away last year. Little did we know this would be an opportunity to honor his memory for years to come.”
Mattox, who is a residential real estate agent with Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty, says she chose to serve on the WARM board for several reasons.
“Initially I joined WARM because it was a natural fit, being that I help people purchase and sell their homes,” she says. “Why not join the mission to help low-income homeowners live safely in their homes? In addition to that, it is quite apparent that the work WARM completes for those homeowners in need is truly life changing.”
The foundation also awarded WARM a $2,000 donation.
The Novant Health board of trustees named POONAM KAHLON and TRACEY NEWKIRK to serve on the Novant Health Coastal Board of Managers.
Kahlon (above) is talent acquisition leader and senior human resources business partner at Somos. She serves on the board of directors for the YWCA Lower Cape Fear and as an executive member with the Cape Fear Cultural Association of India, and previously served as an advisory board member for WILMA’s Women to Watch Leadership Initiative.
Newkirk is the co-founder and president of Genesis Block and has more than twenty years of experience as a human resource professional and corporate leader.
Newkirk started UNEXO, a boutique consulting firm, where she builds high-performance teams and is a certified personal resilience practitioner. Genesis Block supports minority- and women-owned business development in the southeast region.
She serves as a board member for Downtown Business Alliance, WARM (Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry), and the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. She is the founder and past chairwoman of the chamber’s African American Business Council.
KIMBERLY MCLAUGHLIN-SMITH, the inclusion and diversity learning development specialist in the Office of Human Resources, is this year’s recipient of the UNCW Staff Award for Excellence.
Held virtually for the third year, the awards recognized members of the campus community who have excelled in their service to UNCW in the categories of customer service, efficiency, and innovation, human relations, public service, and spirit of North Carolina.
“McLaughlin-Smith is regarded as the ‘people’s champion’ because of her humanitarianism, integrity, and public service, which consistently displays our institutional values,” her human resources colleagues wrote in their nomination letter.
“She is someone whose relentless contributions have not only elevated campus culture but have successfully increased our community outreach with campus partners.”
In addition to McLaughlin-Smith, five nominees will be considered for the Governor’s Award of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed on a state employee: DAVID COOK, Auxiliary Services; KELLY KENNEDY and DIANA WASER, Office of Human Resources; SARA NIMMO, Abrons Student Health Center; DAN NOONAN, Information Technology Services; and TRAVIS WOODS, Office of Facilities.W
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