Four women connected to Niagara-on-the-Lake are finalists for a set of annual awards that celebrate women in the world of business, entrepreneurship and non-profits.
Katie Houghton, Willowbank’s executive director, Antonia Mantonakis, a Brock University professor, Rachel Schalk, a head chef in Virgil, and Kimberly Legros, owner of Brunch Beverages, are up for four separate awards part of the Women In Business Awards, hosted by the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce.
Houghton, the executive director of the School of Restoration Arts at Willowbank in Queenston, is one of six finalists for the Excellence in the Not-for-Profit Sector Award.
Students at Willowbank take part in a three-year diploma proram that teaches them about heritage conservation for homes, buildings and other cultural resources. The school operates as a non-profit and is located in the Willowbank Estate, a National Historic Site.
Houghton has been at Willowbank since 2022 and executive director since March 2025 — she says she’s fortunate to work alongside a dedicated team.
“The opportunity to positively influence people and places is a privilege,” she told The Lake Report via email. “I am proud to play a role in strengthening Willowbank School of Restoration Arts and its unique approach to heritage education through the hand, heart and head.”
Mantonakis, a professor of marketing at Brock University, is among six finalists for the Excellence in the Public Sector Award. This year marks 20 years since she started working at Brock.
When she’s not at the university, she’s at home in NOTL, raising her two children, who attend Crossroads Public School.
She says she’s “very honoured” to be a finalist for the award and said looking back on two decades at Brock, and all the ways both the institution and she as a professor have changed, has been incredible.
“So much has changed with how we interact with students, how we teach students, how we influence students and how learning takes place,” she siad. “It’s been a great change because one of the things that I really champion at Brock is experiential learning and getting involved in the community.”
Over in Virgil, Schalk runs the kitchen at Bricks & Barley on Four Mile Creek Road. She’s been working at the restaurant for five years and has been in the culinary world since graduating from Niagara College’s culinary management program in 2014.
Before Bricks & Barley, she worked at Tabor Manor, a long-term care home in St. Catharines, cooking for and serving its residents. She started working there after COVID-19 hit and wanted to help out while restaurants were closed.
Once they began reopening, she wanted to return to the culinary industry and ended up at Bricks & Barley, which opened in 2019 and managed to survive the pandemic closures.
“It’s a great restaurant, and it’s been really good,” she said, adding that her favourite part is mentoring co-workers who are new the working in a kitchen — it’s a stepping stone on the path to her long-term goal of becoming a cooking instructor.
Legros, the owner and founder of Brunch Beverages, a line of low-sugar, low-alcohol cocktails, wine spritzers and ciders, is among five women nominated for the Entrepreneurship Award. She started her business six years ago during the pandemic.
“Building a small business comes with plenty of challenges, determination and a whole lot of work — making this recognition even sweeter,” she wrote on Facebook.
The Women In Business Awards are set for Friday, Nov. 6 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel in Niagara Falls, where the winners of the competitive award categories will be announced.
To read the full list of finalists, or register to attend the ceremony, visit gncc.ca/councils/women-in-niagara/wibas.
