Two Niagara-on-the-Lake residents took home honours at the Women in Business Awards on Thursday afternoon.
Barbara Worthy, the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum’s community outreach co-ordinator, received the Cultural Arts Award while Melissa Achal, owner of NEOB Lavender, took home the Entrepreneurship Award and the Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Award.
“I’m stunned, very very surprised and honoured,” Worthy told The Lake Report.
Worthy said she owes a great deal of thanks to those who wrote support letters for her and to Sarah Kaufman, the museum’s curator, who nominated her.
It’s Worthy’s way of bringing NOTL history alive for residents that she is most proud of and why she believes she was nominated.
“I do firmly believe that keeping those stories alive and having them available to the public and making them attractive to people is how we attract people to history — it’s how we bring people to this area,” she said.
Worthy is so proud to be able to work with the museum, because it is an institution that offers experiences that educate and have people leave feeling changed, she said.
Worthy was one of 13 award winners on Thursday evening.
“I felt honoured to be among such brilliance and innovation, women who have broken so many barriers and done such incredible work,” she said.
One of these other women was Achal, who took home two awards this year — a first in Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce history.
“It was so inspiring to be in a room with all of these amazing women with their stories,” Achal said in an interview.
Achal brought her 11-year-old daughter Zoey with her to the award ceremony, who found it inspiring too, she said.
Her perseverance with the operation of NEOB Lavender’s five stores and farm and all that she has been able to accomplish in the last 15 years is something that Achal is proud of, she said.
