SHE MEANS BUSINESS! Meet our £10,000 winner
Well that was fun! Hundreds of ballsy female entrepreneurs entered. After weeks of deliberation and a Dragon Den-style pitch at the pool, we have crowned our winner. Want to meet her?
WOW! We asked women in business to shout about their brilliance – and you delivered! This year Muddy Stilettos launched the first ever SHE MEANS BUSINESS Award, in association with Tide, and, boy, did you lot understand the assignment, with hundreds of entries flooding into our inbox!
Muddy Stilettos and Tide share the same vision – to support female-led businesses in pursuit of their entrepreneurial dreams and celebrate the hard work, creativity and business brilliance of women at work. Female entrepreneurs all over the UK entered and, with a £10,000 investment at stake, the deliberation process was intense.
The judging panel, consisting of Muddy Stilettos Founder, Hero Brown and Tide’s Aiste Krevneviciute and Giulia Saletto Meira de Vasconcelos, painstakingly read through the entries from a diverse range of sectors. So much passion, determination and ambition leapt off the page. After weeks of deliberation, they narrowed it down to three worthy finalists – luxury mask and accessory maker Curious Fair, yoga and adventure retreat specialist The Wild Times and ReMAKE, a marketplace for leftover renovation materials. Then last week, the finalists rocked up at the stunning Thames Lido in Reading to pitch for the prize.
Three impressive women, running really interesting businesses and with big plans for growth. But there could be only one winner… and Jenny Clark (pictured) founder of The Wild Times walked away with the enormous Muddy cheque for £10,000. Jenny impressed the judges with her confidence and clear strategy for taking The Wild Times to the next level, presenting a detailed marketing plan, identifying new audiences and the hustle and tenacity to get her to grow her business. Splitting her time between London and the New Forest in Hampshire, Jenny’s retreats focus on the wellbeing benefits of being outdoors – and the river of tears when she was crowned (pictured above), tells you just how much it means.
Tide also generously gifted the other two finalists £500 each plus mentoring sessions to help them achieve their goals. Go and check them out. Natalie Burnett is the founder of Curious Fair, based in Norfolk – a luxury mask and accessory maker inspired by nature whose work is often spotted at festivals and theatre. You’ll spot her creations in Emerald Fennell’s new film Saltburn, starring Barry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike and Carey Mulligan.
Founder Ozge Aygunoglu also dazzled with her start-up ReMAKE – a marketplace app for leftover renovation materials. Construction creates a third of the world’s waste and this platform would provide renovators a sustainable and affordable place to buy materials.
The SHE MEANS BUSINESS Award has been incredibly inspiring. A huge congrats to Jenny, our winner; the finalists Natalie and Ozge and all the awesome women who entered. See you in 2024!
