A Red Deer woman has been nominated for her work as an entrepreneur.
Janessa Marshall, who owns The Forum with her husband Shawn, was recently nominated by a peer for an Alberta Women Entrepreneurs Award.
“It was a pretty big honour to be nominated,” Marshall said Wednesday afternoon.
“There are some pretty big heavy-hitters (nominated). It’s pretty cool to be recognized for it three years into business and to have somebody take the time and effort to do that.”
The Forum is a movement and skill-based training centre in Petrolia Industrial Park, just south of the city. Marshall said when she started The Forum three years ago, she wanted to help create a sense of community.
“I’ve always found generations before us really focused of working together to build community and to be better, whether that’s through volunteer work, play or sport,” she said.
“We kind of lost that in the last while. We’re about finding that again and finding people who like to do the things you do and do it together, and bringing that to the community.”
Marshall said the business has been “very well received” in central Alberta.
Alberta Women Entrepreneurs is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to enabling women to build successful businesses.
The organization honours women entrepreneurs every year. There are a record-breaking 242 nominations this year.
“The Alberta Women Entrepreneurs Awards showcases the diverse talents and accomplishments of Alberta’s women entrepreneurs,” said Shannon Pestun, director of women’s entrepreneurship at ATB Financial.
Four awards – Celebration of Achievement Award, Upsurge Entrepreneur Award, Indigenous Entrepreneur Award and Emerging Entrepreneur Award – will be presented April 23 in Edmonton.
The award finalists will be announced this month.
A full list of nominees can be found at www.awebusiness.com.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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