Women in Business

Past Contest Winners

Previously Mirassou Winery and the National Association of Women Business Owners® (NAWBO®) honored women business owners by partnering to award the Business Optimist Award. The award acknowledged women who stand firm against all odds, maintain an optimistic view and conquer adversity to create success. Read more about the past recipients.

Michelle Tjelmeland, 2006 recipient of the NAWBO/Mirassou Business Optimist Award

Michelle Tjelmeland, 2006 Award Recipient

The 2006 Business Optimist Award recipient, Michelle Tjelmeland, started a new career and business while overcoming incredible challenges. She was awarded $10,000 at NAWBO's 2006 Women's Business Conference on June 3, 2006 in San Francisco.

As an eighth-grade language arts teacher, Michelle cherished her job because she felt it made a difference in young people's lives. While pregnant with her first child, she suddenly became deaf, and after her daughter was born she suffered another blow – her child was profoundly deaf. Because of her hearing loss, Michelle had to leave her teaching job, but remained optimistic and decided to pursue a field in which she didn't need to rely on her "ears." After earning a Master's degree in computer technology, she started a profitable Web development company, and with her success, created the nonprofit Cochlear Implant Awareness Foundation. Both Michelle and her daughter have received cochlear implants that enable them to hear today.

"Because of my good fortune, I strive to help others realize that they, too, can live the life of their dreams, no matter what curve balls life might throw their way," said Michelle. "To me, optimism is about impacting the people around you – it's about doing something in your own life that has a ripple effect, profoundly touching the lives of people around you in ways that you may never hear about."

Ann King, 2005 recipient of the NAWBO/Mirassou Business Optimist Award

Ann King is founder and CEO of Blooming Cookies Personalized Gifts Blooming Cookies bakes and delivers hundreds of thousands of mouth-watering cookies a year, presented in hand-painted customized flower pots with a big splash of creativity. For more than two decades, Blooming Cookies has been planting smiles on customer's faces for every occasion imaginable.

In 1984, Ann began Blooming Cookies out of her Atlanta home and expanded to become one of the most successful customized cookie and gift companies in America. The company has gone from delivering its products out of a baby-blue station wagon around Atlanta to becoming Federal Express's highest volume customer in the Southeast.

Ann's Blooming Cookies were first discovered and sold in the local Epicure Department of Neiman Marcus. As the demand grew for her personalized products, she expanded the company and eventually moved, along with her staff of customer service agents, designers and artists to Atlanta's midtown.

Recognized by other gift leaders in the field, Blooming Cookies was chosen for product development and fulfillment for FTD.com.

Deborah Naybor, 2004 recipient of the NAWBO/Mirassou Business Optimist Award

Deborah Naybor was raised in an affluent New York City suburb. At age 13, her life changed completely with the death of her father. As a young adult she struggled, earning an A.A.S. degree in forestry while working three jobs. Deborah began working as a land surveyor and, in 1985, became only the 12th woman to earn a New York State professional land surveyor's license. She opened her company in 1998 with $1,000 and an old pickup truck that often had to be pushed to job sites.

Today, Deborah's firm employs 16 people and works on the largest commercial and construction projects in New York, invoicing approximately $1 million a year.

As a worldwide expert in land surveying, Deborah uses her skills to help improve the lives of people around the world. She created micro-loan programs for farmers in Uganda, built a Malawi, Central Africa village's first-ever secondary school, and raised funds for training unemployed South African laborers. She works to improve conditions in low-income housing projects in the United States and is on the board of two African orphanages.

Deborah was the recipient of the first NAWBO/Mirassou Winery Business Optimist Award. The award was established to recognize businesswomen who have overcome adversity and remained optimistic. Deborah was selected from more than 120 entries and was awarded $10,000. She used her award to start "Both Your Hands," a nonprofit organization that helps create self-sustaining income for destitute villages in Africa.

Mirassou is pleased to announce that Jeannine Sargent of Charlotte, NC has been named the winner of the 2007 "Make Your Dreams Come True with Mirassou" contest.