For decades, Queen of the World, Oprah, has given us words of wisdom that have our heads nodding and take inspiration to new heights. She knows the answer to Queen Bey’s ‘Who run the World?’—girls!—and she dedicates her life to lifting up others and inspiring courage in a world where too many keyboard warriors aim to put people down.  

These inspirational words have become affirmations for women across the world. Encouraging us to embrace life, to give things a go and to trust in our abilities. There is no doubt that these words and the many more inspirational quotes that fill our Pinterest boards and Instagram feeds are helping to create an empowered community of female entrepreneurs who are giving the world of business ownership a go, especially here in Canberra where micro-businesses and solopreneurship is on the rise.

 “The more you celebrate and praise your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

—Oprah Winfrey.

These are words we’re shouting to women across our Nation’s Capital as Canberra Women in Business (CWB) prepares to host their annual awards and recognise not just the award winners across five categories, but all the amazing, brave and simply freaking awesome women in Canberra who are showing the region (and in some cases the Nation and World) just how amazing our female business talent pool is.

I spoke with CWB President Nicole Williams this week who said “We often overlook or undervalue the work we do and the goals we kick as business women. Entering the awards is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and how amazing we really are.” I couldn’t agree more with her words and it makes me reflect on all these kick-arse business women I know and know of in our wonderful Canberra community.

Estimates have it that around 30 per cent of Canberra business owners are female, and I’m joining CWB in their call out for each and every one of these women to nominate themselves for the awards and at the very least, use the application process to reflect on how far they have come and the goals that they have set. Give the awards your best shot and you never know, you could be one of the five award recipients gracing the stage at the CWB awards night on 18 August.

Let’s show the world what we’ve got! Because, ‘who run the world?’!

The 2017 CWB Award categories are Business Woman of the Year, Young Business Woman of the Year, Executive of the Year, Micro Business Owner of the Year and New Business Owner of the Year.

Nominations close at midnight on Sunday, 6 August 2017. Nominate now at cwb.org.au.