It’s your chance to do an act of kindness today! Vote for your favorite Outstanding Business Leaders below! MEDIAZINE is honored to nominate the following individuals, who exemplify not only the epitome of holistic success in business, but also intrinsic qualities that exemplify what it means to be an incredible, compassionate, and kind human being who goes above and beyond to make the world around them a better place, and anyone they encounter with a lift up to better lives.
Without further ado, it is our honor to present to you, the 2023 MEDIAZINE Outstanding Business Leader Nominees!
You may vote for more than one, and as many times as you would like. We highly encourage you to share this ballot with your own audiences, helping us to spread the positive missions of these incredible entrepreneurs.
And by voting, you’ll receive the gifts of complimentary resources for you getting to live your best personal and business life from our nominees, as you experience more abundance, expansion, and growth. Keep an eye on your inboxes from our nominees!
Winners will be announced in next week’s MEDIAZINE article, so by voting and including your email, you’ll be notified of the winner! We will also share the winner on the @mediapgh Instagram and Facebook!
Scroll down to read the full bios of our nominees!
Kelsie Baldé is the owner of Hair Enhancements of Pittsburgh and she’s a full-time employee who works closely with her clients. But after many years in the hair industry, she has spent the past decade specializing in innovative, non-surgical hair replacement because it’s her true calling. Building relationships with clients going through chemo, alopecia, trichotillomania, thinning, or loss of hair. Locally owned, but working with clients all over the globe; Kelsie has a passion for hair and for living in service to others, and she vows to always make any client she works with feel comfortable, beautiful, and encouraged.
“At Hair Enhancements, we build relationships with our clients and we’re with them through their journey with hair replacement,” says Kelsie. “People are often surprised at how much time and care goes into our work. But I can’t imagine it any other way. I’m blessed to be able to comfort and support people going through such a tough time when losing their hair. Seeing the smile on their face, knowing we were able to give them some control and confidence is priceless!”
Lisa Fera is a pro in the financial industry. Lisa comes from a background of managing an office with assets worth over 200 million. Lisa takes her extensive knowledge and experiences to help her clients create their own wealth – no matter if they have millions in the bank, if they’re just starting out in the world of adulting, or if they’re facing debt that they love finally taking control of their financial future and freedom. Lisa is always welcoming new team members to help her on this mission to empower families with financial wisdom.
Most importantly, Lisa loves to take her own business freedom on the road with her Winnebago as she travels down the East Coast to hit up some of her favorite beaches and campgrounds and spend time with her grandchildren, entire family, and two labs!
Dr. Shellie Hipsky is the CEO of Inspiring Lives International, the Executive Director of the Global Sisterhood (which helps women and children around the world), and the editor-in-chief of Inspiring Lives Magazine. Dr. Shellie Hipsky’s doctorate is an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Duquesne University.
The President of the United States of America honored Dr. Shellie Hipsky in 2023 with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her over 4,000 hours of Volunteer Service! In 2022, she was heralded as an “Empowered Woman”, “Elite Business Leaders to Watch”, “Most Influential Female Entrepreneurship Coach”, “A Top Entrepreneur in the US”, “Women Leaders to Look Up To”, “Top 10 Unstoppable Women Entrepreneurs”, “Top 20 Business Coaches to Watch For”, “The 10 Most Influential Women Business Leaders”, “Global Woman Influencer”, and she was honored as the world’s “Top Global Empowerment Coach” in Vegas by the International Association of Top Professionals. In 2023, she was also named IATOP’s “Top Inspirational CEO” and at the International Business Excellence Awards she received the “International Visionary Leadership Award”.
An award-winning author, she wrote the Common Threads trilogy on Inspiration, Empowerment, and Balance based on her Empowering Women Radio. Her 13th book Ball Gowns to Yoga Pants: Entrepreneurial Secrets to Create Your Dream Business and Brand and her newly released 14th book Mom Magic Mompreneur were both international bestsellers in multiple countries.
Dr. Shellie Hipsky was a tenured university undergraduate to doctoral professor. During her former career, she was also a special education teacher, ran a group home for autistic adults, and was an Assistant Principal at a school of children with emotional and behavioral needs.
Active in the world of media, she was the host of both Empowering Women Radio and Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie on NBC. She has keynoted internationally from Passion to Profits in Hollywood to prestigious educational settings such as Harvard, Columbia, Pepperdine, and The University of Oxford in England. She has been featured on over 60 magazine covers and on all the major television networks. She frequently writes for Forbes and serves on their Expert Panel of coaches. Dr. Shellie’s podcasts and vocal recording of And All That Jazz from the musical Chicago can be heard on Spotify and iTunes. Her signature keynote can be seen on Amazon Prime on Speak Up! and she recently filmed the docu-series The Making of an Entrepreneur.
Often launching businesses for women, her latest business venture is Dr. Shellie’s Style Swap which helps women answer the question, “What am I going to wear?”
With her Global Sisterhood 501(c)(3) she collaborates with Charity Partnerships and acts of #PopUpGiving to help women around the world from Pittsburgh to Pakistan who are challenged with issues ranging from domestic violence to homelessness.
Dr. Shellie is currently enrolling women who are experiencing overwhelm with time balance and creating abundance while striving for the next level of their businesses and lives through her signature EmpowerU Master Class and her World Class VIP coaching experiences. Dr. Shellie Hipsky is the Global Empowerment Coach who is inspiring women entrepreneurs and leaders internationally.
Jennifer Nelson (R.N., B.S.N., T.M. A.A.P N.R.P. Instructor, A.H.A. BLS Instructor) is The Pittsburgh Midwife. With over 20 years of experience as a nurse, she is well known for her belief that fully informed parents can make the best healthcare decisions for their children.
She has ALWAYS felt that people are best cared for in the comfort of their own homes and practices in the traditional midwifery model of care.
She is certified in Neonatal Resuscitation & Basic Life Support and travels the country to train other midwives & healthcare providers in this life-saving skillset. Jennifer is the mother of 3 incredible children – each of those pregnancies furthered her understanding of the lack of choice that is represented in routine obstetric care. This fueled her passion to serve women, provide competent care to their families, and celebrate each other’s God-given talents & abilities.
Erika Maddamma – Sunny Spaces company owner, Erika Maddamma, has been passionate about organizing for as long as she can remember. As a kid, she would wake up on Saturday mornings and re-organize her closet just for fun. She would offer to help clean up and organize friends’ rooms when she went over for play dates. For Erika, there’s something therapeutic about the organizing process, and even more rewarding to know she helped a friend out! She’s a naturally positive person, always looking on the bright side, and is a great motivator. She firmly believes life should be lived fully, dreams should be pursued, and nothing should hold you back!
After nearly a decade of working for a car seat manufacturer in the baby industry, educating retail staff, and having a child of her own, Erika’s desire to help other parents deal with the excess baby items, exploding playrooms, and insane schedules led her back to her passion and Sunny Spaces Organizing in Pittsburgh was born.
Erika grew up in New England. She moved to Pittsburgh in 2016, after meeting her husband while she was traveling for work. Aside from organizing, Erika also loves:
- spending time in the sunshine, traveling, practicing yoga
- dance parties with her boys, Kaleb and Jaxson
- bold red wine, hoppy IPA, and rich, black coffee
- sushi, ice cream, and campfire s’mores
Erika considers herself down to earth and looks forward to helping people in the Pittsburgh area meet their organizing goals!
Marta Sauret Greca is the CEO of MEDIA – The Creative Agency, a boutique marketing agency that provides an entire team of creatives to business owners with missions to serve the world.
Marta has been named “Woman Business Leader of the Year.” Her book, The Minimalist Method: The Emerging Entrepreneur’s Guide to Peace and Prosperity, is a #1 bestseller. She has been featured in national media outlets like KDKA, WPXI, The Today Show Blog, and Inspiring Lives Magazine.
With over ten years of marketing experience, Marta generates her clients millions of dollars a year but more importantly thousands of free hours to do whatever they love to do instead of feeling stuck doing things in their business they really don’t want to be doing. She leads with passion and teaches lessons through humor, launching her clients and listeners alike into life-long success.
As someone who emigrated from Italy at 9 years old, Marta is fluent in both Italian and French and is a dual citizen of both Italy and France. She takes pride in having created a business that provides careers for many creatives in the US, as an immigrant.
Her favorite thing to do in the entire world is be a present for her family, most importantly her six kids.
More on our Outstanding Business Leader Nominees, as seen in the press!
Six local women-owned businesses and organizations of all industries have gotten together and decided to give back to their community during this holiday season. In the spirit of women supporting women, these women-owned businesses have decided to lock arms, and together provide some holiday cheer to local Pittsburghers.
Starting December 11th, local families will be able to enter to win nearly $2,000 in gift cards, self-care products, facials, massages, environmentally responsible clothing, and much more. The winner who takes home the lot will be able to either keep it all for themselves to treat themselves, or offset those holiday gift-giving expenses and forward their winnings to their loved ones. Pittsburghers will be able to enter to win by following these local business owners on Instagram and Facebook, and engaging with their daily content from December 11th to December 17th, as directed by their social media posts.
These woman-owned businesses and prizes include:
Erika Maddamma of Sunny Spaces Organizing will be giving away the complete package to kickstart your organizing with self-peace in your home by gifting two free hours of organizational services PLUS some of Sunny Spaces’ favorite organizing tools to start you off right! (Over a $350 value).
Kelsie Baldé of Hair Enhancements of Pittsburgh will be giving away a beachwaver curling iron, a basket full of the best professional-grade hair products, and a $100 gift certificate to enhance the beauty of your hair with their services. ($350 value)
Jennifer Nelson, founder of the Pittsburgh Midwife, will be giving entrants a $100 gift certificate to Kelly O’s Diner, plus a basket of quality-grade swag for entrants to keep warm and treat themselves to their favorite drink with highly sought-after tumbler products ($200 value).
Lisa Fera, an independent financial representative with Primerica will be giving away a Productivity Journal Kit and a $100 Amazon Gift Card ($200 total value).
Marta Sauret Greca, a Local Holistic Wellness and Beauty Influencer who encourages female entrepreneurs to take care and show up for themselves with her content, in collaboration with some of her favorite self-care businesses, will be giving away a gift certificate to a lux Cryoskin facial at Quantum Klinik and a full body Massage from Body by Design (A $450+ value).
Dr. Shellie Hipsky, world-renowned speaker and founder of the Global Sisterhood, will be giving away a $200 gift certificate for a shopping spree at the environmentally responsible and philanthropic boutique, Treasure House Fashions.
Winners will be announced on December 18th on all of their social accounts.
Not only has this giveaway gotten the attention of local community members, but also because of their philanthropic hearts, these women have recently been nominated for the Outstanding Business Leader award by the online magazine for business growth, MEDIAZINE. You can go and vote for them when the article is released on November 28th.
You can follow these women business leaders on Facebook and Instagram now to be the first to enter and win. One lucky entrant will win all of these prizes, giving all entrants to be the one and only to take home nearly $2,000 in goodies from local women-owned businesses that they can keep for themselves, or spread the cheer during their holiday gift-giving.
