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2010 Women Into The Network Best Creative Business winner Joanna Feeley from Trend Bible talks to bdaily

Joanna Feeley from Trend Bible collected the Women Into The Network ‘Best Creative Business’ award in 2010. She tells Bdaily about her business, what winning the award meant for herself and her company whilst she also explains what benefits her association with WIN has brought.

The award is sponsored by SpaceCraft Events Ltd, Director Jacqui Chapman is a previous winner of the ‘Best Creative Business’ category so knows all about the benefits that winning an award can bring.

“I chose to sponsor the Best Creative Business category as I was a previous winner of this category and work within the industry,” Jacqui explains, “I understand the hard work, passion and determination you have to put in to succeed.

“Spacecraft Events have supported WIN for many years. The company has such a good feel about it and has done so much to support up and coming businesses as well as striving businesses in the region. The Awards Dinner is a fabulous night for Women across the region to shout about how well they are doing and raise a glass to the success in the region.

“WIN Awards are one of the most prestigious dinners in the region and we are proud to continue to support the company and awards.”

Name: Joanna Feeley
Business: Trend Bible
Award Won: Best Creative Business 2010

Can you tell us a little bit about your business?

Trend Bible is a forecasting consultancy based in Newcastle, predicting future lifestyle trends for global brands and retailers. We research top-line social, economic and cultural influences and help our clients interpret the impact of these on colour and design. We have agents in 18 countries selling our trend forecasting books, and work on a consultancy basis with SMEs and large corporations to predict change and inspire design and buying teams.

What did winning the award do for you on both a personal and company level?

Competitions are a great way of raising your company profile and it’s amazing how far reaching the audience is for WIN - lots of people have mentioned to me that they heard we won Best Creative Business so it’s an amazing press opportunity and can really open a lot of doors. It means that when you are writing pitches and proposals or even press releases, that you can tell your customers you’ve won a credible award and it really gives them confidence that they are dealing with an exciting, recognised company. I would thoroughly recommend anyone thinking of entering to do so, the form-filling is one of the least complex and is kept to a minimum, and it’s really great to read through your submission and stand back and look at what you have achieved - it’s often not until you write it down on paper that you think: ‘Wow! That’s me! I did it!’

What benefits do you receive from WIN and why should others get involved?

Many of the people I draw inspiration from are other women in business here in the North East. WIN celebrates the achievements of some incredible women and I’m very proud to be associated with them. I really did not envisage winning this competition last year, I really felt I had a long way to go to allow myself to celebrate success, but one of the things that’s really great about competitions is that it gives you the opportunity to take stock, to reflect and look back on how far you’ve come. It was only when I was filling in the entry form that I realised I had hit some really big targets and accomplished so much, but when you’re running a business you are always looking forward and trying to look towards the horizon. Sometimes it’s a great feeling to stop and acknowledge the successes you’ve had. Winning this competition has really put me on the map within the North East business community- recently someone came up to me at a networking event and said they recognised me from the ‘inspiring video’ played at the WIN presentation evening last year!

Tickets to attend the WIN Awards evening are £75 + VAT (£65 + VAT for WIN members) and include drinks reception, a 3-course meal and live entertainment.

For more information on how to enter or book tickets for the event itself, please email awards@womenintothenetwork.co.uk, or call 0191 385 6619, or visit: http://www.womenintothenetwork.co.uk/awards.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jonny Marshall .