What Does a Woman Entrepreneur Look Like? You Showed Us.
We launched the Giving Joy Photo Contest in June 2025 with a simple idea: to celebrate the women we admire in all their fierce, fabulous, and fearless forms. Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect. Would anyone enter? What would people send in?
We received 116 entries from nearly 30 countries, and we were so moved by the range of photos, professions, and stories. It was truly inspiring to see how women see themselves, and each other: strong, proud, and absolutely kicking butt.
This contest was incredibly uplifting for us. It reminded us why we do this work. And now, we’re thrilled to share the top 5 winning entries!
🥇 1st Place: Phearee Sak-Kalish, “American Fusion”, Lowell, MA USA. “Here is a photo of my hardworking mother in her kitchen making meals for busy moms after getting off FaceTime with her siblings with her siblings where they learned their mother had passed away.”
🥈 2nd Place: Chizoba Nzeakor, “The Woman in Tech”, Lagos Nigeria. “There is no limit to what a woman can be.”
🥉 3rd Place: Caroline Nyaga, Founder and CEO of the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Initiative, ”Educate a girl in STEAM; ignite a chain reaction of opportunity, leadership, and change”, Thika, Kenya
🏅 Honorable Mention: Emma Beck, “Lattes & Legacy”, Osgoode, Ontario, CA “It starts with a latte and turns into a conversation, a connection, a community. Karin runs a café, a roastery, and a coffee truck, but she’s really in the business of creating spaces that feel like home.”
Honorable Mention: Amy Iori, “Marlen and Maria: The Tradition Continues”, Polvazal community near Santa Cruz, Guanacaste province, Costa Rica. “Single mother Marlen Villafuerte (right) teaches her daughter how to knead the cornmeal dough used to make rosquillas, a traditional round Guanacastecan cookie. Ten minutes in her Bricksto Bread oven heated to 300 degrees Celsius, Marlen will bake 400 rosquillas at a time and sell them in her local village.”
Additional entries we love:
Favour Okezie, “Stitching a Future”, Obio Akpor, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. “From thread to masterpiece, she turns passion into income..,proving that with skill and vision, a woman can build her own PATH.”
Ana González -Peña, "The sweet work of generations", Mérida, México. “For decades, she has transformed the gifts of the land into sweetness: bottles of honey, handcrafted treats,traditions you can taste. Her hands carry knowledge older than maps; her eyes shine with the quiet power of a woman rooted in the earth. Through her labor, she connects body and territory, nature and memory,feeding not just families, but the spirit of a place.”
Abigail Nyendwa, “Mobile Veterinary Clinic in rural areas”, Chisamba District, Zambia, “A 22 year old young lady running a mobile veterinary clinic in three remote rural areas saving lives using a motorcycle.”
Pamala Brooks, “Notary Babe”, Las Vegas, NV, “I asked my friend to help me take a few promotional photos to market my notary business, and this is how they turned out. I didn't have much money, so we went to Selfie World in Vegas to take the pictures using their props and selfie equipment. The notary stamp and notary book are real. I am a Notary in real life 🤓.”
Here are even more fantastic photos that we had to share:
