The Mabelhood » awards

Mabel’s Staffers Messy Rooms

Caitlin Madden — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:27:44 +0000

Help Mabel’s Labels Win a Shorty Award!

Caitlin Madden — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:26:59 +0000

The Shorty Awards honour the most note-worthy Twitter feeds of 2009. Mabel’s Labels is striving for the #smallbusiness award! If you wish to help out @Mabelhood in gaining a spot in the top five, please follow these simple directions:

Vote by updating your Twitter account with a tweet like this:

“I nominate @Mabelhood for a Shorty Award in #smallbusiness because… (add your reason here).”

Thank you in advance for your ongoing love and support for Mabel’s Labels!

Mabel’s Labels Wins the RBC Momentum Award

Caitlin Madden — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:09:08 +0000

We want you to be the first to know that the Co-Founders of Mabel’s Labels were awarded the RBC Momentum Award this evening! Winners were announced Dec 8th at The 2009 RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Awards Gala at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Master of Ceremonies was Diane Francis, Editor-at-Large for the Financial Post. These are the top national business awards for female entrepreneurs and this year saw a record 1500+ nominees, so it’s exciting stuff! Find out more here: www.theawards.ca

Attending the event were partners Julie Cole, Cynthia Esp, Julie Ellis and Tricia Mumby, along with husbands, family members and several staff.

A massive “thank you” to everyone who has bought our products, shared the love and been with us through the years. And, if you are a female entrepreneur (or thinking of being one), we hope our win will inspire you. Our business started with a simple idea and a lot of hard work. We’ve come a long way in a fairly short time but could not have done it without your support. So, again, THANK YOU!

Congrats to the Fab Four!

Caitlin Madden — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:23:03 +0000

We’re honoured to announce that the four co-founders of Mabel’s Labels – Julie Cole, Cynthia Esp, Julie Ellis and Tricia Mumby – are finalists in the 2009 RBC Women Entrepreneur Awards, in the RBC Momentum Award category. This annual award recognizes women entrepreneurs from across Canada who make exceptional contributions to the local, Canadian and global economy.

It is truly an accomplishment for the co-founders to be recognized, as a record 1500+ nominees applied for these prestigious awards, in five categories.

You can read more about the awards in this RBC/Women of Influence press release. Please note, while the release states Julie Cole as the finalist, all co-founders are officially equal contenders.

Winners will be announced at an Awards Gala in Toronto on December 8, 2009. Wish us luck!

Mabel’s Labels on FOX Morning News Atlanta

Caitlin Madden — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:43:17 +0000

Mabel’s Labels was featured on FOX Morning News Atlanta on September 30th. Sherrie Guthrie from Parent Tested Parent Approved was there to chat about the recent winners of the PTPA Media Awards.

Our Sticky Labels and My 411 Wristbands are shown 2.30 seconds into the clip.

Enjoy!

Congratulation’s to SavvyMom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year Shirley Broback

Caitlin Madden — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:37:41 +0000

Mabel’s Labels congratulates Shirley Broback of Laughing Belly Productions on winning this year’s SavvyMom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Shirley heads the family-operated event planning company behind the fabulous Vancouver Island Baby Fair. As past exhibitors at the fair, we have nothing but great things to say about it and how well deserved this award is for Shirley. Read more about this mompreneur extraordinaire here. Congratulations!

iParenting Media Announces 2009 Outstanding Products

Caitlin Madden — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:13:02 +0000

Mabel’s Labels’ Skinny Minis were announced today as an iParenting Media Awards 2009 Outstanding Product. Go Mabel!
To view iParenting Awards Top Product Picks and Mabel’s Labels, visit the iParenting Media website.

The Winner’s of Mabel’s Labels “Wish You Were Here” BlogHer10 Contest are…

Caitlin Madden — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:55:46 +0000

Kim from Prairie Mama and Lolli from Better in Bulk will be heading to BlogHer10 in New York City! Mabel’s Labels will be providing transportation, conference pass and three nights at the conference hotel. We cannot wait to see you again Kim, and are looking forward to meeting you Lolli!

Thanks again to all the amazing entries to Mabel’s Labels “Wish You Were Here” Contest. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

View Kim’s reaction to the news here.

View Lolli’s reaction to the news here.

Mom Entrepreneurs

Julie Cole — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:06:00 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of welcoming National Parenting Columnist for the CBC, Karen Horsman into my home where she interviewed me on the topic of striking the work/life balance. When we were arranging the date, I thought it was cute when she asked if there would be suitable background noise, appropriate for the segment. I let her know that noise is our speciality and we can serve it up anyway she likes it. Along with background noise, we can do headache creating noise, noise that makes the walls shake, playing in the pool noise, noise in the form of shrills, thrills, cries and laughter. Heck, we can make the kind of noise that gets neighbours calling City Council and Children’s Services. Some families fancy themselves as musicians or athletes. Nope, not us – we’re just the loud family.

It was a timely interview because the Savvymom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year award is about to wrap up. We’ve been pretty involved with it – we’re the original recipients, I sit on the Advisory Board and one of the prizes is a year of mentorship with us Mabel mamas.

The notion of dropping out of the traditional workforce to start a business is based almost entirely on wanting to somehow manage all those balls we mamas have in the air. There are, however, quite a few misconceptions about the mompreneur lifestyle. It sometimes appears to the outsider that we mompreneurs work during nap-time, send e-mails between diaper changes and make phone calls when the kids are playing quietly. I remember thinking my life would be in perfect balance – going from teleconference to play date without skipping a beat. The reality is that while we do have some flexibility, it does not give you the time you need to get your work done. So, go ahead and enjoy that afternoon at the park or that morning helping out at the nursery school co-op, but be prepared to be hunched over your computer long after midnight.

I remember the early Mabel years fondly, but with a puzzled look on my face. Only four years ago I was pregnant with my fourth kid and working at the Mabel office from 9:00pm – 3:00am. Dawn came early when you heard that first squawk from a little one at 6:00am. I remember one particular Mabel mama drove to Montreal (6 hours away) with newborn in tow. She spent one hour looking at some equipment only to turn around and drive back home. It was sort of the opposite to any cool road trip you’ve ever done. Highlights included breastfeeding at truck stops and driving with one hand as the other reached to the back car seat to pat and stroke the annoyed infant.

When we first noticed that we Mabel mamas were the emerging “Poster Child” of the mompreneur scene, we were caught a bit off guard. We thought of ourselves as entrepreneurs and initially bucked our new label. Then we realized – everything we do and the reason our business exists is because we are mothers. Indeed, we now wear that title as a badge of honour. Sure we often have to trade in luxuries like sleep, proper meals and watching reality TV. The trade-off is having some flexibility and it was a choice we made very deliberately.

We were quoted after we won the Savvymom Award and we think it sums up our position well:

“A Mom Entrepreneur starts a business to be able to make choices. We choose to live as dynamic business owners, enthusiastic mothers and inspired women.

We just thought it sounded better than our original quote of:

“In our hormonally imbalanced and irrational states, we choose to live as over-extended and under-paid business owners, exhausted mothers and neurotic and somewhat manic women.”

To check out the 2008 nominees and to vote, head here:

http://www.momentrepreneuraward.ca/

When it rains, it pours!

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:12:00 +0000

In the fall, Mabel had a really wonderful string of beautiful things happen. Elisabeth Hasselbeck featured us on The View and we were named the Savvymom Mompreneurs of the Year! It was a wonderful time (cue music…)

It seems to be happening again! As you know, Mabel has been celebrating her 5th Birthday. It has been a huge time for us. Wonderful cards and emails have been pouring in from fans, friends, customers and strangers. Check out the amazing hand-made puppet sent to us by our dear friend Linda Leffler of Nova Scotia! Thank you Linda!! We LOVE her! “Flat Mabel” is going to start travelling with us. We’ll send you updates!

The wonderful things to happen include winning a Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Business Achievement Award and a PTPA Media award! What a week!

The video below is Mabel getting some Canada AM love on Monday.