A SWADLINCOTE businesswoman has achieved ‘high-flyer’ status by scooping a top national award at the age of 26.
Lisa Edwards, of Valley Rise, won the ‘Young Professional of the Year’ accolade at the 2011 Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) Awards.
She received her honour in front of 1,200 people, including proud husband Jamie, 28, and parents Pat and Roy Callow, at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Newlywed Mrs Edwards collected the award in her maiden name, receiving an engraved glass trophy from comedian Miranda Hart, star of the hit BBC show Miranda.
“I’m a bit shell-shocked,” said the victor, sourcing manager for Chesterfield-based alcoholic drinks firm Global Brands, maker of products including the UK Vodka range and Amigos tequila beer.
“I did not really expect to win but I’m very pleased to have done so and quite surprised. It’s very nice.” Asked how it felt to receive her award from Miss Hart in front of such a large audience, she said: “It was nice in hindsight but quite terrifying at the time.
“I’m just so pleased they didn’t make me do a speech and that I just had to shake her hand and stand for a photo.” Mrs Edwards won the award for setting up a purchasing department at her firm, which employs 100 people and has a turnover of more than £70 million a year.
Her entry submission and references from company chiefs impressed CIPS judges, who decided she had done the job ‘above and beyond that expected’ for someone her age.
As well as the trophy, Mrs Edwards was awarded a bottle of champagne and asked to record her thoughts in a postpresentation video interview.
The victor said she was delighted with the recognition and agreed it had earmarked her as ‘one to watch’.
However, for now Mrs Edwards is content to continue working for entrepreneur Steve Perez at a 14-year-old business she joined a little more than a year ago.
“I would like to continue working at Global Brands for a while because I’ve set up a system which I would like to get bedded in,” she said.
Mrs Edwards said she wanted to broaden her experience with employee management and ‘go onto bigger things in future’.
Her husband, who she married on August 7, said: “It was another reason to celebrate, definitely. It was like being at the Oscars. We are probably not going to get another interesting couple of months in our lives.”
