The 13th annual Women of Excellence awards will have to host their 2020 edition virtually, as pandemic related health restrictions put the kibosh on their annual, in-person event.

However, the new digital form will allow for even more people to take part and be able to hear all the inspiring stories of some exceptional Central Alberta women.

The only nomination in the agriculture category was Lacombe’s own Michelle Brown, Division Manager for Central Alberta Co-op.

Born and raised on a farm near Lacombe, Brown first started working at Lacombe Fertilizer and worked her way up to currently managing five different Co-op locations across Central Alberta.

Brown says she was nominated by her long time boss, and was also spoke highly of by a member of her board of directors.

“They must have thought that I’ve been around a long time and seen the changes in agriculture and being a woman in agriculture is not always easy, but when you love it it’s easy to do.”

Brown says despite working in what can be a male-dominated field, she's had no problems making her mark as one of the experts in agriculture retail in the area.

“I’ve never felt a social bias I would say, but just being able to get the respect of your costumers and treating everybody like family both your staff and the customers will take you a long ways in agriculture.”

Brown says even though it was just her and her two sisters growing up on a 100-year farm in the Iowalta district, there was no job they weren't expected to do, which help teach her the value of hard work that she since passed on to her sons Quinn and TJ. 

Other nominees from Lacombe include Laurie Maetche and Marlene Palamarek in the Arts, Culture and Heritage category, and Jenn Hamborg for Health and Wellness.

The 2020 Women of Excellence Awards will be held digitally on Saturday, June 13th. For more details and to purchase tickets, you can click here to go to RDDCF.ca.