Shortlisted for Mentor, Coach or Trainer of the Year (and I Found Out from Someone Else’s Congratulations)
Written by Stephanie Austin — Owner & Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training
Last reviewed: May 2026 | Next review: May 2027
I found out I’d been shortlisted because someone congratulated me.
Not from checking my emails. Not from seeing a post. A fellow member of my Manchester networking group said congratulations, and I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. I hadn’t seen the Female Business Awards announcement on social media. I hadn’t submitted anything myself. I didn’t even know I’d been put forward.
It turns out Lisa from Outside the Box VA had nominated me for the Mentor, Coach or Trainer category at the Female Business Awards 2026 without saying a word to me. And I found out about it standing in a networking room in Manchester, completely blindsided in the best possible way.
Lisa, if you’re reading this: thank you. That meant a lot.
The Female Business Awards celebrates women running small businesses across the UK. Not the highlight-reel version of business either, but the real version where the early mornings and difficult decisions sit right alongside the moments that remind you why you started. Being shortlisted for Mentor, Coach or Trainer is the category that hits closest to home, because training is the whole point. It’s what Prima Cura is built on.
Whether that’s a First Aid course for a care home team, a Health and Safety session for a construction company, or something more clinical and complex, the goal is always the same. That person walks away knowing something they didn’t know before, and they’re more confident using it. Eleven years running Prima Cura, 25 years in health and social care before that, and that moment still doesn’t get old.
Being nominated by someone in my professional community, unprompted, is a different kind of recognition. It’s one thing to enter an award yourself. It’s another thing entirely to find out someone thought of you when you weren’t in the room.
Watch this space for updates on the ceremony. And if your team needs training delivered by someone who genuinely cares whether it sticks, get in touch.
Call: 0333 999 8783 Email: info@primacuratraining.co.uk
