The founder of a "feel-good" beauty business which goes into workplaces and care homes is delighted after being voted a "Neighbourhood Fave".
Gemma Burden launched Love of Beauty in Ipswich in April 2019 following the death of her mother Rosemarie.
Gemma treated Rosemarie in her nursing home with luxurious beauty therapies suited to her illness to give her an emotional lift - and this inspired her to create a business providing the same service to others.
Now the business has been awarded a Neighbourhood Faves award from digital forum Nextdoor at its annual local business awards.
It means the business will be featured across the Nextdoor app to boost its visibility, as well as receiving a new Neighbourhood Fave trophy badge for its business page and a digital winners kit.
Nextdoor - which started in San Francisco 15 years ago and has spread worldwide - connects with people from the local community to share recommendations for local businesses and services. This is the first year that it has launched a Neighbourhood Faves Awards in the UK.
“What makes this award particularly special is that it is our local community who has nominated and voted for us. To have that support, and be recognised for our role in our local community means the world to me and Kerrie," said Gemma.
Gemma - who has two young children - was joined by beauty professional Kerrie Williams - also a mum of two - in the business following its launch.
As well as running home-based salons, the pair go into people's homes as well as visiting organisations with their beauty care service.
“It has been really tough since we launched in 2019," admitted Gemma.
"The global pandemic prevented us from supporting our care home clients, and we had to rethink our business plan and approach.
"The cost of living crisis is obviously impacting peoples’ spend but we have some lovely loyal customers, and their recommendations are helping us to grow our business.
"This award is the best type of award we could receive as it is voted for by our clients.
“We would like to say a massive thank you to all of our clients. This really does mean the world to us.”
The Neighbourhood Faves awards allowed neighbours to vote for businesses they liked across nine categories, with polling closing on October 13.
The awards were sponsored by global small business platform Xero.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here