THREE dedicated women from Cheshire have been chosen as finalists in a prestigious women’s award ceremony which celebrates those who go above and beyond.

Established in 2011, the Enterprise Vision Awards recognises the achievements of the north west’s most talented female entrepreneurs.

Deborah Dixon, from Tarporley, is one of the finalists in the Charity of the Year category, for her work screening young people for heart defects – which could ultimately save their lives.

Northwich Guardian: Deborah DixonDeborah Dixon (Image: Contributed)

She set up a memorial fund within the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young after her son died on September 4, 2011, aged 23, from an undetected heart defect.

She said: “I wanted to prevent other families going through the heartache we face every day, but I also wanted to keep Aaron’s memory alive – I didn’t want him to be forgotten.

“I made the decision to set up the Aaron Dixon Memorial Fund and offer free heart screening to all young adults.

“To date, we have raised £440,000. Every screening day costs £6,000, where 100 young adults are screened between the ages of 14 and 35.

“In Aaron’s memory, 4,600 young adults have been screened – 154 of those have been referred with abnormalities.

Emma Guy, from Northwich, is a finalist in the Health and Wellbeing category.

Northwich Guardian: Emma GuyEmma Guy (Image: Contributed)

She started her career as a welder and opened an award-winning acupuncture clinic a decade ago – showing she is equally skilled with fixing both things and people.

Her debut book, The Wisdoms of the Menopausal Godmother, is an example of how she draws on a deep well of personal experience to help others.

At the age of 46, she had a successful mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

However, she entered menopause earlier than most women as a result.

Her book shares knowledge she has gained during her own journey as well as from conversations with others at different stages of theirs.

Emma, who is an ambassador for Prevent Breast Cancer, also recently developed and launched a gin with ladies in mind, containing botanicals which, on their own, have shown to alleviate some menopause symptoms.

Mindy Cowap, from Tarporley, is a finalist in the Inspirational Woman of the Year’ category.

Northwich Guardian: Mindy CowapMindy Cowap (Image: Contributed)

She said: “I founded The M Project Movement, a sisterhood that encourages women to step outside their comfort zones and breathe life into life, through experience, challenge, education, connection and most of all fun.

“Ambassadors who are experts in their field provide education to the group, Voices is a vlog platform for people to inspire people, talking about their life journeys, Nourish to Flourish®️ is a series of recipes, cook-a-longs and advice on nourishing well and The Book Club encourages us to read more books.

“We have grown organically to nearly 1000 women in less than 12 months.

“The M Project®️ is intended to be the toolkit for women for growth, empowerment and to ‘breathe life into life’.

“I hope to encourage all women to experience joy wherever possible.”

This year’s Enterprise Vision Awards ceremony will take place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on September 23.