4- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, November 12, 1996 Co * Joanne Cochrane's a Nestleton business woman TT -------------------------------------------------------------- Local woman is nominated for YWCA Distinction prize By Heather McCrae Sppecial to the Star At the Oshawa YWCA Annual Woman of Distinction Awards dinner last week, Joanne Cochrane of Nestleton was one of the 23 women within the Durham Region to be nom- inated for the honors. Joanne was nominated in the Profession and Trades cat- egory; every nominee was rec- ognized for making a signifi- cant contribution in her field. Carol Rott of Re/Max Ability Real Estate in Oshawa was responsible for nominating Joanne. The two women became acquainted a few years ago when both joined the 3RD Thursday Breakfast Network in Oshawa. When Mrs. Cochrane learned she had been nominat- ed for the award, she was flab- bergasted. "I was on a high. To have my peers nominate me, that was a thrill in itself," she says. Throughout her grown-up life, Mrs. Cochrane has always had the desire to succeed, and has accomplished many goals. In 1993 she and a partner became very involved in mar- keting environmentally safe cleaning products. Their com- pany, Crystal Dawn, seemed to be the right name for their business, she says. "Something which meant clean and clear and new beginning." She's since bought out her partner's share and now is the sole owner of Crystal Dawn Natural Products Inc. The product line includes household cleaning, laundry and personal care products which are very concentrated and inexpensive. Marketed from Ontario to the east coast; plans are to introduce the prod- ucts shortly to British Columbia and then expand to the United States. "Ido plan to expand the busi- ness globally," Mrs. Cochrane says. "Nothing is going to stop me. And she also gives credit to her husband, Phil. , "He's been extremely sup- portive of my endeavors," she says. My mandate is to only intro- duce products or product lines which work at the root problem - not bandaid solutions. I don't want to just treat the symp- toms." Her products do not involve any animal testing and the packaging is environmentally the best available according to Greenpeace, she says: "Nothing is harmful to the environment." Distributed through trained independent home-based dis- tributors, the Crystal Dawn products are well received. Cottagers Associations have approached Mrs. Cochrane to speak to their groups, and are now promoting Crystal Dawn products among their summer residents. Headlth groups use the prod- ucts because people have many chemical sensitivities, and child care providers are inter- ested in the products because they are non-toxic. *& Always on the move, Mrs. Cochrane also helped co-found the Scugog Women's Breakfast Network, and assists in orga- nizing trade shows to promote home-based businesses. Although'she did not win the Woman of Distinction Award in her category, she is still overwhelmed she was nom- inated. And she came home from the evening with a certificate of recognition and warm mem- ories of an incredible evening. - Joanne Cochrane of for the 1996 Women strutting th week to raise the Trevor's tion fund. - A benefit cc take place at the United Church day, (Nov. 15) The concert will of charge, but will good will donatior which will go to tl vor's Wheels in fund. , Trevor Szewer: da are now hopin, chase a new GM JEFF MITCHELL/PORT PERRY STAR foundation, which examines public institutions. Here, Scugog trustee Bobbie Drew (right) hands a plaque commemorating the prize to Epsom P.S. Grade 1 student Kaleigh Spence, while school secretary Shirley Hunter looks on. Groups from all the local schools received plaques. outfittied with a chair lift, which v low them to get around much es TIME FOR A CELEBRATION: The Durham Board of Education hosted a ceremony at Port Perry High School last Thursday night to mark its receiving the Carl Bertelsmann Foundation prize for excellence. The beard was chosen from among a list of competitors world-wide by the German