This SLO County gym was just named the best woman-owned business in United States
The Pad Climbing gym in San Luis Obispo has been named the best woman-owned business in the country by the United States Chamber of Commerce.
The business, owned by Kristin Horowitz, was a finalist for the 2022 Annual Dream Big Awards under the best woman-owned category.
The Pad was also one of three finalists for the Business of the Year category, according to a statement on the company’s Facebook on Tuesday.
“Our team is honored to represent excellence in the Women Owned Business category and could not have done it without the literal thousands of people who have loved and supported us as part of #ThePadFam,” the company said in the post.
The awards, presented by Spectrum Reach with support from MetLife, celebrate the achievements of small businesses and honor their contributions to America’s economic growth, according to a news release.
According to the release, there were a record-breaking 3,000 applications for the awards.
“When we started this, I was one of a handful of women in the local community, much less the industry,” Horowitz said in the release. “Over the years, we have become majority women-led and owned and it’s been a truly wonderful thing to watch. We’ve come to rethink how business can operate through the lens of women and are now at the forefront of how to operate a small business as a result.”
The Pad Climbing started as the country’s first nonprofit bouldering gym in 2002 and was originally housed in a self-storage unit. In 2017 the gym moved into a new space at 888 Ricardo Court.
“We funded our projects through crowdfunding before that was a term, and we recruited our friends and community members to help physically build the spaces beside us,” Horowitz said in the release. “People wanted this and believed in us to see it through. In return, I and my team have always felt that it was our job to continue that legacy in every way possible from taking this from a hobby — totally volunteer run — to an intrastate for-profit agency.”
A media representative for The Pad gym did not respond to a request for comment on the award.
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