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Media Release October 23, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AROMA BOREALIS’ BEV GRAY IS AWARDED YUKON BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR (Dawson City, Yukon) Bev Gray, owner of Aroma Borealis, was the recipient of the Yukon Business Person of the Year Award by the Yukon Chamber of Commerce. Gray was given the award at the Yukon Chamber of Commerce AGM and Awards Banquet in Dawson City on the weekend. "It is a real honor to receive this award," says Gray. "It takes many people to make a business successful, including a supportive family, a supportive community, our Business Advisory Board and of course having such an amazing, educated and caring staff like the ones we have at Aroma Borealis!” The prestigious Yukon Business Person of the Year Award is sponsored by the Yukon Chamber of Commerce and is given annually to recognize an outstanding member of the Yukon business community. Aroma Borealis has been capturing a unique market niche within the Yukon and across Canada for the past eight years. Aroma Borealis is a business that manufactures herbal teas, natural herbal health and aromatherapy bodycare products. Bev Gray is a skilled herbalist and registered aromatherapist and the creative force behind Aroma Borealis, along with a fantastic team of people who work alongside her. She has formulated and developed hundreds of herbal and aromatherapy products for the natural health market. She combines wild plants from the Sub Arctic, with organically grown herbs and essential oils, which she likes to refer to as “healing collages from around the globe.” By turning her passion for plants, her care for the environment, her love of people and her unique northern location into an original and successful business adventure. Bev has gone from running a one room, home-based business selling her herbal creations at craft fairs, to garnering strong national attention by recently winning a gold medal in the national Alive Awards of Excellence for her famous Green Aid Ointment. Bev places great emphasis on the sharing of information and is a sought after educator who has been invited by many national organizations to speak about natural health. She recently gave aromatherapy workshops at the Canadian Natural Health Food Association in Toronto and Vancouver where hundreds of natural health retailers from across the country were in attendance. Bev an enthusiastic teacher of boreal botanical medicine and promotes health by writing a monthly ‘Aromatherapy Profile’ for one of Canada’s most popular health publications, Alive magazine, which has a circulation of over 200,000. She also has a bi-weekly radio show on CBC called “Words on Herbs.” Aroma Borealis employs a strong competitive advantage by spanning all levels of the natural health industry: They wild harvest herbs, manufacture, retail, wholesale, and educate. Aroma Borealis wholesales to businesses in the health food, aromatherapy, gift and esthetic sectors throughout Canada. In addition to the retail stores, Aroma Borealis also has an online store, which enables them to reach customers across the globe. Bev likes unique and interesting partnerships - from developing the Aroma Borealis Herbal Cream Ale with Yukon Brewing Co. to opening the world’s first ‘‘Friend-chise’’ in Cobourg, Ontario. The Friend-chise is an exciting, new business venture reached a new milestone for Aroma Borealis and is the Yukon's first business to franchise (Friend-chise). Aroma Borealis also has a business advisory board which is supported by partners from Yukon Technology Innovation Center, National Research Council, Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce and Yukon Economic Development. “ The business advisory board is headed up by Olivier Pellegrin who has brought together experts in our field to help our business grow to the next level, it has been an amazing gift for us,” Says Gray. Aroma Borealis has recently been awarded their site license from Health Canada and is compliant with the new natural health product regulations by ascertaining their Good Manufacturing License. Bev also volunteers as a director of the Canadian Herb, Spice and Natural Health Products Coalition and has sat on the Management Advisory Board of Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate and is on the Executive board of Yukon’s Wholistic Health Network. For more information please contact Bev Gray at (867) 393-1912 or 334-4372 cell or 667-4372 store Beverley Gray, CEO Aroma Borealis |