This November, STARability Foundation was pleased to present its third STAR Award to Air Bar Blowouts & Extensions. The STAR Award recognizes exemplary community partnership and commitment to inclusive employment demonstrated by local businesses and organizations.
Air Bar hired STARability and Trailblazer Academy participant Tori Georgelos in May of 2019 to work two mornings a week washing and folding the salon’s laundry; setting out clean towels in the restrooms and heaters; wiping down windows, counters and chairs for customers; watering flowers; and cleaning the products and their shelving for display. Tori loves her job and, says Director of Operations Mary Waddell, has exceeded the staff’s expectations.
“Tori is a joy to have around,” says Air Bar Co-founder Tim Jackoboice. “The work she does is never ‘busy work,’ either—it’s work we have to do every day, and she truly helps our business, is a great worker, and brings a little more joy into everyone’s world when she’s with us.”
STARability Executive Director Karen Govern presented Air Bar with the STAR Award on Nov. 15.
STARability encourages other local businesses to follow in the footsteps of Air Bar and its other STAR Award recipients, the Naples Art Association and Cosmos Ristorante & Pizzeria, and serve as a community leader on the forefront of inclusion. Through partnership and employment, these businesses are strengthening awareness and respect for individual abilities.
You can get a glimpse of Tori at work at Air Bar among the vocational partners featured in this Trailblazer Academy video, and read more about our STAR Award recipients in this Naples Daily News article! To learn more about employing a STARability participant or becoming a vocational partner of the Trailblazer Academy, please contact Employment Specialist Halley Kretschmer at halley@STARability.org or 239.594.9007.
