Kate McAleer, the owner of the Rockland-based craft candy bar company Bixby & Co., has been named a Tory Burch Foundation fellow, receiving a $10,000 business education grant and a trip to New York City for a three-day workshop at the Tory Burch headquarters and the opportunity to pitch for a $100,000 grant.
“It was a long, intense application process, a lot of vetting,” McAleer told Mainebiz in March when it was announced that she was among the finalists for the fellowship. “It’s all about women entrepreneurs. I’m the only one from Maine. There are a lot of people from New York.”
McAleer is one of 10 winners selected by the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Competition for women entrepreneurs, and the only winner from all of New England, according to a news release.
McAleer founded her organic chocolate bar company in 2011 and has won numerous awards, including Gorham Savings Bank’s 2013 LaunchPad competition, the Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015, a Local Producer’s loan through Whole Foods Market and a Mainebiz Next award.
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