The team that is furnishing Wearside with great homes

TCL At Home celebrates its fifth birthday next month and is doing great business from its Seaham base.

It has joined the list of sponsors who are backing our first ever Wearside Women In Business Awards, alongside fellow backers Sunderland BIC, Gentoo, Club Zest, MBC Arts Wellbeing, and UK Fostering North East.

TCL director and business owner Julie Barnes said: “We are excited to champion women in business.

“I have worked from leaving school and I have always got on well. It is great to see other women doing really well and we love to see women get on and not be held back.”

TCL specialises in luxury interiors for homes and commercial premises.

It also has a showroom based on the Cold Hesledon Industrial Estate where it retails in everything from furniture to lamps and mirrors to wallpaper.

More and more of its work is residential projects where it transforms a home ranging from one room to a full house refurbishment.

A highlight of the year for TCL is the festive season when the showroom is transformed into a winter wonderland.

Julie urged people to put forward entries for women who were making a real difference in the workplace.

She said: “If any business owner or someone who works for a company has a lady who works hard and is doing fantastic things, and is inspirational, nominate her for an award.”

Perhaps you know a female who has launched a company and it has got off to a storming start. Then you should choose the ‘Start-up Business Woman of the Year category’

The Rising Star section is for those who are making people sit up and take notice of their rise up the entrepreneurial ladder.

And we want to hear about new starters who deserve to win the Apprentice of the Year category.

Then there’s the people who make a difference in their neighbourhood. They stand a chance of winning the Contribution To Community category.

We’ve got the Women In Education Award and the Mentor of the Year section for those who tirelessly give them time to help others.

If you’re the person who everyone looks up to, you could be our Inspirational Woman of the Year.

And if you’ve made a difference to the business world over a long time, you could be our first ever winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Do you know someone who deserves to be the Business Woman of the Year? That’s another of our categories.

Watch out for much more on all of the categories in the weeks to come.

For now though, we want your nominations.

You have until September 2 to send us your entries and the judges will meet to draw up a shortlist three days later.

Then it is on to the grand finale – a lunchtime awards ceremony on Thursday, September 26.

But for now, we need your nominations to make the event a big success. Email [email protected] and tell us the name, address, business of your nominated person and why you feel they deserve to win.

Or alternatively, send your entries to https://www.echowomeninbusiness.co.uk.