2026 American Business Awards Gold Stevie Award Winner Creative Individual of the Year

On Tuesday I flew out to New York City to accept my Gold Stevie for Creative Individual of the Year in the American Business Awards! This marks my 21st award in the Stevie Award system and it is always such an honor. The Stevie Awards is an amazing award system that honors businesses from all sectors from entrepreneurs to small businesses to multi-billion dollar corporations. It's always such an honor to see my name grace the awards next to some huge corporations.

My trip started out on Monday. I decided to try to save some travel time and fly out of the Purdue airport, however, that didn't work. There was a small mechanical issue on our plane and we were delayed just a bit but by the time it was fixed, O'hare got hit with a huge storm and grounded all flights. Our flight got pushed back to 9pm and then eventually cancelled. Unfortunately, we all got rebooked on the morning flight out of Purdue so that meant that my trip to New York was cut a bit short BUT the Purdue airport is a great experience other than that small hiccup.

I had plans to wake up early and hit some of my favorite spots before I had to get ready for the awards but since I got in so late, I had to change my plans. Instead, I went and did some shopping at Macy's and grabbed some pizza from Joe's Pizza before I went back to the hotel to relax and get ready.

Then it was time for the Stevie Awards! It's a true award gala with a red carpet, photos, cocktails, dinner, and networking. It's a lot of fun meeting the other honorees and learning about their businesses.

After the awards, it was time to sleep because I had to wake up at 3am so I could get to the airport for my flight back home. It was a quick 20 hours but it was worth it!

Enjoy a few photos from the whirlwind trip below!