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September 10, 2018

Portland woman named SCORE's 'Outstanding Young Entrepreneur'

Courtesy / SCORE Maddie Purcell, founder of Fyood Kitchen, is the winner of the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Small Business award at the SCORE Foundation's annual national award ceremony.

Portland entrepreneur Maddie Purcell, founder of Fyood Kitchen, was named winner of the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Small Business award at the SCORE Foundation’s annual national award ceremony.

Purcell will receive her award Thursday at a Washington, D.C., ceremony along with 12 other small business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as two members of Congress.

SCORE is the nation’s largest network of volunteer expert business mentors. The SCORE Foundation supports and leverages the work of SCORE by soliciting, investing and managing resources for the benefit of SCORE, according to a news release about the annual awards.

Purcell’s Fyood Kitchen is also a finalist in SCORE’s 2018 American Small Business Championship, along with Dental Lace, owned by Jodi Breau, of Cape Elizabeth. The three grand prize winners in that competition will be named in December.

Purcell started her business in 2016, inspired by the TV show “Chopped,” which requires contestants to make meals out of a variety of ingredients. Her story and how SCORE helped are described on a page on the organization’s website.

Fyood Kitchen puts amateur cooking competitions and in the the past six months, has pivoted from primarily hosting open events to throwing private “Fyoods” for birthdays and wedding parties, as well as providing creative team-building events for corporate groups and small companies, Purcell said.

She said one of the things she’s proud of is that she’s been able to “give my customers an incredible connection and creative opportunity — empowering and inspiring them.” Purcell adds, “To see folks come in unsure of their abilities to cook without a recipe and leave feeling like they’ve conquered the experience is pretty magical.”

Purcell’s SCORE mentors were Nancy J. Strojny, Jewel Church and Jamieson Webking.

The awards ceremony for the foundation’s annual SCORE awards will stream live on the SCORE mentors Facebook page at 7 p.m. Thursday.

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