Herbalist Holly Bellebuono of West Tisbury, owner of Vineyard Herbs, Teas and Apothecary, has won the Small Business Owner of the Year Award from the Cape and Islands SCORE Association. Ms. Bellebuono will receive her award at the annual SCORE breakfast in Yarmouth Port on May 14. Lieut. Gov. Karyn Polito will be the keynote speaker.
SCORE is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to small business development. It is affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration, and relies on both active and retired business professionals, who donate their time as mentors.
She is the first Island business owner ever to be nominated for this award. An herbal author, educator, merchant, and lecturer, Ms. Bellebuono’s career has skyrocketed with the help of SCORE mentoring.
According to a press release, SCORE guidance enabled her to publish her third book and secure a contract for a fourth. Her products now grace the shelves of Whole Foods and Stop and Shop. Elsewhere her wholesale relationships are booming. She has tripled the number of students attending her Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine, and is on track to develop university-level curriculum. After hiring a publicist, she has made numerous television and radio appearances and expanded her lecture circuit across the United States and into Canada.
SCORE mentor Susan Silk of West Tisbury cited drive, seriousness, and openness to advice as virtues that distinguished the successful herbalist.
“Holly exemplifies what we would like to see entrepreneurs on this Island achieve,” she told The Times.
Ms. Silk is one of more than eight SCORE mentors on-Island who help business owners achieve their goals. Island SCORE mentors operate from the basement of Tea Lane Associates in West Tisbury. Ms. Bellebuono has received guidance from SCORE for the past two years.
“My mentors [Susan Silk and Mike Adell] are both excellent advisors who have helped me tremendously, and who have been patient, encouraging, and resourceful,” Ms. Bellebuono said in an email to The Times.
Despite her business success, Ms. Bellebuono said she was more than a little surprised when she was chosen from among other business owners on the Cape and islands.
“My SCORE counselors told me they were going to nominate me, so I knew it was a possibility, but after seeing the list of other successful businesses who were also nominated, I feel extremely honored to be recognized in this capacity,” she said.
Ms. Silk would like to see more small business owners on the Vineyard achieve Ms. Bellebuono’s level of success. She encourages anyone interested in growing their businesses to visit capecod.score.org and make an appointment with a mentor.