Fab 5 awards celebrate community leaders

Earlier this month, the Tompkins County Chamber announced its Fab5, also called the All-Star Young Professionals, award recipients. Each individual was nominated by their peers and coworkers because of their outstanding work and dedication to the community. 

These are annual awards that are celebrated at an awards ceremony, hosted by The Chamber. This year’s celebration will be held at Coltivare, April 25 at 6 p.m. Tickets are available here. 

This year’s All-Star Young Professionals are Kayla Lane of Dryden Realty and Apartment Co, Business Leader of the Year; Allison Hartman of United Way, Rookie of the Year; Jack Clausen and TJ Schaper of Deep Dive, Entrepreneurs of the Year; Astrid Castillo of the Youth Farm Project, Not-for-Profit Leader of the Year; and Karli Buday who volunteers with the Special Olympics of New York, Volunteer of the Year. 

According to Tompkins Connect, the “Business Leader of the Year is an individual who has excelled in demonstrating their leadership ability as a business professional in the Tompkins County area. This leader has shown great teamwork/communication, perseverance and vision.”

Kayla Lane, according to her colleagues, is exactly this. 

“I honestly didn’t even know I was nominated so when I first got the email I thought it was spam,” Lane said. “Something kept telling me it wasn’t and so when I read it further, I realized it was real. I was honored and shocked. I kept thinking ‘who would have nominated me for this?’ but it is nice to know that people think enough of me to believe I deserve this. I’m still surprised.” 

Lane is an associate broker at Dryden Realty and represents both the buyers and sellers. With the apartment company, she is the principal broker. Both companies manage around 480 units so Lane has her work cut out for her. She said she has been part of the business for 10 years. 

“I started in this business in 2013 and then around 2015, my dad and I bought the company,” Lane said. “Our services are completely centered around housing and right now, we employ about nine people, so we’re really a small business in that way. We’re a very close and dedicated team.”

Dedication is something that is not new to the Rookie of the Year, Allison Hartman. The Rookie is “an individual who has recently taken on a new position or freshly entered the workforce altogether. During this time, this person has demonstrated noteworthy performance and deserves to be acknowledged. This professional has shown great enthusiasm, development and self-motivation.”

Hartman is the director of communications and engagement but started as the communications and engagement manager.

“I just always wanted to be able to use the skills that I have in my career to make a positive impact and really feel like I’m making a difference so being able to work as the director of communications and engagement is really great because I get to combine the two,” Hartman said. “I’m really passionate about being able to connect with people and use my skills to really make an impact within the community that I live in.”

United Way’s mission is to “help people meet their immediate, basic needs while creating lasting change by strengthening the three building blocks for a good life: education, financial stability and health. We believe in self-determination, local solutions, and accountability.”

“We promise that 100% of all donations to us go back into the community and support over 50 local programs and services. I’m really trying to spread that word and really make genuine connections and get to know the community so that we can know how we can best serve everyone living and working here,” Hartman said. “It is a huge honor to receive this award and I am just so thankful that the great people that I work with nominated me. It really feels great to be a valued member of this community.”

Creating community is also the goal of Deep Dive’s founders and Entrepreneurs of the Year. This award goes to “an individual who has managed a new business venture, taking on personal risk to do so, and is deserving of additional recognition due to their entrepreneurial spirit. This person shows great leadership skills, innovation and tenacity.” 

Both Jack Clausen and TJ Schaper have that entrepreneurial spirit and it shows in their constant work with Deep Dive. Deep Dive’s mission is “to provide a safe and inclusive space for artists, patrons, and staff, a neighborhood joint for all walks of people showcasing a calendar of top-class, unique, and inspiring musicians and performers.”

Deep Dive was created by the same folks who founded Ithaca Night Bazaar, The Finger Lakes Thaw Festival, and Sparks and Embers. Clausen and Schaper were unavailable to speak but welcomed everyone and anyone within the community, or just visiting, to stop in and experience Deep Dive.

Offering experiences is just one of the things Youth Farm Project (YFP) has to offer to the community’s youth. Astrid Castillo, the The Not-for-Profit Leader of the Year, is “an individual who has shown a remarkable aptitude for leadership in a not-for-profit organization. This leader has shown great leadership skills, strategic thinking, and passion.”

Castillo started at YFP as a justice and farm educator and has now grown into the role of education director. She writes most of the curriculum used by YFP and is heavily involved with the students and children that participate.

“I always liked working with kids. I think it’s better than working with adults, to be honest. They are very good judges of authenticity and stuff like that and so I was drawn to working with young people,” Castillo said. “My grandparents on both sides were also farmers and so I was always interested in farming. I’ve learned how to do it in this area too so that’s where this work all started.” 

Castillo has also worked at Six Circles Farm and multiple farms in New Jersey. 

“A lot of our values come from seeing food sovereignty as a need and not just a want and so that is what our work focuses on,” Castillo said, “And we also really focus on valuing our food providers and community organizing and engagement. Civic engagement is an important part of what we do.”

The Special Olympics of New York also values community engagement with a large volunteer base located all over the state. The Volunteer of the Year is defined as “an individual who deserves additional recognition for their exceptional performance while volunteering in the Tompkins County Community. This volunteer has shown great motivation, commitment and passion,” and Karli Buday is just that.

The Special Olympics states that “While not everyone wins, everyone is included.” By being nominated for the volunteer award, Buday has shown to her community that she values this inclusion and creating community through sports for all people. 

“Athletes with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to challenge themselves in fair and even competition. Win or lose, they develop their own character, make friends and find unknown wells of determination within themselves,” says the Special Olympics missions and values. 

While Buday was unavailable to share her experience with Tompkins Weekly, we congratulate her and all the Fab 5 on their dedication to service within this community. Thank you all!