I’m pleased to recognize Hala with this important honor. Her perseverance, work ethic and leadership qualities are an inspiration to all women.
Garden City, NY (PRWEB) July 19, 2016
The National Association of Professional Women (NAPW) honors Hala Achkar as a 2016-2017 inductee into its VIP Woman of the Year Circle. She is recognized with this prestigious distinction for leadership in business. NAPW is the nation’s leading networking organization exclusively for professional women, boasting more 850,000 members, a thriving eChapter and over 200 operating Local Chapters.
“I’m pleased to recognize Hala with this important honor,” said NAPW President Star Jones. “Her perseverance, work ethic and leadership qualities are an inspiration to all women.”
Hala Achkar is a fourth generation hotelier who has combined her love for hospitality with sweets and pastries. In 2014, she founded BONCHOU Eclairerie, where she touts an extensive selection of éclairs of varying sizes.
“In my family, the focus was always on the dinner table where we enjoyed meals together,” Achkar said. “I learned a lot at a very early age when I would sneak into the kitchen to watch my grandfather dictating recipes to the pastry chefs creating desserts. Éclairs were specifically my favorite.”
Ms. Achkar is credited with bringing bagels to the Middle East in 1998, when she established Tribeca Coffee and Bagels, which was successfully sold three years later. Her next accomplishment came in 1999, when she took a management position at the Monroe Hotel in Beirut, Lebanon. Ms. Achkar developed the concept for the 112-room hotel on her own. For her work, she was awarded the Tourism and Open Door For Women Award from the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism in 2007.
After management of a multitude of gourmet-oriented startups overseas, Ms. Achkar decided it was time to bring éclairs to America. “In my mind, dessert is a sweet treat that adds a jolt of joy to an ordinary day,” she said. “I want to remind people of this through the magic of éclairs. They are light, bite sized and a perfect canvas to experiment with flavors. BONCHOU was my chance to bring New York City delicious bites of joy, one éclair at a time.”
Awards & Accomplishments: Master of Science, University of Southern California, Finance; 2007 Tourism and Open Door For Women Award from Lebanese Ministry of Tourism
About NAPW
NAPW’s mission is to provide an exclusive, highly advanced networking forum to successful women executives, professionals and entrepreneurs where they can aspire, connect and achieve. Through innovative resources, unique tools and progressive benefits, professional women interact, exchange ideas, advance their knowledge and empower each other.
