Dream Vacations honors female franchisee with OPAL Award for leadership and community service
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (March 8, 2021) – For the tenth year in a row, leading home-based travel agency franchise Dream Vacations celebrates Women’s History Month in March by honoring a female travel agency franchise owner with the OPAL Award for Women. The company has named Ellen Overcast, the 2022 recipient of this prestigious award.
The OPAL Award recognizes a female franchise owner who exemplifies Outstanding Performance And Leadership. The honorees are active in community and civic organizations and demonstrate leadership within Dream Vacations. This year’s award also celebrates women who not only survived but thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic by reinventing themselves and their businesses.
“Ellen not only created new ways to do business during the pandemic, but she continued to devote time to serving her community through volunteering and fundraising,” said Debbie Fiorino, chief operating officer for Dream Vacations. “She epitomizes what it means to be an OPAL winner, and I am honored to present Ellen with the 2022 OPAL Award.”
Overcast has been a travel franchise owner since June 2010, starting her franchise as CruiseOne and transitioning to its sister brand Dream Vacations in 2016. Overcast sponsored the annual dinner for the Northeast Berks Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in converting it from a live event to a virtual one. She created “The Chamber Gang” and produced videos at each of the participating restaurants to promote the event. During the pandemic, she also reached out to several fellow franchise owners to participate in a virtual Murder Mystery so that they could stay connected. Overcast also serves on the Board of Friend Inc., volunteers at the local food pantry and will be the President of the Kutztown Rotary Club starting this July. These are just a few examples of how she found creative ways to stay connected to her community so that, as the pent-up demand for travel returns, she is top of mind.
“I am so honored to be recognized with the OPAL Award and I’m proud to be part of the Dream Vacations’ family,” said Overcast. “I share this award because I wouldn’t have had so much success during such a challenging time for our industry, without all the positive support from my fellow travel advisors and the Dream Vacations headquarters team.”
Dream Vacations is committed to being “Rich in Diversity” and empowers all owners, agents and employees to reach their highest potential by leveraging their broad range of talent, experiences, personalities, viewpoints and ideas to generate business growth.
People with a passion for travel who are interested in small business ownership and want to learn more about becoming a franchise owner with Dream Vacations, please call 888-249-8235 or visit www.DreamVacationsFranchise.com.
About Dream Vacations
Travel agents with the top-ranked home-based travel agency franchise Dream Vacations have the resources to plan and create seamless vacation experiences for their customers while offering the best value. A member of the International Franchise Association, Dream Vacations is part of World Travel Holdings and has received franchise partner of the year, a top-ranking status, by all the major cruise lines as well as national recognition for its support of military veterans. For more information about Dream Vacations, visit www.DreamVacationsFranchise.com. Like Dream Vacations on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DreamVacationsFranchise, follow on Twitter at @Dream_Franchise and watch its videos at http://www.youtube.com/DreamVacationsBusiness.
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Media Contact:
Angie Ranck
Director of Public Relations & Corporate Communications
Dream Vacations
media@wth.com
1-877-958-7447
