On Thursday, women from around the Tuscaloosa area gathered at the Home2Suites hotel at 10 a.m. for the 2015 Women in Business Awards.

The event, titled The Pink Toolbox, honored two local businesswomen and encouraged attendees to engage, network and learn from other successful businesswomen in the area.

LiftFund, formally Accion, a non-profit organization headquartered out of San Antonio, Texas that provides small business loans and minority business loans for women, startups and entrepreneurs, hosted the event along with corporate sponsor First US Bank.

The event included a video about LiftFund, shown by Lisa Riley, vice president of LiftFund, and a brunch for all attendees. After brunch, the women in attendance each stood to introduce themselves to the crowd and state their occupation. At the end, the two honorees spoke to the crowd individually about their experiences as businesswomen.

The honorees were Alice Maxwell, who has been a realtor for almost 23 years, and Beth Jacobs, who in 1983 opened Enchanting Casuals and has owned and operated it ever since.

Jacobs gave tribute to her mother and spoke on how her mother was a hairdresser that worked from home.

“I did her bookkeeping when I was 13 years old,” Jacobs said. “I go way back, and yes, I still make mistakes every day. That’s part of going into business. You live and learn.”

Maxwell spoke about working hard and loving what you do.

“I think it’s kind of neat when you do all these things with your life and you finally find that one thing you love, and once you find it, it’s not work,” she said.

This was the first time The Pink Toolbox has been held and it will continue to be held semi-annually.