Durham beauty pro shortlisted in 3 categories at Prolific North Tech Awards
By Jess Watts | 25 September 2026 | News & Events
Helen Ward is a beauty pro, CEO of The Hair & Beauty Directory (HABD) and Scratch Stars Services to the Nail Industry finalist 2026. With three decades’ experience in the beauty industry, she has watched it grow and seen the issues within it. This inspired her to spend time trying to solve them: a venture that has led to her being shortlisted in three categories at the Prolific North Tech Awards 2026.
Helen began her beauty industry journey in 1996. She owns Sirens City Retreat in Durham – a Scratch Stars Nail & Beauty Salon of the Year finalist 2026, has judged internationally, spoken at events and won multiple awards. Now, in an unconventional achievement for someone whose career has been rooted in beauty, she has been shortlisted in the Tech Founder of the Year, Tech Female Entrepreneur and Tech for Good – Health & Wellbeing categories at the Prolific North Tech Awards 2026.
The awards recognise technology companies, entrepreneurs and innovations from across the North of England and Scotland.
Helen comments on the achievement: “Being the only woman in the Tech Founder category means a huge amount to me, particularly because I never came from the technology world. I grew up on a council estate in the North East, left school with an E in Business Studies and built my career in beauty. I’m dyslexic and have ADHD, and my route here certainly hasn’t been a conventional one.”
Having spent decades working with small businesses and professionals, Helen says she has ‘seen talented people overlooked because they lack large social media followings, industry connections or the resources available to larger companies’.
It was this frustration with online visibility for beauty pros that prompted Helen to move into tech. As she discovered how hard it was for beauty pros to get seen by potential clients online, she began researching SEO, data and emerging digital technologies.
Helen states: “I didn’t set out to become a tech founder. I started learning because I could see problems in our industry that weren’t being solved, and I wanted to find a way to solve them. To now be standing alongside experienced technology founders – and to be the only woman in the Tech Founder category – is something I’m incredibly proud of.”
Working alongside developer, Reece Marsland, Helen turned her research into the Hair & Beauty Directory, a platform spanning 15 countries that, ‘rather than simply providing business listings, […] brings together professional discovery, verification, specialist search, education, industry knowledge, jobs, events and competitions, while helping consumers identify professional standards, expertise and inclusive services’.
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Specialist search options allow consumers to find professionals ‘based on factors that are often difficult to identify through conventional search, including expertise, accessibility and inclusive services’. The platform is also in the process of integrating professional verification to make qualifications, insurance and standards more transparent.
In a statement, the company says: “HABD brings industry information and professional opportunities into one place, while providing education designed to help predominantly small and independent businesses understand subjects such as Google, SEO, online visibility and the changing impact of AI on search.”
Adding to this success, it is the Hair & Beauty Directory platform itself that has been shortlisted in the Tech for Good – Health & Wellbeing category in the Prolific North Tech Awards 2026.
“The three categories represent what I want the business to become,” Helen shares. “It needs to be commercially successful, but I’ve never wanted to build technology for the sake of technology. HABD exists because I believe our industry can do better – for the professionals working incredibly hard within it and for the public trying to make informed choices about who they trust.
“For all three of our entries to reach the final tells me that people outside the beauty industry are beginning to understand what we’re building.”
The winners of the Prolific North Tech Awards 2026 will be announced at a ceremony on 15 October.
Follow Helen on Instagram & visit HABD’s website: www.thehairandbeauty.directory
