Last week, we introduced you to the eight nominees for the 2012 Athena Young Professional Leadership Award. On Friday, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership announced that Katie McKenna, communications and public relations manager at Tops Friendly Markets, is the recipient of what she described as “an extreme honor.”

“There are so many women in the western New York community that do such great work,” McKenna said. “It really is truly an honor to be nominated and to win the award, especially among all of the other women nominated for both the Young Professional Leadership award and the Athena award.”

McKenna said that she is fortunate to have people that inspire her daily to stay motivated and succeed.

“My family in particular, my mom, my dad and my sister—they support me no matter what,” McKenna explained. “No matter how crazy my schedule gets or how many off-the-wall ideas I might have, they back me up 100 percent.”

McKenna credits her co-workers and current leadership at Tops Friendly Markets for bringing out her best qualities, as well.

“I have an incredible boss at work,” she noted. “He supports me and has given me the freedom to do a lot of different things at work whether it’s within Tops or in the community.”

As for the future, McKenna hopes to continue in a direction that provides her with opportunities to improve the community and help others—particularly young women—to grow and prosper.

“As long as I love what I do, I’m a very happy person,” she said. “My hope is that ten years from now, I’m in a place where I’m still helping to enrich the community and I’m able to give back.”

Where will McKenna’s Athena trophy go? “Right now it’s at work because that’s where I spend most of my time,” she said. “I think that’s where it’ll have a home, at least for a while.”