July 1, 2019
Leadership distinction for Drake Nightingale
Mark Smith and Lindsay Drake Nightingale.
LO’s Lindsay Drake Nightingale has received the 2019 Monica van Maris Green Professionals Woman of Influence Award. It was presented on May 28 at the Toronto Botanical Garden Blossom Party.

While Drake Nightingale consistently attends the annual TBG spring event, she never expected to be recognized with the distinguished award herself. She made a point of acknowledging its namesake’s influence on her career: “I owe Monica, she is a visionary. Monica personifies toughness, and inspired me to push through and have a voice.” She also admires last year’s recipient, Sonia Day, and said she enjoyed reading Day’s work even before entering the landscape profession.

The pride showed as LO Executive Director Tony DiGiovanni presented Drake Nightingale with the award. He was proud of horticulture’s great record of attracting women, the profession’s female entrepreneurs, Monica van Maris’s leadership, and visibly proud of Drake Nightingale, LO’s second vice president, in line to serve as its third female president.

Drake Nightingale operates Yorkshire Garden Services, based in Concord. Mark Smith, Emma Nightingale and Elissa Janca attended the event in her honour. Janca is a team leader with Yorkshire, and said of Drake Nightingale: “She is always there to support staff. On Day One, Lindsay established herself as a mentor.”