Jules Shiel-Boulger and Toria Chan have been announced as winners of the prestigious Tide Everywoman Entrepreneur Awards, receiving the title Woman of the Year 2025. The award celebrates exceptional female business leadership, recognising founders who have built successful, purpose-driven enterprises that create positive change in society.
Founded in 2017 by sisters Jules and Toria, STEPS Rehabilitation was created to address a critical gap in specialist rehabilitation for people recovering from life changing injuries . Unlike profit-driven corporate healthcare models, STEPS remains independently owned and values-led, ensuring that every decision is made with the needs of clients, not shareholders, at its core.
In just eight years, the facility has become recognised as a leader in specialist rehabilitation, and to date has supported more than 400 individuals with catastrophic injuries. STEPS is one of only two private clinics in the UK to offer combined prosthetic, orthotic and residential rehabilitation, an approach strengthened through partnerships with STEPS Prosthetics and global technology innovators including MindMaze and Fourier Intelligence. Its state-of-the-art RehabHub, launched in 2021, enables access to robotic, rehab technology. In addition, they provide VR, AR and digital neurotherapies rarely available elsewhere in the UK.
The judges praised STEPS for its unwavering commitment to clinical outcomes, financial resilience and investment in people, demonstrated by a 98% staff recommendation rate and a workforce now exceeding 180 employees, 77% of whom are women. The organisation has reinvested profits to expand services, refinance major loans and establish the STEPS Rehabilitation Foundation to further support individuals beyond clinical care.
“Judges described them as courageous innovators, with compassion at their core, utterly redefining what world class rehabilitation looks like.”
For Jules and Toria, the award reflects years of determination, risk-taking and a shared ambition to transform lives.
“We have had so many people support us on our journey. Right from the start we had a really strong vision, and without people believing in us and our passion we wouldn’t be here today. The main thing that got us through the early days was the people at STEPS having rehabilitation; seeing them achieve things on a daily basis kept us going, from eating a meal in the café with their family to walking for the first time following a catastrophic injury. We continue to be inspired by what clients and families achieve every day, and just how incredible they are. We also want to say a special thank you to our amazing team, without whom we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing.”
Here’s the 60-second video from the award submission.
