Patrisha McLean, founder and CEO of Finding Our Voices, has been named one of six Outstanding Women in Business by Mainebiz.

The magazine's Aug. 10 feature on the six "remarkable leader" honorees for 2026 credits McLean with giving survivors a voice and the resources to rebuild. Mainebiz editor Peter Van Allen told McLean in his announcement letter that she is being honored for her professional accomplishments and contributions to the community and Maine's economy.

Finding Our Voices just wrapped up its fourth annual Into the Light! July Yellow Festival, in which 126 businesses across the Midcoast, Bucksport, and Blue Hill Peninsula promoted a yellow menu or retail offering, donating proceeds to the organization. The funds provide critical resources for local women survivors of domestic abuse to get safe, rebuild their lives, and safeguard their children and pets.

The Outstanding Women in Business feature article on McLean in Mainebiz also highlights how she marshaled 40 dentists from across Maine to donate dental care to women survivors and their children through the nonprofit's groundbreaking Finding Our Smiles program.

"An overlooked crime of domestic abusers," McLean said in a statement, "is how they rob you of your voice, your autonomy, and your opportunity to be all you can be — dimming your light and making your world smaller.  A central way Finding Our Voices contributes to the Maine economy, as well as to the community, is by empowering women to escape abusive relationships, reclaim their lives, and pursue their dreams and fulfill their potential." 

The Outstanding Women in Business award honors women presidents, CEOs, executive directors, and senior leaders making exceptional contributions to their organizations, industries, and Maine's economy. 

Andrea Tetlaff, publisher of the leading statewide media organization and business journal Mainebiz, said the connecting thread among the 2026 honorees is community — each contributing to and strengthening her community through her work and passion.

An awards ceremony will be held Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Halo Point in Portland. The event is open to the public; $65 tickets are available at Eventbrite.

Joining McLean in the 2026 class of Mainebiz's Outstanding Women in Business honorees are Dottie Chalmers Cutter, chief operations officer at Chalmers Insurance; Corey Hascall, president and CEO of the University of Southern Maine Foundation; Becky Shepherd, founder and owner of Wild Oats; Debora Keller, executive director of BathHousing; and Tina Hewett-Gordon, general manager of Nonantum Resort in Kennebunk.

About Finding Our Voices Finding Our Voices is the Maine grassroots and survivor-led nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse, including in schools, and providing life-changing and heart-healing resources to women survivors across Maine. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net