Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
There are millions of remarkable women in the world. Women who run their own businesses and corporations, hold government office and do non-profit work and volunteer to help others.
In 2020, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., founded the Remarkable Women Award that honors remarkable women and they are celebrated by TV stations owned by the company.
One of those stations is WBOY in Clarksburg. The station put out a call for nominations and Pocahontas County native Marlena Chestnut was selected for the 2026 honor.
Chestnut was nominated by a friend and was contacted by WBOY, letting her know she had won.
“It was definitely a shock,” she said. “I never expected that. I guess they received more than a hundred nominations in our viewership, so to be selected out of a hundred amazing women was very surprising and a very huge honor.
Chestnut had to keep the honor under wraps until the segment aired March 3. She couldn’t tell her family or friends and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to ensure she kept it secret.
The nominations are reviewed by a board of individuals who look for qualifications of community contribution, self-achievement, exhibitions in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
While she is humble about the honor, Chestnut is a shining example of all those qualifications.
She resides in Harman and operates four businesses in Randolph County, with expansion in several cities in West Virginia.
“I own Passages Therapy and Counseling,” she said. “We have offices in Elkins, Fairmont, Mannington and Kingwood, and employ fifteen therapists at this point. Then I have Lucrative Endeavors Consulting, which is kind of a spinoff from Passages. I provide supervision to other lower-level licensed social workers to work toward getting their independent practice license to be able to open private practices.”
Chestnut also owns MJ Properties and her newest endeavor, A Touch of Comfort Furniture Store.
“I have several rentals and my newest rental that we’re flipping right now is going to be a transitional living home through the Randolph County Housing Authority grant,” she said. “They’re going to use the house for that.
“I’ve worked with the transitional living houses for a while,” she continued. “I was watching people come out of those situations and get their first place and then fall into major debt trying to furnish them. So, we opened the furniture store to provide used furniture at a low cost to help people get on their feet and get started.”
In winning the WBOY honor, Chestnut received $1,000 to donate to a charity of her choice, which was the Randolph County Youth Build program. She also got to travel to Nashville, Tennessee, for the national award ceremony.
At that ceremony, remarkable women from around the country were honored and five finalists were selected. Those finalists received $2,500 for their charities as well as a $100,000 promotional package through Nexstar Media.
The grant prize winner received $25,000 for her charity and a $125,000 promotional package.
Although Chestnut was not selected as a top five finalist, she said the award ceremony was a wonderful experience, and she got to meet a lot of wonderful and remarkable women.
“The lady who actually won the overall prize was from Nashville,” Chestnut said. “Her charity provides permanent housing and employment for women coming out of the sex trades. There were some pretty amazing women in Nashville.”
Chestnut is the daughter of Denise and Mike Chestnut and is a 2004 graduate of Pocahontas County High School. She lives in Harman with her 12-year-old son, Jase Shifflett.
