Hi This Is Bry named top 100 Best Creative Arts Business in the UK by the Small Business Awards
- May 10
- 4 min read
Updated: May 12
When I found out I'd been named in the Small Business Awards UK top 100 for Best Creative Arts Business on a fairly normal Tuesday. I read the email, put my phone down, picked it back up, read it again, and then went and told my partner. I still feel a bit weird saying it out loud.
Where I was not that long ago
Not long before starting my own practice, I was working inside design and marketing agencies in Essex. Good experience, genuinely. But the work wasn't mine, and the environment didn't always make space for how I work best.
So I left. I built Hi This Is Bry from scratch, on my own, with no safety net, which was terrifying and also the best decision I've made. Going solo means backing yourself completely and then spending a decent amount of time hoping you got that right.
This felt like a sign that I did.
What I think the judges saw in my business
I was up against much bigger businesses with whole teams so I needed to stand out. I think what really landed was being straightforward with the judges about why I started my business and how I actually work.
Here's what I shared with them:
Everything I do is bespoke. I do the market research, the competitor positioning, the figuring out what makes a business genuinely different. Nothing is templated and nothing is copy-pasted from the last project.
I care about clients owning their stuff. Their brand, their assets, their strategy, their IP. I want to hand things over properly so businesses can run independently without needing me for everything.
My pricing is accessible on purpose. Good strategy shouldn't only be available to businesses with big budgets.
I'm not just making things look good and walking away. I'm thinking about whether it'll actually work, what success looks like for that specific business, and what happens after I'm gone.
I push for human-made marketing. I think there's real value in work that comes from a person who actually understands your business, your context, and your audience.
My client reviews backed all of that up. For a business trading under two years old, the feedback has been really kind and I genuinely don't take that for granted.
The values that sit behind everything
Hi This Is Bry exists because I believe a few specific things.
Inclusive design is the standard, not a nice extra. Small businesses deserve honest strategy that's built around their actual goals, not just their budget. Disability has a place in business. And doing things differently isn't something to apologise for.
Those didn't come from a mood board or a values workshop. They came from experience, including some I'd rather not repeat. Early in my career I was diagnosed as autistic. The diagnosis made sense of a lot of things that had confused me about myself for years. But the creative industry I was working in didn't always know what to do with me. Some people were great. Others made me feel like I didn't belong.
Hi This Is Bry is partly built in response to that. I wanted to create a practice that makes space for people who work differently, including me. Where neurodivergence isn't something to manage around but something that genuinely shapes how the work gets done, usually for the better.
Finding out I'd been recognised as a top 100 Best Creative Arts Business, as a neurodivergent founder who's been going less than two years, hit differently than I expected. I'm still processing it a bit honestly.
FAQs
What is the Small Business Awards UK Best Creative Arts Business category? It's a national programme recognising independent businesses across the UK. The Best Creative Arts Business category assesses creative businesses on the quality and real-world impact of their work. Being in the top 100 means being selected from a wide pool of entries from across the country, which is why I'm still a bit shocked.
What makes Hi This Is Bry different from other creative businesses? Mainly the strategy side. A lot of designers do great visual work and I do that too, but I also do the research, the positioning, and the thinking about what'll actually make a business more visible and more successful. And I care about clients being able to run things without relying solely on me.
Final thoughts...
Being named in the Small Business Awards UK top 100 for Best Creative Arts Business, under two years in, as a neurodivergent founder who left an industry she loved because it didn't always love her back, means a lot to me.
I hope it shows other young people, other neurodivergent business owners, and anyone who's quietly been told they do things a bit wrong: there's space for you here. You don't have to fit the mould. I'm rooting for you.
Don't go without saying hi!
Hi, I'm Bry (pronounced Br-eye), an Essex and Suffolk based Creative Strategist and neurodivergent founder.
I help small businesses and founders show up with branding, websites, and content strategy that helps them become more visible to the right people.
My work has been recognised by the Small Business Awards (Best Creative Arts Business, UK top 100 and Best Business Branding, UK top 10), and I've been featured in Essex Life Magazine, the Harwich and Manningtree Standard, Business Wire, Greatest Hits Radio, and the 7th edition of Graphic Design School.
In 2026 I also won silver for Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the SME Awards and I was shortlisted for best digital business the East of England StartUp Awards.
When I'm not doing this, I'm probably reading about exotic fish or writing about nerdy marketing stuff. Sometimes both.