University of Connecticut graduate Maria Miranda was chosen as the 2024 Small Business Person of the Year for her brand management firm.
Miranda created her business, Miranda Creative, 35 years ago––two months after she graduated from the UConn School of Fine Arts in 1988. Miranda said her agency strives to create authentic client and community relationships, with an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity.
“We help clients maintain a consistent tone and appearance across all media as a way of helping markets best understand the core values of the organization,” Miranda said.
Miranda received the honor of Small Business Person of the Year for Connecticut out of thousands of small businesses in the state. Now, she will compete for the National Award at a two-day ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 28 and 29.
National Small Business Week will be celebrated from April 28 to May 4 to highlight the resilience of America’s entrepreneurs, and the services that the Small Business Administration has to offer, according to the SBA website. In Connecticut, Miranda will join other Connecticut National Small Business Week winners at a Small Business Resource Expo and award ceremony on May 2 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.
“An SBA Small Business Person of the Year demonstrates resilience, employee growth, innovation, ability to overcome challenges, and dedication to community. These qualities have been rooted in Miranda Creative since its inception,” Catherine Marx, SBA Connecticut District Director, said.
SBA’s stated mission is to provide assistance to small businesses and give them support to start and grow their organizations, backed with the strength of the federal government.
“Through Maria’s leadership Miranda Creative is acknowledged for its unwavering commitment to excellence. As an innovator and job creator, Maria’s creativity propelled the American Dream for herself, her team, and her small business clients. Indeed, all of us experience her award-winning content daily through our phones and on billboards throughout Connecticut,” Marx said.
Miranda is a Connecticut native and resides in Norwich, where the primary office is located, but Miranda Creative has 30 team members throughout the US.
Miranda said team members come from all areas of the country and are in different times of their lives.
“At Miranda Creative, we don’t believe in the generational label. We believe that everyone is a perennial. You could be a young person with an older mind or an older person with a younger mind. So we work with every generation,” Miranda said.
However, Miranda added she has a special space in her heart for young people, since that was the age she began working for herself.
Miranda said she has always wanted to be a creative communicator and has had a strong interest in design communication from a young age. After visiting different universities with strong graphic design programs, she picked UConn, where she said was the best match for her. At UConn, she said she took advantage of every opportunity that was offered.
“I took a number of dance classes to give me confidence. I took photography with some of the best instructors I’ve ever met and that taught me how to prepare my visual eye. I participated in a number of groups and community organizations where I developed friendships that have lasted my entire life. UConn has made everything possible,” Miranda said.
A life changing moment for Miranda during her sophomore year, when she was hit by a drunk driver and broke her jaw. She said she had to take time off of school for surgeries and physical therapy and finished her last few years at UConn in a hybrid format. During this time, she took a class that allowed her to rethink her degree path.
“The instructor of the class convinced me to pursue a degree in fine arts with a minor in marketing and that’s what led me to be successful when I graduated [UConn] in August 1988 was to be a hybrid.”
Now, over 30 years later, Miranda is looking toward the future, and said she hopes to set up Miranda Creative for the next chapter— to become an employee-owned company.
“That would be my way of coming full circle, to creating future business leaders of the year, to promoting the company to employee-owned and creating a number of entrepreneurs in their own right,” Miranda said.
Miranda credits UConn for her success and for getting her to where she is today.
“UConn is the home of champions,” Miranda said. “UConn creates many champions in many spaces, including the creative arts and I think that UConn should celebrate all of their winners.”