Jennifer Bryant
CEO, Global Affairs
As the founder of small hands big art, Jennifer heads up all domestic and overseas sales, management, mergers and acquisitions, and government liaison divisions. While highly skilled at collaborative gap analysis and implementing customer-centric buzz word metrics, Jennifer’s fondest childhood memories involve creating art. At six, she learned the power of balancing creative thinking with analytical – if somewhat deviant – long-term strategic planning, scrawling “Jenny is a Pig” on her bedroom door in crayon. Strained sibling relationships continue to this day.
A college art scholarship naturally led to a 17 year career in the securities brokerage industry, where she honed invaluable skills implementing out-of-the box enterprise deliverables, driving for consensus, and harnessing broad-based synergies. After testing the limits of that little shelf on the corporate ladder that is clearly marked “Not a Step,” she took the left side of her brain offline and now focuses on the passions that inspire her most: children and art. And writing stuff like this.
Though memories of her vast corporate accomplishments and international award nominations have faded, she can vividly recall her favorite crayon colors, and is confident she can still identify Burnt Sienna in a blind taste test. An obsessive circle cutter & tidyer-upper, she enjoys lining things up, organizing paint chips by number, and dreaming of one day inventing a better, faster way to sort buttons. An 11 year resident of Charlotte, Jennifer spends her her spare time trying to make cool stuff and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Festival in the Park.
Katie Burzynski
Katie’s flourish for the creative began as a little girl – evidenced by her avid sticker collection, desire to pass the time organizing the “craft closet”, and flair for wearing swimsuits over her clothes in the middle of Minnesota Winters! Most at home in dance shoes, on a stage, or covered in paint, Katie decided to pursue the visual arts in adulthood as well.
Katie is a graduate of North Park University (Chicago, IL) with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art where her emphasis was in sculpture, mixed media, and nonprofit management and leadership. Expressing herself through the arts was incredibly formational for Katie. She enjoys cultivating an environment for students to be challenged, get messy, have some fun, and learn to express themselves.
When not at small hands big art, Katie can be found lost in an antique shop, exploring the art scene in Charlotte with friends, on a hike with her rescue pup, or embarking on a culinary adventure in her kitchen.
Hannah Anabtawi
While rising up through the ranks of small hands big art’s Liquid and Solid Adhesives Division, Hannah met and stuck like glue to her {now} husband, and together they will be relocating to Charleston in the Spring of 2013, where Hannah will work remotely in the Corporate Communications Division. Her humble beginnings were spent playing outside in what she and her brother covertly referred to as the “dirt spot”, instilling in her a fun and creative spirit that made her a much loved teacher at small hands big art for the past two years!
Hannah earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wingate University where her emphasis was in sculpture and 3D design and maintains a certificate in Early Childhood Education. Hannah believes in the therapeutic power of art and a Showmar’s Greek salad with chicken (& pita), and that every child deserves to be given the opportunity to feel like they are good at something, special, and creative.
.
Brittany Bradshaw
SVP, Contact Paper Division
Brittany Bradshaw is a native of Rock Hill, South Carolina and a graduate of the University of South Carolina. She has been plodding away on her thesis for the last, um, year (ahem!) for her Master of Art Education from Winthrop University, and also teaches art at Chester Park School of the Arts. In the summer, she works in the studio and also teaches our offsite art camps & classes.
.
While at USC, Brittany majored in Art Education and maintained a certification to teach Kindergarten through Twelfth grade art. Brittany is a strong believer that an education cannot be complete without the elements of art. She believes that art gives us the opportunity to express ourselves in a way that nothing else can, and through art, we learn more about history, math, science, literature, and ourselves.
.
.
Colleen Mackey
Colleen is a junior at Penn State University studying to become a children’s art therapist, majoring in Integrated Art and minoring in Psychology with a focus in adolescent psych. A children’s psychology course in her early high school years sparked an interest, leaving her determined to pursue a career that combines both passions!
Colleen grew up in Reading, PA and her family recently moved to Waxhaw, NC where she will be “summering” while working at small hands big art. Colleen believes the creative process is therapeutic for people of all ages and backgrounds and that art has a unique meaning to every person, especially children. In her spare time (of which there is about to be very little) she likes to run, play soccer, kayak & spend time with friends and family, her cat being a top contender!
