Black-Owned Embroiderer Becomes First Honored With Buffalo Manufacturing Award

Briana Ferguson made history this week becoming the first Black-owned embroiderer to take home the coveted Buffalo Business First Manufacturing Award.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur launched her business in Buffalo, New York, in 2020 after learning to embroider by watching videos on YouTube.

“I started out at home during COVID,” she says. “I was making masks and putting people’s names on it, which was really cool.”

Last year, she opened a brick-and-mortar shop on Buffalo’s Main Street called BriMadeIt. And betting on herself paid off after just one year: Ferguson was recently awarded the Manufacturing Buffalo Business First Award, making her the first Black person ever to receive the honor.

“Honestly, I was really shocked when we got chosen for the award, and I was so overjoyed,” she said.

For Ferguson, the moment is further confirmation that the sacrifices she makes to keep her customers happy are well worth it.

“There are nights when I’m here until three or four in the morning,” she says. “So it takes a lot of hard work, and when I say we, I mean me.”

International customers comprise a large part of BriMadeIt’s clientele, and the store can bring in up to 100 orders per day, according to WKBW News.

“We embroider bags and T-shirts and all different things,” Ferguson says. “We have all kinds of things, we do not like to turn down any embroidery orders — honestly, all things are possible at BriMadeIt.”

As Buffalo still struggles to overcome racial inequalities for Black residents, putting the spotlight on entrepreneurs like Ferguson is a great way to show the city what’s possible.

According to the study “The Harder We Run: The State of Black Buffalo in 1990 and the Present,” 35 percent of Buffalo’s Black residents live below the poverty line, and unemployment remains in the double digits at 11 percent.