High profile businesswoman Sunny Bird says she’s “absolutely thrilled” after scooping two places in the finals of the National Business Women’s Awards 2021.

The Founder of Sunny Bird PR and the Perfect Dress Company is up for Influential Business Woman of the Year and also Best New Business.

Sunny, who is based in Ferndown, launched her fashion brand, the Perfect Dress Company, at the start of the lockdown in March 2020 with the aim of helping women to feel good about what they’re wearing.

She said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have made it through to the finals for both these categories in the National Business Women’s Awards 2021.

“There have been some particularly challenging times during lockdown which has meant many setbacks, but it has also put even more emphasis on working more innovatively and creatively which has opened up more opportunities and pushed future ideas forward.

“Due to the impact that Covid has had on the textile industry our Spring/Summer 2021 range was severely delayed.

“This helped us bring forward the decision (by 18 months) to test our website as a marketplace and sell other brands that have products and items that fit within our ethos of ‘providing our clients with fashion that fits, flatters and helps them feel fabulous.’

“Being able to recommend other handpicked products from other brands helped us grow our offering to our existing customer base from 60 items to over 600 items which has seen an increase in sales by 422 per cent based on the previous year’s figures.

“I am particularly proud of all the hard work the team and myself have put in during this difficult time.

“Being able to pivot quickly has kept our current client base engaged as our returning customer rate has gone up by 220 per cent, as well as attracting new customers to our existing range and marketplace with a 178 per cent increase in visitors to the site.”

The National Business Women’s Awards are held at the Hilton Wembley in London on Friday November 19.

They aim to raise the profile of industrious, hardworking, and enterprising business women across the UK.