The CEO who says the Holy Spirit is her business strategy

After more than 20 years in various roles, and four years as vice-CEO, Suzi Hull is the newly appointed CEO of Amperative, a creative agency in Bristol that crafts digital and print solutions for organisations that want to make a positive impact in the world. From start-ups to global non-profits, Amperative creates digital experiences, branding, apps, websites and software. (They’re probably the very genius behind some of the apps you use for your walk with God every day.)  

A sense of calling

Suzi was born in Cardiff and grew up in a Christian family where relationship with God was always the centre of everything. She’s very thankful for the example and legacy of her parents and grandparents, who prioritised loving God and serving people. When she was three, her family moved to Horsham so her dad could attend Bible college. They ended up joining a church plant in Clevedon, Bristol when she was five. Suzi’s dad was an elder and worship leader of the church, and Suzi remains part of this thriving church today.

“It’s such a special church community. So many different people come and feel accepted and loved, and I think this has really grown my heart for caring for people over the years. I want to see people’s lives changed and for them to know how valuable and precious they are, just as they are – they don’t need to perform or be someone else for God to love them.”

After studying graphic design at Falmouth, Suzi felt called back to Clevedon to serve her church. She joined a creative agency for work in 2008: “I got to work for some amazing brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels and Wella, other Mattel brands and some really cool programmes for CBBC, like the Postman Pat Special Delivery Service. I was also the designer for church events. It was really incredible to be able to use my design gifts both at church and at work.”

Despite the great variety of creative projects at work, the agency’s atmosphere was very performance-based, with constant pressure to be the one working the hardest or staying the latest. It was very competitive, and the staff had to pitch against their colleagues. “Nothing was about collaboration or supporting each other. It was all about putting yourself forward and putting yourself first. It was just so wildly different from how I was used to interacting with people, and from the culture I knew, and there was only so long I could stay there.” 

Suzi’s friend Pete, who worked in the same rented church offices as her then-fiancé Ben, had a start-up business called Worthers, a development company making websites, apps and software, and she’d worked part-time as their admin assistant as a teenager. God had told Pete to set up the business (Worthers) to help support the 24/7 Prayer movement that was emerging with Pete Greig at the time. 

When another friend working out of the same offices had this amazing idea for a new app called Sparkol, Suzi felt God telling her to leave the agency and work with him. “I helped get Sparkol off the ground from 2011 to 2013. It was a wild ride! I got to help create the successful whiteboard animation tool, VideoScribe, which grew to a million-pound turnover in one year and employed 25 people. I learned so much, and although there were high highs, there were also some low lows, and it was time to move on. That season was hard and one of the darkest times in my life.”

The impact of a dream

After leaving Sparkol, Suzi felt lost and confused. She had no idea what she would do next and struggled with negative thoughts about herself and her abilities as a designer. Her mum prayed that God would guide Suzi into the next thing. And that night, Suzi had a dream.

“In my dream, I saw a studio space, and the walls looked like Toy Story. There was wooden treatment on the wall and desks, with chairs in these bright, popping colours. Then I realised the chairs were actually plant pots. There were people literally sitting in them and becoming healthy as they did their craft! I wasn’t employing these people; they were coming into the space that I had created just to flourish. Then I saw this guy, Nick, I hadn’t seen in years, who said: “I think I need to give up filmmaking.” I heard myself say: “No, you can’t give it up.” He got into the plant pot and started working!”

I want to see people’s lives changed and for them to know how valuable and how precious they are, just as they are

The very next day, she went into her husband Ben’s office, where he and Pete were now both directors of Worthers, and Pete, out of the blue, said: “Suzi, I have a proposition for you. I think you should run a creative studio from the office next door.” 

Suzi, still stirred from her dream, couldn’t believe it. She responded: “Pete, I had a dream about a studio last night. But I don’t know if I can take such a big risk.” Pete said that he wanted to take the risk for her by paying the rent for the first six months, and indicated she could lease the space from him!

Suzi couldn’t get into the space for the next four weeks or so because the landlord was working on it, but when she finally walked in, she burst into tears. It was decorated exactly like the studio in her dream! “I just knew that it was of God. In 2013, my design agency Hullo Creative was born, a creative and brand studio doing animations, websites and all the design for the Worthers projects.

“On the first day in the new space, we’d gone to Ikea to get all the desks and chairs. It was so surreal as I walked around the shop, picking up all the pieces I’d seen in the dream. Then I was unpacking a new sofa in the office when Nick, the filmmaker from my dream, walked through the door!”

Nick was going through a tough time, and Suzi told him she’d seen him in a dream, and she spoke truth over him saying: “You need to come and sit over here, and do filmmaking. He agreed, and his business just took off! He went on to be really successful in his art, has his own company and films for the BBC.

“As Pete made room for me, I got to make room for others. Hullo Creative was a collection of around 15 freelance creatives who did a lot of brand design, website design and animation, collaborating with Worthers next door. Stories like Nick’s just happen all the time since I opened the doors of Hullo Creative. People come in, out of nowhere, and often out of really hard work experiences. They sit in those colourful seats a bit lost at first, and then work comes in exactly for them.”

Growth – at home and work

Alongside managing everything at work, Suzi had polycystic ovary syndrome; before she and Ben got married back in 2011 they had been told they couldn’t have children, so had laid down the dream of having a family. But, after having a dream in which she saw she had a little girl, Suzi received prayer and, miraculously, gave birth to her son, Josh, in 2016! 

The COVID-19 pandemic was a really challenging period for Hullo Creative and Suzi, who was juggling childcare for little Josh and work. It was around then that Pete proposed merging the two businesses, indicating that Suzi was his exit strategy as he wanted her to eventually run the whole combined company.

When Pete asked Suzi to pray about the merger, she remembered the dream she’d had six years ago in more detail: “I was walking in the Worthers studio with Hullo Creative people working in the same room. At my side was a little girl holding my hand. When Pete proposed the merge, not only did my dream make complete sense, but I didn’t realise at the time that I was actually pregnant with my second child, my little girl Mia, who was born in 2020. I remember feeling confused when Josh was a boy because, in the dream, my child was a girl, and I never imagined I would have a daughter later. But it turns out the dream was bang on –and God gave me a daughter at the time of the merger!”

The merger proposal was overwhelming for Suzi initially, but Pete encouraged her that she could hear God, and that was enough. The merger was completed in October 2021, and the name ‘Amperative’ was chosen, combining the ampersand symbol, representing collaboration, with ‘imperative’, meaning business-critical work. “Amperative is all about bringing people [together] in a collaborative, collective way for business-critical work. We came together as companies and with our clients. I came on as vice-CEO in 2021, and now I’ve become the CEO I have had to find my own leadership groove. I’m just honestly a ‘Holy Spirit business leader’, completely relying on prayer for guidance and decision-making.” 

A place that fosters health

Suzi’s vision for Amperative is that it will always be an environment that fosters healthy people and relationships within the team. “When people know how valuable they are, and they are supported, they do incredible work. We’ve had new team members move from highly competitive and cut-throat work environments who have come here to heal and thrive.” 

Suzi officially stepped into her new role as CEO in January 2026, and the press release went live this April. As she leads Amperative into the future, she reminds women in leadership of the importance of being authentic. “I think the second you try to be anything you’re not, it doesn’t work. You might be a mum and a business owner, so be real in that space – you don’t need to hide one part or the other. The skills and the experiences we get running a home and parenting are hugely transferable to work in so many ways.”

Suzi also reminds us that kingdom culture in the workplace looks like work-life balance. “Burnout is everywhere today, and so a big thing is to learn to trust your gut, so you know when it’s worth pushing through and when to stop. When I struggle with this, I just pray and ask God to help me prioritise.”

amperative.com @amperative Words by Rebecca Hunter-Kelm